Sparks Party of 5!

We are so excited to now be a family of 5!  We welcomed Beckett John Sparks to the world on August 26th.   It is hard to believe but he is actually already 4 weeks old today!  Wow, on one hand I feel like he has been part of our family for forever, and on the other hand I feel like I was just in the hospital yesterday.
He is precious and has been sweet since the moment that he was born.   Life here has been crazy but also so good.  It has been really fun for me to have a baby outside of kamp life and just get to be at home.  I think because we have gotten to be at home, it has helped things to seem a little bit calmer.   The transition to three kids has gone well, and really far better than I could have even expected.   I have been so blessed with great help from Collin and the fun of us learning how to even be a stronger team together.

Ella and Braden are the sweetest big brother and sister.   Ella is super helpful, gentle, patient, and so loving twoards him.   I will find her sitting next to him just gently bouncing him and singing him a song, so precious.  She has been quick to grab a diaper or help calm him if he is crying.  I continue to look at her and am just so thankful for her sweet spirit.  I was a little worried that Braden might have trouble with a new baby, but he has been incredible.  He loves Beckett and wants to give him kisses any times he gets close to him.  He always says, "Mamma, kiss baby's head?", asking if he can kiss the baby's head.  Then he asks to kiss hands, feet, and anything else.   He always and ends with "Kiss Mamma too", and gives me kisses.  I love my sweet Braden, he is all boy, not very gentle, but has such a kind heart.

For delivery I was really praying that I would go into labor on my own, but that wasn't the case.  I have big babies so my doctor is never keen on me going much over my delivery date.   The morning that we went to the hospital was quite comical.  We were supposed to be a the hospital at 7:00am, and we overslept!  Ahh, who oversleeps the time you are supposed to go have a baby, strike one for us.  It could have something to do with the fact that neither Collin or I had slept the night before.   So the morning started kind of bad, and then my mood was like a 2 year old throwing tantrum.  I was frustrated because I was really hoping to have gone into labor on my own during the night.   So that morning I was disappointed and still didn't want to be induced.  Collin and I drove to the hospital and of course to top things off got into a fight, strike two.   I was a crying mess, and then just cried harder as I thought about that this was not be the way I wanted to remember the day.  Then we got to the hospital and started to get checked in.  The first nurse we had was awful and didn't seem helpful to work with us at all, strike 3.   I was an emotional mess, and close to wanting to turn around and just go home.  But, the Lord is so good!   He tends to our needs so well, and cares for our heart.   Our nurse came back in and told us her other patient was close to delivering so we were getting a new nurse, yeah!   Our new nurses were incredible and made the whole experience great.  One of our nurses was even a past friend that worked with us years ago at K-West.  So then after that the day went great.   My doctor only had to break my water and that was enough to get labor going.  Collin was an incredible coach, helping me to think on other things besides the pain.  He brought up sweet stories of our kids and even made me smile through some of the hardest contractions.  I was so thankful to have him by my side.   They broke my water around 10:00am and Beckett was born at 6:24pm.   Even after having babies before, I was still so moved and in awe of the whole experience.