Ezekiel's Baby Blessing

Ezekiel was blessed on July 14th while on our family reunion in Oregon.  It was really neat having all my family there. 
 His full name is Ezekiel Dennis Keakahai Ming-de Kim.  Zui has always wanted a son named Ezekiel, even moreso once Ezekiel "Ziggy" Ansah became a famous BYU football player drafted to the NFL.  The kids love to call him Ziggy.  I still prefer Ezekiel.

Zui gave a beautiful blessing.  Here are some of the things said in it:
Look to Savior Jesus Christ to apply the atonement in your life so you can return to your Heavenly Father.
Remember ancestors and parents and all who have come before you.  Look through their histories so you can be a stalwart young man and father some day.
You will be able to discern and choose the right.
You will know, too, when you are choosing wrong.
Serve a mission and return with honor and be blessed with an abundance of the Spirit.
You will be a great Patriarch in your home
You will find a wife and marry in the temple.
You will help fill your home with love
Not quarrel in home and be a help in the home.
Look to your mother and father.

We forgot to bring a dress for Jazzy!

The original Jones'

Love my good man...

Jones Clan!

Surviving

Ever since mom left we have been working on surviving, one day at a time.   This laundry pic is a good example of our crazy lives.  The laundry's been piling up and with no time to put it away it has found a new home next to baby.

My four exhausted boys conked out on my bed. 

sleeping angel

"Hip hip hooray, I'm getting circumcised today!"  Taken just before surgery :)

 

Five in the tub is getting a bit squishy...

 

Jazzy has digressed back to the pacifier stage pretending she's a baby, too.

Don't we look like a lot?  I just keep counting kids, there's so many of them and all over the place!

When your kids get a hold of your phone...

Mom to the rescue!

Mom was here a whole week to help out.  It sure was nice.  She always had a load of laundry going and rolls in the oven.  I felt like the Queen of Sheeba being waited on hand and foot.  She even took this cutie boy for a few hours during the night.

The kids sure had a great time with Grandma.  Together they went to McDonald's, Chuck E Cheese, the beach and the park.  She also played ponies, dolls, cars, and board games.

It was so cute seeing Mom give Zeya a piano lesson :)

Mom giving baby his first bath

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Grandma's little helpers :)

 

Thanks so much, Mom!  We so appreciate your help!!

Labor Story

Mom flew into town on Monday and with still no baby we had to have some projects to do.  A few of my friends have been making strawberry jam and I was aching for some homemade bread and jam.  Mom went right to work and happily made me 8 containers of jam--YUM!

 Tuesday, June 25th

I woke up at 1:30am to go to  the bathroom, but before I got there part of my water broke.  It wasn't a lot, but then I noticed other true signs of labor and thought for sure this has got to be the day--exciting!  I thought I would maybe even have a baby before the kids got up!  Haha, boy was I wrong.  I had contractions for about an hour, then fell back asleep.  Contractions woke me back up about 8 minutes apart.  Mom was up early so about 5:30 we left to go walking and pick up some donuts :)  Contractions were getting closer so we thought for sure baby was coming.

Our last picture as a family of six...wondering which little guy or gal is inside!

We dropped off the girls at the Hansen's house, and the boys at the Andertons.  Shortly after, about 10am my contractions had slowed to a stop.  I was so disappointed.  I wanted so badly for this baby to hurry up and come out!  Afterall, I was 40w4d, and with a plane to catch in less than 2 weeks I was getting nervous.  So I took a nap hoping labor would continue.  When I woke up, mom told us we should go on a date. So, Zui suggested cheap Mexican (2 tacos from Jax) and a long walk up in Mauka.

 No...I am not in trouble ;)  Zui and I went walking to try and encourage labor to continue, with contractions about 7 minutes apart.  While up in Mauka we saw a kid tagging some public property.  We watched as he spray-painted his gang symbol on two electric boxes and a lamp post, then Zui called the police.  We thought that was it, but then the cops called back because they had caught three juveniles out tagging and they wanted us to identify which one we had seen.  So...the cops came and picked Zui up (they said we both couldn't go) and Zui got to make sure justice had been dealt :)

He had to write up a testimony and leave his info in case he needs to testify in court.  Pretty exciting labor day!

After the walk we came back, picked up Jasmine, and took her on another long walk up Lanikuhana.  During the walk contractions started getting stronger and closer together, 5 min apart lasting 30 seconds.  We still weren't sure if this was the real thing, and as it was close to 5pm already, we decided our kids should come back home. 

Talking to my sistah Cindy in between contractions

Shortly after feeding the kids dinner, the contractions really started to pick up and get strong.  The house turned into a zoo as Mom and Zui were trying to bathe kids, get them in pajamas, prepare the birth tub, soothe the kids, and get them to bed so I could labor in quasi-peace (if you can call labor peaceful).  Medra arrived at about 7pm and took a laissez-faire approach to the labor.  It was very different than Betty or Dr. Lori, but good in some ways too.  I labored mostly on my exercise ball and at about 8:30 got into the birthing tub.

After about 45 minutes in of labor in the tub, I really felt baby low and knew baby was coming.  Zui was supporting my weight, I pushed twice and the baby's head came out already!  Medra caught the baby and Zui showed him to me and we finally found out we had a baby boy!!

The labor was all day, but only about 3 hours of hard labor.  We couldn't believe how big Ziggy was: Just shy of 9 pounds. After a long, oh so long day, Baby Ezekiel was here and it was all worth it.  

 

Our family of seven

It's a BOY!

 Ezekiel was born 9:15pm on June 26th, a water birth at home.  We were SO happy to finally meet him!   

 Our midwife, Medra.  She was great.  Except that she forgot to bring her baby scale so... Zui had to jump on and off our scale with/without baby to try and get an accurate reading.  We think he weighed in at 8 lb, 13 oz, and was 21 in long.

First family picture of seven!!

Happy Grandma :)

So happy he's here, now the sleepless nights begin!