The picture below is a couple of days after the first picture and it looks like to me that he has already changed. I couldn't resist getting out camera since he was so wide awake.
Amazingly enough Ben's bilirubin was low enough that they let us go home without lights. He is the first baby I've had that is coombs positive that hasn't had to stay in the hospital for a week! What a blessing. With my mom gone and Andy still not feeling 100 percent from surgery I really needed to be able to bring him home instead of running back and forth to the hospital all week. We have had so many miracles these past 3 months. I know Heavenly Father is looking out for us!
When we got home there was a big fight over who got to hold Ben first. Everyone was able to get a turn even Sam. At first Sam had no idea what was going on. Then he realized there was a baby! He was very soft and gave Ben lots of hugs. It probably helped that Amy had baby T.J. a month before so he had time to practice!
All the kids.
Welcome Home Baby Ben!
Matthew has always had a nurturing spirit and he couldn't wait to hold Ben. Even after the other babies have come home Matthew has always been willing to help hold or burp them. He loves having a new baby in the house.
I don't think anyone wanted to take their eyes off of Ben. Timmy loves babies too. He loves to rub his cheek up against their cheek. Timmy has always been and still is my snuggle bug.
When Sam came into the room he didn't even look at the baby. The only thing he wanted to do was sit on my lap. When Andy gave me the baby Sam kept pointing to him and saying,"baby". We'll see how much he likes Ben once we bring him home!
Welcome to our family Baby Benjamin!!
When I started this blog a while ago I knew that we would eventually be a family of eight. So not wanting to ever have to change the name I decided to name our blog the crazy eight. Which never made sense until today. Our family is now complete!!
We are thrilled to welcome Ben into our family. Babies are so amazing and bring so much love with them! We are blessed to be able to have had six!
Scott asked to be there for the birth and after much contemplation, I let him come. For that reason I was very glad that everything went smoothly. Usually I run in at the last minute and give birth in 30 minutes or less but the doctor felt like I should be induced. I usually hate being induced because I can feel the baby working against me but this was different. After they gave me my epidural they broke my water and I had Ben in about an hour. The epidural actually worked(which is rare for me, usually I don't get to have one at all) and my mother was out of town to be with Jon and Jenny during the birth of Violet Ann the day before. I wanted to be able to have time to get the other kids somewhere to be taken care of while I was giving birth. So needless to say being induced was probably the best thing.
There was a little bit of anxiety with this birth because my mother has always been there for all of the previous births but I had lots of help from my friends Amy and Connie during the day and then my friend Jen took my kids to her house and brought Scott to the hospital to be his mentor. Just in case something went wrong she would be there to help. Her fabulous husband Steve took care of my four other children along with his seven so Jen could be there for us. Jen was also in the right frame of mind that she called my mom to be there for the birth over the phone! I truly have amazing friends!!
Ben's first bath after the birth.
Scott didn't want to leave but around two in the morning I finally kicked him out to go get some sleep! I was so glad that Scott was there. He made lots of jokes and couldn't wait to be my cheerleader and tell me to push. There was a moment when Scott almost passed out right after Ben was born but I think in the end he was glad he came. I also think that being there has made him have an extra special bond with Ben. 
Scott, Andy, and Baby Ben
What a sweet baby!! We are so thrilled he is finally here!!
Sam loves animals and dinosaurs so we decided to spend the morning at the zoo. I was hoping that the dinosaur exhibit was still there but it was closed for the winter. Sam didn't know the difference and we had a great time looking at the animals anyway! I love going to the zoo in the morning because the animals are so active. 
Since I wasn't up for making a cake Fred Meyer did a really good job with his dinosaur volcano cake! He thought it was totally awesome!
I put Sam down for a nap after the zoo and wrapped presents. I was in the other room when he got up and I heard a loud roar! I knew exactly what it was. Sam had opened one of his presents early! Oh well he had a good time playing with the gorilla until the party started.
Brent and Amy came over to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We all had pizza and cake and ice cream and watched Sam open his presents.
He loved them all but I think Grandma gets the prize for his favorite. She got him a Diego set with a whole bunch of animals. At bedtime I put everything away and Sam cried and cried. He was definitely not done playing with it.
Sam wasn't too traumatized though. He woke up this morning and immediately got everything back out to play! 
