Four Weeks Old

My little peanut has been with us for 4 weeks (as of yesterday).  Wow.  I feel like I say it all the time, but life sure does fly by quickly.

I'm still feeling overwhelmed by my life right now.  Trying to balance two active and crazy 4 year olds who never stop talking, a needy and whiny 2 year old who also talks constantly (but I only understand about half of what she says!), and a newborn.....yikes.  It's a challenge!  But I know it will get easier (at least I keep telling myself that!). 

I remember when Olivia was born, it was pretty easy to incorporate her into our lives.  The twins were still little and things came together so easily.  It's definitely more of a challenge now.

The good news is that I have three special helpers who LOVE their baby sister.  They will sit next to her and talk to her, sing to her, give her a bottle, and hold her.   They bring me burp cloths and diapers and ask me almost every day why my stomach is still big (this is NOT appreciated, ladies!).

 

I just love that last picture of Olivia and Jorja.  I was a little worried about how Olivia would react when Jorja was around.  Olivia has been the baby for 2 years and I've been home constantly with her for the past year.  She was my baby...I called her my baby...and probably treated her a bit like a baby.  I mean, she's just so stinkin' cute and such a sweetheart...I couldn't help myself!  So I was worried that she would have a hard time when Jorja was born.

At the hospital, Olivia wouldn't even look at the baby.  We kept trying to get her to touch Jorja, or hold her, or kiss her....she would cry and say, "NO!".  For the record, she was having a rough day and was super grumpy/hungry.  She just wanted to sit on Poppa's lap and ignore that new baby.

But once Olivia came home from Mimi's house, she immediately adored Jorja.  She loves to hold her hand and rub her hair.  She asks to hold her all the time, and once I let her hold Jorja, she doesn't want to give her up.  She'll cry and say, "My baby!  My baby!".

 I've been trying to get the girls outside as much as possible lately.  They were stuck inside so much when I was pregnant...I was just so miserable.  So when Jorja is napping, we'll lock the doors and go to our yard.  The girls love playing with bubbles, sidewalk chalk, their swings/slides, and digging in the dirt.

The only thing MORE fun than that is when it has rained and there is a big puddle in our driveway. To my girls, NOTHING is more fun than throwing sticks in the puddle, making mud pies, and scooping the puddle water with cups.  It's messy, but they love it.

 I was even able to go for a walk recently with all four girls.  Jorja was in her car seat in the stroller and the other three walked.  We walked about 5 blocks around our 'village' and then went to the park.

Everything was going great until Gigi and Olivia went down a yellow slide.  It had a HUGE pile of water at the bottom and they slid right through it!  They were soaked...so we didn't stay too long.  Olivia kept telling me, "Mama!  Butt is wet!".

Gianna insists on wearing sunglasses because, "The sun hurts my blue eyes!"

Olivia standing perfectly still because her butt was wet...she was not a happy girl!

This is the slide with the puddle...Maya decided to join in the fun by splashing her hands in the water.

So that's our life right now.  We've survived 4 whole weeks with 4 kids!  

Honestly, what I miss that most right now is having one on one time with Brooks.  We haven't been out anywhere just the two of us since before Jorja was born...I'm very spoiled because my hubby takes me on date nights frequently (it's the only way I survive this SAHM gig).  I'm totally craving time with just him...and we found his Mom is coming to spend the night tonight.  She's going to watch all the girls so we can go out for dinner.

I can't wait!

17 days

 Sweet little Jorja has been in our family for 17 days now.  She is a precious baby who loves to be snuggled and held.  She sleeps pretty good for being so small.  We can usually get a good 4 or 5 hours of sleep at night...it does NOT feel like much, though!  I'm tired.

We were blessed to have my mom and sister (Mimi and Aunt Kim to my girls) take Maya, Gigi, and Olivia to their house for a week after Jorja was born. The girls got to go to Chicago with Aunt Kim and go to the zoo.  They were so excited...mostly because they got to ride on a train and a bus to get to the zoo.  They had a great time.  Mimi and Kim took them to the park, to visit family, to Wendy's (one of the girls' favorite restaurants), and to a candy store.  They got to go to their cousin Addie's birthday party and spend a night with Mamaw and Poppa (Brooks' mom and dad).

Having them gone for a week was...heavenly.  Girls, if you read this someday and are hurt by that...I'm sorry.  But you're a handful right now!  Mimi and Aunt Kim were exhausted when you left!

After I got home from the hospital, I wasn't feeling well.  My head was killing me and I was having a lot of pain.  The pain meds that I was getting in the hospital made me feel great....but I didn't get those when I came home.  Basically, I went from having pain meds every 3-4 hours....to having that dose cut in half and only being able to take it every 6 hours.  So it was a bit rough.  My headache didn't really go away, and I ended up with a spinal headache.  Thankfully, after a few days of resting in bed, the headache went away.  So I didn't have to get a blood patch or whatever they do for spinal headaches.

I was so thankful that I didn't have the older girls home during that time...it would have been horrible.

Since they came home (on Memorial Day), things have been okay around here.  Taking care of all four girls while recovering from a c-section and attempting to breast feed a newborn is not always fun. Let's just say that I feel like I'm barely keeping my head above water right now.  There have been a few good days and a few really bad days, but most days are just okay.  I keep telling myself that things will get better.  Soon I will be able to sleep....soon Jorja will be on a schedule...soon I won't have pain...etc.

For now, I'm just trying to take in the beauty of a newborn.  Jorja is probably my last baby, which makes me happy and sad at the same time.  I'm just trying to enjoy it all....her little noises, her smell, her snuggles.  She's such a little one and just so adorable.

We had her check up today...she now weighs in at 7 pounds, 9 ounces.  She gained back what she lost after birth, and then some!  Yay, Jorja!

We were so blessed by our church family after she was born.  They brought us meals for 2 weeks...it was amazing.  I loved not having to worry about dinner, especially once the girls were home.  One night, Debbie even brought us cupcakes!  The girls were thrilled.  Here's Olivia, chowing down on her cupcake.

Here she is saying, "I love cupcakes!"

The girls just adore their baby sister.  They call her "New Baby"...once in a while, they call her by her name, but normally they say things like, "Hi, new baby! I'm your big sister." or "Can I hold my new baby?" or "Where is the new baby?"

I've been proud of how gentle and loving they are with her.

 So that's life right now!  Busy, tired, and so very blessed.

She's Here!

 I'm a few days behind, but I've been busy around here!

On Monday, May 20th, our sweet little girl was born.  She was 7 pounds, 6.5 ounces of perfection...20 inches long.  I'm so proud to introduce to you Jorja Hope!

 

 

 Jorja is absolutely perfect.  She is about the cutest, sweetest baby I've ever held (I know, I'm totally biased).  She is such a tiny little peanut right now.  When we left the hospital on Wednesday, she was down to 6 pounds, 11 ounces.  She went to her first doctor's appointment yesterday and is up one ounce.  Since my milk came in, she's been eating like crazy!

I can't believe how blessed we are to have this little peanut in our family.  Welcome home, Jorja Hope...we love you!

5 More Days!

 5 more days to go!

Brooks and I just went to my pre-op appointment for my c-section.  My blood pressure is good and the baby's heartbeat was perfect and she's still pretty active.  I'm still having contractions throughout the day, but they stop as soon as  I sit or lay down.

The only thing I'm really nervous about is my spinal.  It was not fun during my last c-section and I'm having some anxiety about it.  But hopefully, it will be quick and not as uncomfortable this time.   I just hate the thought of a needle in my spine...and since I'm a nurse, I've seen how big that needle is and how they shove it in there....ew.

I was thrilled to learn that when I go to recovery after the surgery, Brooks and baby girl get to go with me!  I can snuggle her, breastfeed, do skin to skin....I'm so happy about this!  With my other two c-sections, I was whisked away to recovery, totally by myself.  It was at least an hour before I got to see my babies.

I just can't wait to not be pregnant anymore.

Things I'm craving:  lemonade, fountain vanilla Diet Coke, and barbecue anything (chips, sandwiches, whatever)

Oh yeah, and SLEEP.  I'm so tired.  For Mother's Day, I took two naps.  It was the best thing in the world and I woke up from my second nap feeling so refreshed.  I'm exhausted all the time...I think this child is siphoning the energy out of my body minute by minute.  She might be a vampire.

 

Almost finished...

 This pregnancy is almost finished!

I'm not going to lie...I can't wait.  I can't wait to snuggle this precious little girl and, most of all, let someone ELSE hold her for a change!

I know that when she makes her entrance into this world, I'll be busy.  I know there will be night feedings and tears (both mine and hers) and meconium, but I feel like it's nothing compared to being hugely pregnant.  My body is so tired.

I have 12 days to go, not including today.  And I'm not counting today because I've already done laundry, had a doctor's appointment, and gone grocery shopping.  I'm done for the day!

The good news from today?  My weight gain is right on track, my belly is still measuring big (but they aren't worried because of my history of twins), and my blood pressure is great.

Last weekend, our church had a baby shower for us.  It was so sweet....I was NOT expecting to have a shower for baby girl #4!   We were blessed with some amazing gifts.  I don't have many pictures because I forgot our camera.  My older girls ever received some gifts, which made them feel so special.

Brooks and I have a rule that we don't tell the name of the baby until she is born.  It's just our thing...we don't want your opinion!  We figure that we'll decide what to name her, and once she's born, people don't (usually) make rude comments about names.  In the past few months, I've had a bunch of people asking me what we plan to name this baby.  I started telling everyone we were naming her Maude Harriett the third.

People in church have been referring to her as Maude for a while now...it cracks me up!  They'll ask how Maude is doing, if Maude is behaving, etc.  Our church family has a great sense of humor....which was confirmed by the cake we had at the shower.  Check it out: 

We were also blessed with an adorable blanket that has pictures of our family on it.  The girls love it and fight over who gets to nap with it every day.