4 months old and snow in the Spring!

Today this little miss is 4 months old! Where did the time go? In short, to lots of love at home, endless snuggles, so much sunshine and family time(esp tailing her big bros!), in the car on the way to birthdays, grocery stores and church, listening to books with brothers, watching mommy fold clothes and unload the dishwasher, being startled by this sweet and sour two year old...

Needless to say, it's been 4 full months well spent.

For her four month birthday Evan and Bennett wanted to celebrate with a princess style party complete with tea time(and fruit snacks), an original fairytale story written and read by Evan, a birthday song and presents of course. Bennett even broke out his birthday wolf ears for the occasion, and various like stuffed animals were in attendance. If you were to look up "cute" in the dictionary(or on Wikipedia), I'm pretty sure you would see these pictures.

Amelia continues to be a great baby. She's really content and flexible, and we are so grateful! The Lord is so so good to us and knew just what we needed from #4, we say all the time that we couldn't have asked for anything better. She is my dream girl in every way. At 4 months, she's falling into a nice sleep schedule. It's proven more challenging to be consistent with naps and nighttime sleep in this season in our life as a family of six. Sometimes that means not being on the go as much or splitting up for activities on the weekend, at other times she just comes along for the ride and we hope for the best. She is our first baby to refuse a paci and at the same time not suck her thumb, so she is slowly but surely learning to self soothe on her own.  Though, I'm still holding out hope for her thumb as she finds it every now and then. It throws me back in time with memories of our first thumb sucker, baby Evan. Otherwise, she gets a bit longer and stronger everyday. We haven't had her 4 month well baby check yet but I have no doubt that she's put on a good pound(or 3) since last month. Like her brothers, she carries most of her weight in her cheeks. :-) And while time will tell, I'm pretty sure she'll be a brown eyed girl.

After 3 boys and seven years of blue plaid, stripes and primary colors, it's safe to say that this lady baby has lots of sweet dresses, bows in every color and plenty of pink! It's really fun to dress her up into twirly girly clothes I bought when I was pregnant and couldn't imagine her wearing. Now she's here, and filling them out so beautifully. :-) Here is one such dress I bought before she was born and I am in LOVE with it. A photoshoot was a no brainer.

On a last note, I'd like to mention that here in North Carolina, on the second day of Spring, it is SNOWING! These are not the Spring showers I imagined. What even??

*Update 4/6...After today's appointment miss Amelia is 15 pounds, 2.5 oz and 25" long!**

Introducing our dream girl

I can hardly believe it's been nearly two months since we welcomed our dream girl into the family. Miss Amelia Noelle was born on November 21st at 7 pounds and 5 ounces of pure sugar. Here are some pictures from our first few days together at the hospital. At first glance she looked just like Asher except with a full head of dark hair.

Sidenote: Per her beautiful dark hair and rosy complexion it's been decided that she will be Snow White for her first Disney princess Halloween.

"Is she still a girl?" I asked just seconds after her birth from behind the blue curtain. This mom of three boys can still hardly believe her luck! Nice to meet you girl of my dreams. 

 Her first bath, and manicure. :-)

Gigi and Poppy with their new grandgirl and the traditional first "Happy Birth-day" cake.

 

Thankfully, my recovery from this fourth cesarean has far exceeded my (albeit low) expectations. Praise the Lord! In fact, I've told many people that this has been the best recovery of all my babies, and for that we are so grateful. No doubt the amazing meals and support received from family and friends made our holiday homecoming and transition to a family of six that much more smooth and special.

Is there anything sweeter than a sleeping baby?! Maybe tiny baby hands...

As far as newborns go, Amelia is a lovely baby. She's been a great nurser from hour one and sleeps wonderfully at night-thank you Jesus! Of course she wakes to eat, but goes right back down easily and without a fuss, and at 2 months old is already giving me consistent 5-6 hour stretches of sleep. At her one month well baby appointment she was up to a whopping 9 and a half pounds and is continuing to grow and thrive in every way. This lady baby graced us with her first smiles at 4 weeks old and is already cooing up a storm...I predict girly giggles on the way soon!

As far as her personality goes, the Lord has truly blessed us with the most content babe. He certainly knew what we needed from number 4!  She must know how loved and adored she is! Her big brothers dote on her daily, and as the saying goes she is truly daddy's girl and mommy's world.

Sometimes I wish I had a forcefield to protect her from her brothers, other times I think "who doesn't love a good smothering every now and again?"

This new baby stage is my absolute favorite, and knowing she's our last little one makes it all the sweeter. I have a feeling we're going to need to watch out because this one is going to be spoiled rotten! Having a girl has always been a dream of mine and I feel so incredibly blessed to be her mommy.

Ps-Girl shopping is the BEST!

Baby girl update

It's November and that means it's baby girl's birth month! God willing, we will meet this little lady on November 21 via scheduled Cesarean. While I'm not at all looking forward to the surgery and recovery, I'm pleased to say that most of my anxiety has been overwhelmed by the sheer excitement and anticipation of meeting her. Can I just say here that shopping for baby girls is SOOOO much fun?!

Just kidding...but seriously. ;-)

As we enter the homestretch, I have to note how thankful I am that this has truly been an easy pregnancy so far. Of course, it's not been completely without those lovely back aches and pains, but overall I feel really good and would even say it's been the least strenuous of all four. The difference? I can only attribute it to being active and busy with my boys. In any case, I am anxious to reclaim some nighttime sleep and better mobility!

Here's a few bump pics from the last few months...it's bittersweet knowing this will be the last of them, but on some level that has made this season all the more special.

The picture above is with the Reynolds gals over fancy tea and delicious treats. My mom did a fabulous job planning a special tea to honor baby girl and it was great to reconnect with cousins and aunts.

And here I am below at 36 weeks. This pic was taken at my sweet prayer shower thrown by lovey friend Sarah and church home group. I am so thankful to share this new life alongside such amazing women and mamas! Baby girl is so loved all ready. I can't wait to introduce her to the world, to friends and family who have richly blessed with gifts, showered us in pink and prayers and sweet words of encouragement.

 

No doubt we have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!