Monday, April 30, 2012

Goodness me, I have THREE!



And I couldn't be happier about that fact.


Just look at my sweet babies.

Our little Rachel Elizabeth joined us on March 22nd, and we are thrilled to death to have her in our family.

And she seems thrilled to be here.
  
If I could possibly describe how much love we all have for this little bundle I would, but there simply aren't words eloquent enough.


She's perfect.


And I have to say that the third time really is a charm.

I am having a completely different experience with this one than I did with my other perfect two.  I'm chalking it up to the fact that before she came, I was shaking in my boots about having three kids. You always hear that three is the real "hum-dinger".  I don't know how many times I've heard, "if you can have three, you can have ten."  And that had me scared.


Real scared.


In fact any glimpse of excitement I'd get would quickly be squashed to smithereens by this dark shadow of fear.  Largely because of just how well I remember those first months with a newborn in the house.  The sleep depravation, the blow-outs, the spit-up, the crying, the post pardom blues, the sleep depravation, the cradle cap, the teething, and did I mention the sleep depravation? ;)


And How on earth was I going to deal with all of this newborn hoopla while dealing with the needs (and shenanigans) of my other two? 


Yeah, I was a little loopy with fear.


But to my lifesaving surprise, an absolute angel was placed in my arms.


-She's an incredible sleeper.
-She doesn't have blow-outs.
-I didn't get post pardom blues.
-She doesn't have cradle cap
-And the spit-up is totally bearable (which is a first).
Not to say that babies who are the opposite of Rachel aren't angels, but I'm so grateful that I got her, just the way she is.


Hallie expresses her love daily for Rachel.  In fact the day we came home from the hospital, Hallie sat on our bed and read to her for a while.





And I was worried about Chan, but he took to her oh so lovingly.




In fact Chandler grew about six inches and gained 40 pounds while we were in the hospital.  He's HUGE, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't mourning the loss of my baby boy.  I miss my limitless snuggle time with that little guy.


Elon had a month long paternity leave, which I'm well aware of just how awesome that is.  And in that month, he was my knight and shining armor.
-He cooked.
-He cleaned.
-He tackled mounds of laundry.
-He put Hallie and Chandler to bed every night, solo!
And other stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting to mention.


Then the choir sang in my ears when he told me that my job is way harder than his.


Can you say "plumb tuckered"? - The poor guy was exhausted! 


Did I mention that he is in love with his new princess too?



So many people came to visit us, and bring us dinner and/or gifts, which was SO appreciated!
Among these were, my Grandma and Grandpa Libby:






And was there ever a cuter Grandma?


My friend Jen came with her girls:


So did my friend JaNeal with her cutie patutie Sonnet:


And my friend Rose with her daughter Sara:


And others who, for whatever reason, didn't get a picture taken, but are VERY appreciated.


Just check out this sleeping beauty.

She seems to be a "blonder" Hallie, which is kinda fun.


Hallie thinks so too.