Settling in...

Well, its been six days since Amelia joined us and I have to say, things are going well!! She's an amazing baby. Although she has an attitude about nursing (mainly, that its not easy enough for her!), we're persevering...most of my days are spent pumping, nursing, then bottle-feeding. Oy... I'm tired. Her arm is doing well, as far as we can tell. We won't see the pediatric orthopedist until June 8, but in the meantime, we're just pinning her right sleeve to her torso, which stabilizes the arm. And other than me picking her up too roughly this morning (half asleep), she rarely seems to be in pain. So far (knock on wood) she's my best sleeper... I'm enjoying 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night (in two shifts).

The girls are doing so great with her! Surprisingly, Lexi is willing to share me with her baby sister. She loves to watch me pump and ask questions about what I'm doing. She's a little too wild around the baby, but I can't blame her. She just doesn't know. Abbi is my little helper - when she wants to be. She likes to hold the bottle when Amelia eats and is willing to run around to get diapers or burp cloths when I can't get up. The best part is when they both sing a lullaby to Amelia. The windows shatter and the neighborhood cats howl in approval, but its a beautiful gesture all the same...

The plan is to take Amelia's newborn photographs within the next few days (I need a happy, sleepy, well-fed baby), but in the meantime, here are some pictures from coming home and Abbi's first time holding the baby.

A welcome celebration! WARNING - Picture overload!

I'm very lucky that my closest family & friends agree with me; that each baby - whether your first, your second, your fifth, your final - and each pregnant mama needs a celebration party. Call it a shower, a sprinkle, a get-together... its important to me to be celebrated and pampered as I approach my baby's arrival. So, my sister arranged a small party, in my honor, and invited my closest friends and family. The theme was books - in honor of my love of reading (to myself and to my kiddos), each guest was asked to bring a book for the baby. I have to chuckle at the number of turtle books that my baby received!

My sister did the decorating and made the invitations. Mom supplied the food. And my friends supplied the entertainment (who knew that my husband could accurately draw a nursing bra/nursing pads for a close game of Pictionary?! or that our former nanny didn't know many nursery rhymes?!). We had an amazing time and it was so wonderful to celebrate baby's impending arrival.

I tried to take a lot of pictures, so here are some of my favorites... THANK YOU to those who came, and of course, those who planned the shindig.

The food! YUM!!



Flowers from my mother-in-law. Beautiful!


Diapers...part of a game. Y'know...the one where you closely examine the contents and identify which candy bar "filled" the diaper?! Fun stuff!

The cake pops that my sister made. YUMMMMY!!! (they were made to look like rattles with our last initial on them, since baby doesn't have a first name yet!)


The baby swing almost collapsed under the weight of the prizes for the games we played.

The favors my sister made... flowers from mom & sister in the background.

The favors & flowers...

My sister's first crack at a diaper cake! Not too shabby, huh?! Topped with baby's first doll...which my two older girls also have. I just wonder if this one will match the hair color of her doll - the other two have not!

Our game of Pictionary was quite entertaining... even for those who didn't think they could draw well enough. I saved all the pictures because they were so comical!!! (or surprising!!)

My guests examining the contents of the afore-mentioned diapers... don't they look enthralled?!