Presenting: Caroline Hazel Ellis!

Everyone is napping, and I tried to nap but failed, so I guess it's a good time to record this important family event for posterity!

Caroline Hazel Ellis arrived on Monday, September 23, 2013 at 4:34pm weighing in at 5 lbs, 8 oz.

Monday morning at about 3:30 am I woke up and realized I was having regular contractions but stayed in bed trying to get some sleep. A few hours later I decided that if we were going to have this baby soon, I might as well get the laundry done so I got out of bed. Contractions stopped, but my water broke!

On the way to the hospital!

 Once the doctor's office opened we brought the kids over to our good friends' house and headed in to get checked out. Sure enough he sent us over to the hospital to get the show on the road.

Welcome to the world, little Caroline!

 It only took about 4 hours from when I got my IV until she was born. I was progressing steadily until I got to about 5cm and the nurse helped me roll onto my left side. With the next contraction I felt some serious movement going on, called the nurse in and sure enough, Caroline was on her way out! The nurse told me NOT TO PUSH (I wasn't), rushed to get the doctor who ran over, suited up, told me to give one solid push, and she was here! I guess when you're only 5.5 lbs it doesn't take much...

Proud daddy

 The doctor's comment was, "Wow, you are BUILT to have babies!" Which, if it wasn't for the SLIGHT hiccup of becoming pregnant in the first place, I would agree with! I'm really grateful the delivery and recovery was so smooth, because life didn't slow down much just because we had a baby.

Proud Mommy

 Caroline was a week early, so when Rob's mom found out I was in labor she bought a plane ticket and flew in so she could be here to help when I got home from the hospital. I really don't know how we would have done it without her. Savannah and Lily just loved all of the attention she showered on them. I'm actually STILL trying to get her to come back!

Proud Grandma (and very curious sister)

After KK left, my mom and dad flew in and stayed for about 2 weeks.  Which was heaven.  Especially because I could tell how happy (and fed, clothed, bathed, entertained, etc etc) my children were at a time when I was still mostly in the la-la-land of no sleep and raging hormones. 

Grandma presents that have been a HUGE hit

Now that we're 5 weeks into this new chapter of life, I'm still not really sleeping but I have adjusted enough to function and keep all of us alive.  Caroline is a gem of a baby.  She pretty much only cries when she's hungry (every 3 hours or so), and when she's ready to be wrapped up, given a pacifier, and put down for a nap.  I'm really really grateful for this.  Heavenly Father knew I was already operating at close to capacity, so he sent me a baby that was just a leeeettle bit extra.  He didn't want to lose me to the loony-bin, which I appreciate!

Our sleeping angel-baby

Savannah and Lily have accepted "Baby Caroline" as a regular part of life and mostly just leave her alone.  This morning though, I was watching Lily play with her on the rug and she decided to pick Caroline up.  But she couldn't quite figure out how to get a good handle on her, so she said, "Oh, you're too big for me!" and gave up.  Lesson learned...for now!  Savannah does like to play games of 'Peekaboo' (aka throw her blanket over Caroline's head and wait for her to pull it off) which ends up being more like games of 'Almost-Smother-Your-Sister.'  But I just pretend that we're training Caroline to get by on less oxygen so she can someday be an Olympic synchronized swimmer!  There's always a silver lining, right? 

Little Sister is here to stay!

 I am just trying to keep everyone alive and find ways to make these busy days (and nights) pass as pleasantly as possible.  I'm finding that a little bit of exercise every day goes a LONG way toward keeping me sane, that we need to get out of the house every day to keep my children sane, and that Heavenly Father really can make you able to bear your burdens so that even though life may be tough, it doesn't always have to FEEL that way. 

Going for our morning walk in my new triple (!!!) jogging stroller