Life With Baby

Hadley Grace joined our family on January 9th, 2016.  After a scheduled induction that started at 5:00, she entered the world just after midnight in what might have been my easiest delivery to date!

Tipping the scales at 6 pounds, 12 ounces she is a little nugget, but gaining weight nicely and after nearly three weeks, she is finally starting to fill out her newborn clothes a bit.

To say we are madly in love might be an understatement... between Dain and I and her adoring siblings, our sweet baby girl gets showered with more kisses and snuggles than you might think possible.  Is it possible to love on a new baby too much?  Let's hope not!

As I neared my final weeks with her and the general public felt confident enough that my protruding belly was in fact a baby, I heard time and time again, "When are you due?" "Is it your first?"  It became quite enertaining to watch reactions when I replied, "Due soon... and it's my fourth."  My favorite, though, came from a random old man who stopped me in Walmart and said, "I hate to break it to ya, but you're packing on pounds!"  He then, after learning it was my fourth baby said, "You better hurry home before that thing falls right out of you!"  (He was so cute, I couldn't be offended).

Today the question everyone asks is, "How are things going with four kids at home?"  My answer is always the same: Good!  And really, that's the truth.  I think at some point (maybe after kid two?) you realize that every phase will pass: the sleepless nights, the erratic schedule, the endless diaper changes.  It's not so say every thing is easy, but the stress of caring for a newborn seems much less dramatic than it did ten years ago, and I still laugh when I think about how worked up we got about every little thing when Kale was a baby.  I'm also finding that having older kids means you have extra hands to hold and rock the baby, and stick the pacifier back in.... And by default, our sweet Hadley is learning to go with the flow, having already been to muliple basketball games, practices, and other sibling events.  I am still adjusting to getting out the door on time, but I'm sure I'll get that down by the time she turns one :)