So thankful to be called Mommy.

Happy Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to you all. I can't believe I have three beautiful children to call my own. I'm not 17 anymore? I'm supposedly an adult? How on earth.

My first Mother's Day gift this morning was from our newest arrival.

A friend of ours the other day was saying how he didn't want to read FB statuses about baby blow outs. And I get it. But he needs to wait until he's a parent and he's swimmin' in poop like the rest of us. It sortof takes over your life temporarily. I mean, I don't really care to read about blow-outs either. I'm just okay with people having nothing else to post about. Because I'm so there right about now.

It's funny. I was dreading the newborn-haze stage for a good portion of this pregnancy. It probably was because everyone in the family was sleeping like logs for like 12 hour increments when we found out we were pregnant again. Now don't get me wrong, by the time I looked like this, I was totally geared up for it and ready to welcome it. Despite the cheery disposition on that face there below, I'll tell you right now, it was a facade. Remember this baby was 8 lbs 9 oz. She had worn out her welcome in that uterus. Worn it out!

But really, I'll admit that I dreaded it for probably 75% of this pregnancy. And now that I'm wrapped up in it, I'm completely addicted to this baby. I can't get enough of her. I can't kiss her face and rub her head enough. I want to curse daily just looking at her because I can't handle how blanking cute she is. Blankity Blank. I got a feva. And the only prescription is more Isla. I don't want the time to go by at all, I don't even want out of this haze at all. I want to live in this haze forever, where her soft little body just melts onto my chest and we snuggle all day and night. I can't believe I forgot the utter heaven of it! How do you forget so easily?

Isla is 2 weeks old today. And she has been an angelic baby. She has even had a few nights already of only waking up once to nurse. She has a really mild temperament so far. I say so far because  I mentioned this to my sister Nessa, and she was like, "Yeah, so did Eve for the first little while... and then after the first few weeks were over and we were all settled in to having a "sweet, easy baby", that's when her colic kicked in... and the witching hour began... and the wolves howled at the moon and pictures on our walls started inexplicably levitating and flying across the room and stuff..." So I have to be careful. I have to knock on wood here.

I'll keep you posted on levitating objects.

Of course, overall I'm not sleeping very good these days. We are transitioning to a family of five. And when I sit down to eat I can usually get 2 bites in max before I'm up again tending to a little person. I'm climbed and crawled all over all day long; little hands all over my face, putting bows in my hair, poking and prodding all over my body and poking and prodding at baby sister. Little fingers shoved in my mouth and now with a new nursing baby, curiosity takes those tiny hands and makes them lift up/ yank down my shirt pretty much around the clock. But it's the good kind of shirt yanking. We just have to watch it in public.

The second mother's day gift I recieved: breakfast in bed (my favorite. That one there on the right is crab cake eggs benedict... prepared by my live-in chef husband.)

And have you ever seen such orchids? No, I dare say you haven't. They are exquisite.

My lovlies and me... before I completely inhaled what was on that plate.

My third gift:

I complained to my husband that some miniature person had stepped on one of my budding raspberry plants and killed it and that I wanted to fence my garden off. And voila! Look at how much he loves me. Spent a good portion of the day yesterday doing this:

Isn't it splendid?! I love it so much!

A little update on the two older girls. Scarlett seems to be transitioning quite well to the new arrival. She loves her and isn't doing any more tantrumming than she was before she came. She is however, taking her diaper off at a rapid pace once she has deposited a prize, and seems to do this nearly every time I sit down to nurse. It's a really fun game, trying to catch her while she's running naked with a dirty diaper in her hands. She's ready for potty training. But I'm letting the waters settle before I hit it hard.

This is what she does when I rock her and sing to her before putting her in her crib for her nap. I tell her, "I'll only rock you for a minute if you close your eyes and go to sleep". And she honestly thinks she's fooling me into thinking she's snoozing peacefully. I wish we all made this face when we were sacked out.

Lucy surprisingly has had a little tougher time with the transition. She LOVES her sister and is so exceptionally tender with her. But she's just really emotional lately and sortof just having a tough time and doesn't know why. She's doing weird things to get attention so we just have to let her do her thing and get used to the changes.

And of course, I can't forget to mention how thankful I am for the woman in my life who taught me it all:

It was a sad day last week when Grammy went bye-bye. These two were on her like white on rice her entire stay. She is the funnest grandmother you could even begin to imagine up in your mind, and somehow has never-ending energy for sitting on the floor in the V-sit-and-reach position and playing barbies and puzzles and zoobles. My mother is the biggest super fan of her kids and always has been. She insisted on getting a big poster sized blow-up of my sister and me during our Double Platinum stint. (Said poster is still at my parents house.) Whenever we see a young mom with short hair, she suspects that this perfect stranger is trying to copy me. Me: "Mom, that's lunacy, I've never seen that girl before in my life. And even if I had, lots of women have short hair these days." My Mom: "I don't care... you are just such a trend setter... you just don't realize..."She is always there when I need to hear I'm doing just fine and when I'm feeling overwhelmed. I love you mama!

Here's one more little clip aunties and uncles and grandparents will enjoy.
 

Sweetest sisters on earth.

Sometimes I have to ask Father in Heaven to make this mother's love feel like less of a burden. I have to ask for help with it. I feel like it's a burden sometimes because it's so all consuming that it's painfully heavy for my heart to bear. Because the love is so tremendous. Since becoming a mother nearly four years ago, the frequency of me bursting into tears for no apparent reason has completely skyrocketed. While my mom was here we were sitting together watching TV and while I was nursing, she casually mentioned that my oldest brother Jesse nursed every two hours on the dot as a newborn. And I promptly fell apart. Most of you know this but Jesse passed away a couple years ago. And I just told her, "Mom, you can't talk about Jesse as a tiny new baby. I just can't handle it." Because I imagined her holding her tiny firstborn in her arms and praying for his life and praying for the choices he would make as he matured and for his safety and well-being with all of the energy of her heart and soul. Only the kind of energy I've known in prayer since becoming a mother. The kind of prayer I am continuously offering for each of my children. The love of mother is just hard for my heart to withstand sometimes as strange as it sounds. 

So very thankful to be called mommy. Humbled that the Lord has entrusted me with the mortal care of three precious daughters. I smell like baby poop and spit up. And my heart is full. Happy Happy Mother's Day!