A Family Heirloom

This beautiful cradle has been passed throughout my family for over 90 years.  It was built for my grandfather when he was born.  He and all five of his siblings slept in it, then their children and grandchildren slept in it and now great grandchildren (and in some cases great-great grandchildren) have slept in it.  In my immediate family alone, it's on its fourth generation...my grandfather, my dad, me and my girls. It is such a special heirloom and I am thankful that both Adair and Myla Grant have gotten to experience this special cradle. It's a beautiful piece and, to have held so many babies over so many years, it is in wonderful condition. I am so glad that it is still making its way around our family and, most recently, made its way to my house.

Our Ballerina Bunny

Adair looked forward to her dance recital for months!  She was so excited and would talk about it constantly.  This Saturday she got to perform for us in her recital and did a great job.  We were very proud of her!

Adair has taken ballet at school this year through Praise Him Ballet, part of Briarwood Ballet.  It has been a highlight of her year.  The program is such a sweet ministry and Adair has learned alot more than ballet during her lessons. 

The theme of the recital was Noah's Ark and the girls were bunnies, red birds, tigers, rain drops and rainbows.  Our little bunny ballerina was precious in her costume and was in her element on that stage. 

Excited before the recital.

Sarah Kathryn and Adair

Waiting to watch

Sweet bunny ballerinas

(Adair is on the back row, third from the left)

Our sweet ballerina

Sarah Kathryn, Adair and Caroline

Our attempt at a family photo...

Adair, Nona and Myla Grant (Joe-pa came, too,

but had to leave before pictures for a golf tournament)

Myla Grant is Two Weeks Old

Myla Grant is pure sweetness! We are enjoying our newest addition more than we can say.

We have battled the dreaded bilirubin checks since coming home from the hospital and, thankfully, she never had to go on the "tanning bed" (aka: light therapy). Adair spent 10 days on the light, so we were terrified we would have to endure the same with Myla Grant. Fortunately, we knew the drill and spent alot of time outside in the sun with her and she ate well, so the problem corrected itself.

Today she is two weeks old. She weighs 8 pounds and 3.5 ounces and is 20.5 inches long. She's gained 14.5 ounces and half an inch since birth! 

She is so sweet and cuddly and she is adored by her older sisters.  Both of them love to help by bringing blankets, diapers, and burp cloths when we need them.  They lavish her with kisses, as we all do, and ask to see her the second they wake up in the morning.  I hope these three always love each other like they do now. 

We are so greatful for a sweet, healthy and thriving baby girl.  We all love her so much and are enjoying watching her change right before our eyes.

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Around Here (v. 2012.1)

Life at our house has been surprisingly simple...of course, simple is in comparison to our expectations.  Yes, one of us is getting up every two to three hours to feed Myla Grant and, yes, we are tired, but all in all we are counting our blessings! 

Emalyn is still doing great with Myla Grant, in fact, Myla Grant's arrival seems to have solidified our family and the permanance of it for her.  She has reached several milestones since Myla Grant arrived.  She is going down at night without being rocked to sleep, sleeping through the night, taking her nap in her bed, and sleeping longer at naptime.  She is the same happy, go lucky little girl that she was before Myla Grant came along.  She is jealous of Myla Grant, but it's nothing that isn't typical of any toddler her age with a new sibling.

Here are a few pictures of what we've been up to around here these last two weeks.

Emalyn lavishing kisses on Myla Grant.

Adair and Myla Grant

Myla Grant's first home hair washing.

Sweetness.

More sweetness.

Playing in our blanket fort (or fork, as Adair called it).

Loving on baby sister.

Emalyn's first time in the sprinkler.  She loved it as long

as only her hands and feet were getting wet.

Emalyn: Nine Weeks in our Arms

Gotcha day was nine weeks ago today!  It's hard to believe that we've only had Emalyn in our arms for nine short weeks.  She has made such amazing progress and has settled into our family so well.  We have grown to love her more everyday, we learn something new about her everyday, and we laugh at her everyday!  Hank and I look at each other at dinner every night and bet that she will be our comedian.  Even without talking, she can make us all laugh.  She is truly a delight and has such a big personality.  It's really a little bit scary how well she can express herself without using words...it makes me wonder if she will ever start talking.  (Although, she has added several new words to her vocabulary lately...Nona, Joe-pa, Myla <sort of>, up, down, out.)  She has blossomed into a wonderful big sister, too.  She loves Myla Grant so much and kisses her at least 50 times a day. 

I think about Emalyn's birth mom a lot, but this week I have thought about her in a new way.  Having had the unique experience of giving birth to Myla Grant just a short eight weeks after getting my arms around Emalyn, I cannot help but think about how her birth mom must have felt during and after giving birth to Emalyn.  I wonder if she knew she would have to let her go before she gave birth or if it was a decision that was made after the fact...perhaps because she was a girl or because of her special medical need.  I wonder how she felt with each labor pain, how she felt as she recovered from labor and her body regained strength.  I wonder if she hid out and made sure Emalyn was found, even as her body ached after delivery.  I am sure she thinks about her every single day.  I am sure that she wonders how she is and where she is.  I cannot imagine the pain of saying goodbye to one of my children, regardless of how or why.  I pray that God will provide a supernatural comfort for her that Emalyn is loved beyond measure and part of a loving family.  I know her pain will never go away and that she will always long for her baby girl, but I pray that she will find peace.

Enough

I would be lying if I said I haven't been a total basket case of emotions since bringing Myla Grant home from the hospital.  I love my new life and I am completely overwhelmed with God's grace and goodness in entrusting these three sweet little lives to us.  I am praying He will provide the strength, energy, wisdom and patience I need to get through the early days.  I know He will!

I worried before we added Emalyn to our family, and again with Myla Grant, about having enough love to go around.  My heart is so full that I laugh now to think that I worried about being able to love all three girls enough.  My heart aches and overflows because I love them so much.  What I should have worried about is having enough hands!  I want so badly to be all things to all people...well, at least my people. I want to hold Myla Grant constantly, sit on the floor and play games and read books with Emalyn and color and pretend with Adair.  Unfortunately, by the end of most days, when I look back at the day, the majority of my time has been spent doing household tasks, making meals and feeding Myla Grant, dressing three girls and changing diapers.  I know that it will get easier and I know that we will eventually settle into a routine that works for all of us, but right now I feel like I am always neglecting someone.  Thankfully, the big girls are as happy as can be playing together and just having me be present most of the time.  Emalyn loves to latch onto my leg and both of them want to be held more, which is great by me, except when I don't have enough lap space or hands to go around...then, someone is always waiting for a turn with Mommy.  I hope that over the next few weeks, I can find a way to spend one-on-one time with Emalyn and Adair.  I want to be very intentional about maintaining each of our mother-daughter relationships, independent of their sisters, and to make them each feel special and desirable.

It is such a blessing to get to spend my days serving and loving these three little gifts.  Please pray that I would use my time wisely, but not beat myself up at the end of the day when I didn't live up to my own expectations.  Please also pray for strength and rest...and emotional stability.  :-)

Heading Home

While we enjoyed the quiet of the hospital, we couldn't wait to get home to our new normal.  The big girls did great while we were away, but we were ready to hit the ground running as a family of five.  We arrived home during Adair and Emalyn's naptime and as soon as they woke up, they couldn't stay away from their baby sister.  Kisses and pats galore.  I am a little worried they might over-love her...if that is possible.  It's very sweet, but I don't think I will be able to leave the room for fear that they might literally smother her with kisses.  Now, don't get me wrong, I am not complaining...loving on her too much is definitely better than the alternative, right?

All ready to go home.

Home Sweet Home

Family of Five

Sweet sisters

Look at her tiny toes!

Let's get a closer look.

Kiss, kiss!

Myla Grant's Second Day

We had a lot of sweet visitors come to meet Myla Grant during our hospital stay.  We were overwhelmed with the love everyone already has for our third daughter. 

Our sweet friends who introduced us to each other, Jerry and Melanie Grant...

Myla Grant is their namesake.

Mimi and Grandpa (Hank's parents) came to visit.

Granny (Hank's grandmother) and Myla Grant

Emalyn cannot give her enough kisses.

Neither can Adair.

Meet Myla Grant Powers

Myla Grant is here! She arrived at 12:06 pm, Monday, April 16. She weighs 7 pounds, 5 ounces, is 20 inches long, and has a head full of dark hair.

I was scheduled to be induced on Monday morning, so we prepared the big girls, packed our bags and had my mom spend the night. At 4 cm dilated, my doctor felt like the time was right and I was extremely uncomfortable (I will spare you those details), so I agreed. Little did we know, inducing wouldn't be necessary.

I woke Hank up about 2:30 am and told him that I was having trouble sleeping because my back was hurting, so I was going to sit on the couch and read. I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for months, so the tightening in my tummy I was experiencing wasn't bothering me at all. After I moved to the couch, I noticed that the pains in my back were coming in fairly close intervals and radiating around into the contractions I was having, so I started timing them. They were completely inconsistent, but never more than six minutes apart and they were lasting one to two minutes each. I wasn't sure if I was in early labor or not, but about 3:30 am I decided I might as well get in the shower...one way or the other we were going to the hospital. I continued timing each pain and they continued to get closer together, though they were never exactly consistent. I woke Hank up, he got in the shower and, as we talked, we decided we better call the on-call doctor just in case. I knew that I needed four hours of antibiotics for group B strep prior to delivery in order to spare Myla Grant from unnecessary "poking and prodding", and since Adair came pretty quickly and I was already 4 cm dilated, we decided it best not to take any chances. The on-call doctor said it sounded like early labor and to head on to the hospital...one way or the other we were staying.

We woke my mom, said good bye to the girls (Emalyn wasn't sure what was happening, but did great with my mom and Adair was so excited she could hardly stand it) and arrived at the hospital about 4:45 am.

After I was admitted and settled into the "comfy" bed and "trendy" gown, the nurse started the antibiotic. My contractions were getting stronger and more uncomfortable, so by the time she checked me I was dilated to 5 cm. About 7:30 am I gave in and requested an epidural. Dr. Freeman arrived about 8 am, checked on me and decided to leave all alone until the antibiotic had been dripping for 4 hours. So, we just waited.
9:30 am (4 hours into the antibiotics) came and went, and we anxiously waited for Dr. Freeman to return to break my water and see what progress had been made. We soon learned he had gotten tied up in the OR, so we kept waiting. Finally, about 11:30 am he came in, broke my water and informed us I was dilated to 9 cm. His prediction was that I'd be pushing within 15-20 minutes. Things happened so fast after that! The nurse prepared the room, prepared the bed (mine and Myla Grant's), and prepared me. At 11:45 am, she checked my progress, announced I was ready and called Dr. Freeman. Fifteen minutes later, at noon, I was pushing and Myla Grant graced us with her presence at 12:06 pm.

May I just say that I hope she is always as easy and kind to her Mommy as she was during her entrance into this world. I almost feel guilty saying it, but it was a piece of cake, as far as labor and delivery goes. Adair's birth was pretty quick and easy, as well, but Myla Grant's was an answer to prayer and every Mommy's dream come true.

After she was born I spent a long time holding her on my chest, cuddling her. I was in complete disbelief that she was in my arms. I kept looking at Hank and saying, "doesn't it feel like yesterday that we found out she was coming?". So many wonderful things have happened since the day we found out we were pregnant. Our family has changed drastically, but it is perfect and, no doubt, exactly what the Lord's will was for us. We are so thankful for the three beautiful gifts God has given us in our girls.

Hello world!

20 inches long

Weighing 7 lbs and 5 oz

After we were moved upstairs to our room and settled in, my parents brought Adair and Emalyn to meet their little sister. It was such a sweet time together as a family as we introduced the newest member of our family to her adoring older sisters. Adair had always been super excited about Myla Grant's arrival, so we weren't really concerned about how she would be when she met her. We knew she would be ready to love on her and cuddle her and "mother" her. Emalyn on the other hand, was a wild card. We had no idea what to expect her reaction to be. Leading up to Myla Grant's birthday, we had talked about her a lot, played in her room, nutured baby dolls, and given her kisses, but we still weren't sure Emalyn was prepared for yet another change...a big one!

When they arrived, both girls were so sweet with Myla Grant. Adair was dying to hold her and love on her and Emalyn couldn't give her enough kisses and just wanted to touch her all over. Hank and I were relieved and so thankful! Emalyn climbed right up into the bed with me and wanted to be right next to Myla Grant, but never cried because I was holding her. She truly seemed to understand that Myla Grant was a new sister, like Adair, and that she wouldn't take me away from her. I must have told her 1000 times that I would never love her any less and that Myla Grant wouldn't take me away. I realize she is not even 2 years old, but I think my words actually made an impact. She has fallen into the big sister role so gracefully and has been super sweet. Adair has also been the ideal big sister to both Emalyn and Myla Grant. She loves them both so much and has become quiet the little lady.

Joe-pa, Adair and Myla Grant

Nona, Adair and Myla Grant

My sweet friends, Blair, Meg and Loren, came to visit and meet Myla Grant.

Monday was such a sweet day. We are beyond thankful for our three girls and already can't imagine life without one of them! The Lord has been so gracious and so faithful to complete this work within our family. Each of our girls is such a gift and I pray that we never take that for granted. God is so good to entrust each of them to us. May He also grant us the wisdom, knowledge, strength and patience to raise them well and for His glory!