Success.

 ...
Yesterday was my first day home with our terrific threesome. Lucy decided to challenge me a little and gifted me with a mere 45 minutes of sleep the night before. Thank you, Lucy. Strange enough, I woke up and we had a GREAT first day home with Mommy. Thank you, coffee.

We are FINALLY seeing our old lovable May children again. Molly has rediscovered her listening ears and has returned to the sweet girl that we know and love... with a side of sauciness for good measure.

And Gabriel did not pee in the kitchen, sleep in the wall, sleep under his bed and act out in CRAZY daredevil stunts. He returned to the silly boy that keeps us laughing all day.

And while I know we will continue to have not so wonderful days to come and moments where I feel completely outnumbered--- I will take days like today and savor the joy that it had to offer.

Bunches of joy.

No longer new.

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Look who is now two weeks old!!! My goodness, maybe it is the sleep deprivation or perhaps just the constant busy life with our little Mays but---- those two weeks sure did come and go really quickly.

I have to say, Lucy is the PERFECT fit for our little family. Isn't her chubby face the best?!

Lucy had her two week check up today. Our doctor was REALLY impressed with her weight gain. The goal was to regain her birth weight (7lb 15oz) and she was a healthy 8lb 12 oz. Wowzers. Our little lady loves to eat! To give you an idea, Gabriel was 8.6 at his 2 week check up and Molly was 8.1. Lucy continues to be the most mellow little baby ever. It seems the louder the house the deeper she snoozes. She lived in quite the noisy environment for the first 9 months which I am sure has helped. Her bili levels were great and she has been given a clean bill of health! Our pedi is scheduling a ultrasound to check off her hips in 2 weeks based on my history of CHD... but it is felt that her hips are great! So fun to look at her and see little traits of her siblings in her looks and personality. 

Two weeks in and we couldn't be more excited to have Lucy here!

To sleep or shower.

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It is funny to realize the things that you are willing to sacrifice in order to get a few extra minutes of sleep with a newborn. I think that the most defining moment of my day today was when Molly informed me that I stunk. It was a real winning moment and one that I quickly took pity on all our weekend visitors. Thanks for putting up with my stench, friends.

Weekend visitors? Oh yea. Pictures? I promise they are coming in the next few days as my sister was AWESOME and took them so I didn't have to. Remember the whole sacrificing for sleep thing? Picture taking lost that bid.

My mom was here from Monday to Saturday of last week and I have to say that the help/mommy love was AWESOME. Our other weekend visitors included my sister/nieces, brother/girl friend, The Bakers and a few of my awesome Child Life co-workers. Between visitors, phone messages, emails and dinner drop offs from our neighbors/friends ---we feel very loved! I don't know that we will ever be able to adequately express the gratitude we feel!!

And so this next phase officially takes off tomorrow as it is my first day solo with the May brood. I might be in for a rude awakening but I am feeling ready for it... I finally did get in that shower and what a difference that makes!

Pictures from last week to come!

Life with Lucy

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Well, we are home and finally feeling a little more settled. Rested? Um, not quite but a bunch more settled. The rested part is coming--- eventually.

Life with Lucy home definitely started a little germy. Remember that respiratory virus I had the week before... well, it spread like the bubonic plague. Our first day home and Molly was off to the doctor with day 4 of fever. The next day, was this little man for a respiratory infection that has settled in his chest. And our Lucy lady, well she has become quite the little glow-worm. She has had a doctor appointment for the past 4 days in a row to measure her bili levels. We are so thankful to take this bed home because being away from my other sick Mays would have almost been unbearable... while perhaps a safer option for Lucy.

LOTS of hand washing and some awesome infection control... I have this Lysol wipe (the purple one) that I couldn't imagine life without.

And while all that seemed a little intense, I have to say--- we are well! Molly is fever free, Gabe's chest sounds great and Lucy's levels are headed down. Things are a lot more carefree.

Molly and Gabriel are IN LOVE with their sister. Both however, have been a little annoyed with their parents. Apparently, telling a VERY excited big sister that she can't kiss her new baby sister deems you worthy of public enemy number one status. And Gabriel's regression is really strange and quite a post for another time. I'll just leave you with the fact that we found him in the wall after removing the vent and going for house adventure. Apparently, big brothers are thrill seekers?

To help Molly through the hard first days, we decided that she could help me with Lucy's first bath. I mean, her hands are in soap the entire time, right? MOLLY WAS ECSTATIC. Lucy... well...

She was skeptical but went with it...

And while she wasn't so sure she loved this whole bathing thing, she kept it cool and allowed an opportunity for Molly to have some fun. Such a supportive sister.

With the illness finally out, it meant that we had some time to celebrate a very special birthday girl!!! Best thing about this birthday party was that it was on our street and involved farm animals. We just love our neighbors so much...

This party was the PERFECT distraction for our kids, walking distance and provided this Mommy some MUCH needed down time--- and by downtime, I mean nursing and then taking a shower.

So it is Sunday and we are really looking forward to a great week! Nonnie arrives tomorrow for the week and we can't wait! We have just loved all our visitors. Note, if you visit--- Mays lack personal space and will definitely show you all their "tricks".

Here's to our second (almost) week with Lucy!

Lucy Ellen May

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April 5th has come and gone and look at us now...

"May, party of FIVE, your table is now ready..."

And to think... it all just started with this.
Today, almost 6 years later, my heart is so full of love it could burst. Our complete little family. Now, we just grow in love and life together and embrace the adventures that come our way.

New adventures. Like a Lucy kind-of-love adventure.

Lucy decided to make her beautiful entrance into this world at 5:06 pm, April 5, 2011 weighing in at 7 lb 15 oz and 21 inches long. And she looks JUST like her newborn siblings. Curly hair, puffy face and the spitting image of a smoosh-smoosh named 'guido'. She is perfect and peaceful... and definitely worth the wait.

A little over 8 hours of labor and 2 tiny pushes of waiting...

all in the safe hands of one AWESOME doctor.

Lucy, when you arrived our hearts captured a new level of joy...

Our little lady love.

If I could just live in this moment for always than all would be right with the world.

Twas the night before labor?

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Twas the night before labor and all through the house

All my people were sleeping as quiet as a mouse---with a cough.

My bags were all packed by the door with great care...

Come to think of it--- I sure hope I packed me some clean underwear

My children are all snuggled--- Gabe's in Molly's bed

While scenes from Tangled replay in their heads

And Nonnie's in Gabe's room, Sweet Kelly's in bed

As I sit here rhyming because of the thoughts in my head...

.... I have to say, this whole knowing your baby is coming tomorrow thing is VERY new to me and seems sort of strange. Sort of like you are about to receive the BEST present but to get it you have to go through a BUNCH of hard work first.

Come to think of it--- don't the best presents always involve a bit of work? Feeling positive and awaiting the peaceful.

Sleep sweet and stay tuned.

April 2, 2011

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We made it!

Not going to lie, there were a couple moments last week that I wasn't so sure we would get there--- like a night full of contractions last Thursday night. Buuuuuutttttt...... we did. What an incredible wedding! I love weddings so much and to have it be the celebration of such a great friend is even better. So fun to have all our college friends in town. Elizabeth was the most BEAUTIFUL bride! Personally, I think this wedding party was the best yet because they definitely had one cute little flower girl. I really didn't know all this was going to go down as our Molly is a bit unpredictable in her moods. And... she did have quite the aisle to make it down. You would have thought she had been a flower girl 6 times. What a pro.

I am sure it had NOTHING to do with the incentive waiting in the pew for her.

Such a great day surrounded in love

and great friends.

To completely celebrate, I took almost no pictures. That's it. The cake was DELICIOUS, the bride and groom were glowing, the venue was awesome but... unfortunately, it was not documented by me--- I was too busy groovin' on the dance floor where my water did NOT break... despite the pool that it would.

Kelly and I came back from the reception nice and relaxed which really helped ease the blow when Molly spiked a bit of a fever late in the night. Seems this cold has struck again with the two littles. Two days, May kids... time to get healthy.

Good drugs and some quality sleep on board----which I think is going to make all the difference.

T- 1 day to Lucy... that is just incredible.