then there were three...

precious price princesses!!!!!

it hardly seems possible that we have already been blessed to spend 9 days with our precious ava ashley...for so long she was "the baby"...and now here she is, in all her "adorableness", for us to love, snuggle with, steal sugars from, and dote on!!!! she fits into our family perfectly and is such an easy baby (although she does L.O.V.E. her mommy's arms!!!)...we truly give thanks to God for such an amazing gift...for He knew exactly what our family needed...another baby girl!

jeffrey and i checked into the hospital at about midnight on monday october 5th/6th so that i could get a good nights sleep before the big event! i had been up most of the night sunday with steady contractions...but when i went in for my appointment monday morning...there wasn't a great change! dr. w just thought i would get better rest at the hospital...and he was so right! ambien does wonders! after a wonderful almost 6 hour siesta, it was game time!!!!

they started pitocin at about 7:15 and dr. waterfallen came in to break my water at about 8:30. since he believes in very little pain, he had the nurse go ahead and call for the anesthesiologist to come on down and administer the epidural...i will have to say...this is definitely the way to have a baby!!!!! it was smooth sailing the whole way through...and then my nurse denise came in and said at about 12:45 that i was going to start pushing soon! HA - not much pushing happened at all! i pushed ONCE and "the baby's" head was out. dr. waterfallen barely had time to put on his gown and mask!!!! i kept asking if i needed to do anything and i heard a resounding "NO!"...which made me laugh...and they told me not to even laugh or i might sling her across the room!!!!! i suppose it was for dramatic effect...but it felt like it took forever for us to hear the words "IT'S A GIRL!!!!!"!!!!

birth is just simply amazing...and every time, i am utterly amazed at how you can love someone so much in just an instant. of course, i had convinced myself that we were having a boy...so it took me a little while to wrap my head around the fact that we had three daughters...but no doubt, i was totally and completely in love with this little baby. my ava ashley...our third little girl!!!!!

she entered this world at exactly 1:05 pm weighing in at 7 pounds 11 ounces (what i weighed at birth) and was 20 inches long. she felt so tiny to me...i guess that's what happens when you've got a 5 and 2 year old at home...




so many family members were waiting anxiously to find out if we had added a boy or a girl to our family...and jeffrey got to introduce them to our newest bundle. all i could hear when the announcement was made was ella saying "it's princess time!!!"! such a priceless moment that i will never forget. those two little girls knew the whole time that we would be welcoming another sister to the mix!!!!!! they got to take their cameras (that ava had given them) and take pictures of her getting her bath and her first assessment! ella wasn't too sure about sweet baby ava having to get a shot...and maddie didn't like that someone made her cry!!!!! i have no doubt that it was instant love for them too!

unfortunately, maddie and mom got very sick the night ava was born...so things were a little crazy for a few days! jeffrey and i were basically quarantined from everyone...so we just took advantage of spending some quality time with our precious little ava! i got to spend lots of time snuggling and taking in every feature...her precious nose, her sweet little lips, her velvety soft feet, her perfect ears, her scrumptious smell...all those amazing miracles that should never be taken for granted!

jeffrey always looks at me and says "you just love newborns don't you?"...and i really do!!! she has proven to be an extremely easy baby. we've had a couple of nights of fussing...but other than that...we hardly even know she is here. unless you want to take note of the countless diapers we have already gone through, the night feedings and daytime nursing, and the endless laundry that little bit is already requiring me to do!!!!!

as i am sure all mommies do, i am constantly worried about ella and maddie. i want to make sure that they don't feel neglected...while at the same time, assuring them that these changes are normal. they have done amazingly well so far...and LOVE to give ava LOVE!!!! i would have to say that madeline is pretty much infatuated with her new baby sister!!!

we are all so incredibly blessed...new life is such a miracle. to know that ava was formed so perfectly...just to fill a whole in our family that we didn't even know existed until she arrived is mind boggling. i can't wait to see how this tiny little person fits into the "girly mix" we have going on around here...what princess she will want to be, what song she will want to perform for us, and what lip gloss color will be her favorite!

all those special little things that come along with being on this incredible journey of motherhood...

pink is my favorite color...and i guess that's the way it will always be!