It's all coming back to me now...

Having a new baby is like riding a bike.

I was a little shaky at first, but it's all coming back to me now.

Like you need to take extra outfits in the diaper bag for when they spit up all over their clothes. I had forgotten that. And  you can never have too many pacifiers around. 

Or the wonder of gas drops. What are they anyway?!

Or that bibs are great just so you don't have to keep changing outfits.

I also forgot how amazing it feels to cuddle a baby and have her gaze up at you and smile.

Or how cute baby giggles are. 

I am determined to enjoy this. Because it is more than likely my last time.

 Lucy loves to be held. And I love to hold her. And she has decided it is more fun to be held then sleep at night (although she is turning into a pretty good day napper). But my mom is coming tomorrow so I am going to be taking lots of naps in the next few days. Yay for Grandmas!

And this little one already has two very adoring Grandmas who fell in love with her instantly. I love that my kids have such great grandparents. They know they are loved by their grandparents, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Grandparents are for spoiling! 

Sami and Janie are now sharing a room so that Lucy can have her own room.  They are loving it. They stay up talking and giggling. And occasionally jumping on the bed, at which time I definitively intervene. 

Janie told me today how much she loves her baby sister and asked if she could keep her. I loved that. I love that the girls have adjusted so easily to their new baby sister. Janie calls her "my baby," after which Sami says "no, she's my baby," and then I say "she's everyone's baby." That seems to be a satisfying answer. :)

Introducing Lucy...

We have a new baby!

Oh, you didn't know I was pregnant?

And thanks, I really do look great for having a new baby! :) 

No water retention here.

And despite my aging metabolism, I was able to wear my old jeans on the day we brought her home. 

Okay, enough of my tired sense of humor.

The truth is...

WE ADOPTED!! 

(Do I still look great for having a new baby? The answer to my face is yes.)

Lucy Abigail Olsen 

joined our family on July 12th, 2012. 

She is four months old and weighs 12.5 pounds.

We just adore her.

I am Lucy's aunt by marriage but now her mother through adoption.

 Isn't adoption awesome?!

And we sure are delighted to have her!

It happened super quick. We decided on a Tuesday afternoon that we wanted her to join our family and the paperwork was signed on Thursday and we held her for the first time at 1 am on Friday morning (we took the last available flight out of Phoenix to Denver, then drove to my hometown to get her). 

We named her Lucy because, well, we like that name and it goes so well with Sami and Janie, but mainly because it means "light." Lucy is a light to our family. Abigail means "brings joy" and "father's delight," both so true of our newest addition.

We admire Marcie so much for the courage to give us her baby. It is not easy, by any means, in fact, probably the hardest thing she has ever done. But we love her for it. It is an open adoption, so we are in contact and will continue to do so. We will go to Nebraska for Christmas where my Marcie and my nieces and nephew will see Lucy again. 

The adoption will be finalized in court in about 100 days. Then we will take her to the temple to be sealed to us, what a glorious day that will be! And she will also be blessed in church by Jonathan on the following Sunday. We are looking forward to it.

We have just fallen in love with Lucy. And Sami and Janie have been rockstars! It happened so quickly but they have been so great and have only expressed love to their new sister and thanked me a dozen times for their new sister. I am so impressed with their love. 

Now we are a family of five!

I feel my Heavenly Father's love so strongly as I gaze upon my children. They are each a miracle baby that came in a way and in a time that I hadn't originally thought of when Jonathan and I got married and were "planning" our family. Yet I am so, so grateful for each one. I love being a mom to three girls!

Celebrating the Fourth

Our Independence Day was pretty low key. Jonathan worked all day and came home and worked into the night doing discharge summaries. He did take a short break to shoot off a few fireworks with the girls. The fun thing was a 4th of July party put on by the girls' little friend Elise. 

Laura, Elise's Mom, decked out the girls in awesome Independence Day parade style. They even did a little parade in the house. My girls are still having their own parades.

God bless America. I truly love this country. 

"Special" Dress Up

There seems to be an unwritten rule that every child has to put underwear on their head. 

And parents take pictures of it.

I did it. I have the picture to prove it.

And so did Jonathan. I also have his picture. 

Yesterday while I was cleaning up dinner dishes, the girls were in their rooms "playing," and came out giggling, showing me their "new clothes." I had to take pictures. It's what parents do. And the best (or worst) part is that their new clothes came from the dirty clothes basket. Ew. 

And aren't they cute?  I may put these in their wedding videos. :)

A few of my favorite things...

I love it when my blogging friends make posts about things that they love. So I decided to do my own version. Sorry in advance for how many times I say "love."

First of all, my favorite new find recently. Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson. I love this book! It is perfect, a fun, sweet, read. It's a love story with a little mystery. If you read at all for fun, you should get this book.  Here in Mesa, you can get it at Walmart or any church bookstore or online, of course.  I read it twice in five days and I will probably read it again soon. It's good. 

 Other books I have loved reading lately:

Captive Heart by Michelle Paige Holmes

Dangerous Favor by Joyce DiPastena

The Maid of Fairbourne Hall by Julie Klassen

Entwined by Heather Dixon

A Lasting Impression by Tamera Alexander

*Of course, I will always recommend my favorite book of all time, Tregaron's Daughter by Madeleine Brent. It starts out slow but it gets so, so good. 

I have also loved watching Emma, made by the BBC. It's the most recent version and it's so good. I watched it on Netflix while J was at work (to spare him the sappy period pieces, as he calls them). Then my mother-in-law surprised me by getting it for me for Mother's Day. When my mom and sis came to visit, we watched it again together. And of course, they loved it too. If you love period films or films by the BBC, you will enjoy it. 

 And one of Jonathan's favorite things that I discovered recently are crock-pot liners. Make cleaning the crock pot a breeze. I keep these in stock at my house. You can find them in Wal-mart by the paper plates, aluminum foil, saran wrap, etc. It encourages me to use my crock-pot.

And Dave Ramsey. My friend, Julie, kept talking "Financial Peace University" by Dave Ramsey and how it had totally changed their outlook on money. She kept telling me that I should borrow the cds or videos. Finally I did. Jonathan and I have been watching the dvds together and I can honestly say it has changed our outlook on everything financial. He talks about budgeting, saving, how/when to buy/sell a house, retirement, insurances, anything/everything financial. I always thought we were good "money wise" but watching him has helped so much as we plan on how to get out of debt. Now I feel like Jonathan and I are on the same page financially. It's awesome.

When I want a sweet treat, Cadbury is heavenly. Need I say more? Delish. And only 150 calories for a mini bar. 

One of my new fave cooking blogs: Jamie Cooks It Up.  Her pictures are awesome and her recipes are equally so.

 I also love watching how to do craft projects on My Craft Channel. My favorite is Create to Remember. So fun if you have "spare time." 

So these are a few of my favorite things lately. I would love to hear about some of your favorite finds!

Janie's a Big Girl

This week we had Janie's "Big Girl Party." 

That happens in our house when you move from a crib to a bed.

But Janie was also required to be fully potty trained. And now she is! {Finally! Whew!}

So now she is sleeping in her big bed and has no more accidents. Yay for Janie! 

For the party, we had pizza and cupcakes and Grandma came over. And there were a few fun presents. Sami also got a present for being such a good sister to Janie. Everyone had fun.

(As a side note, I realize that is kinda weird that my girls are over 3 years old when the crib comes down, but they just never realized that they could climb out. That was nice. And we took full advantage. It was so nice know that they were safe in their crib and wouldn't get out.)

She is a big girl.

We sure do love her.

Today I re-learned some lessons the hard way.

When I woke up, I decided to have fun with the girls today. So we went to some yard sales, then we went and got their hair cut (swimming lessons are coming up and bobs are so much easier to comb out), and then we ran to target to get a few things. Then it was time to go to the Mommy and Me playgroup at church. The girls were really excited. So we left Target and headed out to the parking lot but when I got the girls in their car seats, and went to turn on the air conditioning, I got nothing.

My car battery was dead.

So I called AAA. I love them. But it took a few minutes to get to me and even longer for them to replace battery. It was hot out (of course, we live in AZ) and I wanted to cool us off so I decided to take the girls to Famous Footwear. It was right next to Target and would be a nice distraction. Bad idea. I should have gone back to Target and kept the girls busy with popcorn.

The girls were running around, and being loud in the store. I was trying on a few shoes, hoping the AAA guy would call me and say my car was done. At first I really got on the girls for running around and being loud, but it was hard. They were tired, I was tired. We had been out all morning, we were hungry, and the playgroup was not going to happen. 

And then a lady yelled at me from the other side of the store. Yelling that my kids were "brats," and "wild indians" and that I should "control them."

I was mortified. I took the girls and left. 

As I was walking away, I got mad. I wanted to go back and tell her, "Listen Lady, I am doing the best I can. I wouldn't even be here if my car wasn't broken down outside. We are in here to just keep cool and look at pretty shoes. I know my kids are being crazy, but they are tired, hot, and hungry. And they are children, for crying out loud!"

I cried when I got home. Then I called my mom and like always, she reassured me that I was not a bad mom. 

And this is what I am going to take away:

1. I NEVER want to be the person who is critical of other moms. It is hard work. It is not easy and kids don't always act perfect. But we are all trying. Moms need compassion, not criticism.

2. When I seeing a struggling mom, I want to offer help. Even if it just a smile of encouragement. 

3. Stay out of stores without carts. Carts help me corral my kids.

Now, I know my kids are good, and are not brats. Today was a hard day, but that's not how it is every time we go to a store. And I wouldn't trade my kids (or my experiences with them) for anything in the world, even on the worst days. We are all learning together.

Thanks for letting me vent. 

:)