Our Number Five

So a little thing happened 2 months ago.

Yes, 2 months ago.

How did 2 months already come and go?!?!

I feel silly even writing sentences like the one above because they seem so trite and overused.  

But there is no other way to say it.  It went FAST!

We've had this little beauty with big brown eyes and the chubbiest of cheeks living with us for the past 2 months.

Our Number Five.  

Lucy Elizabeth.

She is the one who surprised us most.  We didn't think we would have a Number Five.  God thought otherwise.  And now that she is here, we can't imagine what our life would be like without Five.

Like her bigger sister, Abby, she threw me for a loop and came when I was least expecting her to make her arrival.  I went to my OB for my routine check up on Thursday, June 19th, knowing that I was scheduled to be induced on Monday, June 23rd.  A brief comment to my doc about decreased fetal movements landed me in the hospital for monitoring at 5 pm.  That monitoring, despite being totally normal, led to me being induced at 10:30 pm that same night!  

Once again, I had no bag.  No childcare lined up.  No car seat.  No shower.  No camera.  My phone was even dead with no charger!

But when you are having Number Five, you just realize that those things don't matter nearly as much as you once thought they did and you just go with it.

So after a quick trip home for Vance to grab a few things, we spent the night awake (at least I was awake!) in a quiet, dimmed room waiting for our Number Five to make her first appearance.  

And very quickly after breaking my water, Lucy Elizabeth made her debut at 4:59 am on Friday, June 20th to the adoring eyes of her Daddy and me.

I had hoped Number Five would be bald.  I've never had a bald baby and I think they are so cute!  But like her older siblings, she came to us with a full head of hair.  Dark, dark hair!

She was our biggest baby, weighing in at 7 pounds, 12 ounces.

And for the first time, I was able to hold her immediately.  She was given to me instantly and I was able to snuggle her close to me within minutes of her arrival.  I've never gotten to do that before and it was pretty special.

She had some trouble regulating her own body temperature in the beginning, so she had to stay close to my own skin.  I happily obliged.

After her temperature finally regulated itself, she was able to have a wipe down bath and nice hair wash.  She didn't like it very much, but she sure did smell sweet!  Which was a good thing because when Emily saw her for the first time, she instantly said she "smelled bad"!

She was perfect.  Despite a few fears, our prayers were answered and she was completely and totally perfect.

Her big siblings were anxious to meet her.  

I had some minor postpartum complications and so I wasn't able to supervise taking the precious first photos of the kids with their newest sibling.  As a result, they all have sun streaked faces from the nearby blinds.  Nevertheless, their smiles can still be seen!  

Our hospital stay was quick and we left with high hopes that Number Five would be the first to escape the colic curse!

On Saturday evening, June 21st, Miss Lucy Elizabeth was welcomed home with much excitement by her four big siblings.

And the chaos of having FIVE children quickly resumed.  

And then I blinked.  

And just like that, 2 months have come and gone.  

Our sweet little Number Five is a chunky girl with the chubbiest of cheeks.  I'm talking CHUBBY cheeks!  I can't help but call her our chunky monkey!

She has gained over 3 pounds and has outgrown her newborn clothing.

She has eyes that are big and brown and the tiniest little mouth.  

She became a child of God when she was washed in the waters of Baptism on her 1 month birthday.

 

At the 7 week mark, she began to coo and give us the tiniest of smiles.

She is able to hold head up very well and gazes at all the chaos that constantly exists around her.

And on her 2 month birthday, she surprised me and gave me the smallest of giggles.  At least I think she did.  Or maybe it was just gas.

She still does a lot of this...

But overall, she is the BEST of the babies we've had.  She even sleeps at night... as in between 6 and 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep!  It's miraculous and heavenly and completely unexpected, but so, SO welcomed!

2 months...

For 2 months this chunky girl has charmed us.

Life continues to move ever so swiftly.  In another blink of my eye, another 2 months will have come and gone and our Number Five will have changed even more.  

And we will wonder even more how we can't imagine our crazy, chaotic, busy, noisy, messy life without our Number Five.

Sweet Lucy Elizabeth.