Our Journey to Forever - Private: Loving Life

There is something about this phase of life that just makes my heart soar. Although I never envisioned having my family with the children spaced so far apart, it has been perfect for me. Laurie has been an incredibly easy baby and although I attribute a lot of that to her, I also attribute some of that to the fact that I am just more confident, comfortable and knowledgeable about how to properly care for her. Round three motherhood at 36 years old is just really different than round one motherhood at 26 years old. That, and the fact that I've had six years to rest up from my last baby, the fact that I know how quick and fleeting these days are, and the fact that there are four smitten people in this house who are all just madly in love with our little Laurie makes her addition in our family a beautiful, heart-warming blessing and joy. I am loving it!

One thing I love about the dynamic of my family is that with both boys in school during the day, I am able to sleep when the baby sleeps. With baby number 1, I just didn't really understand that. I had never been a person who took naps and really, when the baby is sleeping, there is that desire to "finally" get that "alone time". Sleep feels like it will take that option away AND it feels like a WASTE of a day. As a first time mother, it just didn't happen for me. The second time around, it was fairly impossible to sleep when the baby slept because there was a three year old who needed attention and supervision. So this is the first baby that I get to sleep with. It does make me feel lazy, sometimes. But I'd rather be lazy and functional, then a complete emotional basket case and physical mess. I've still been plenty tired, but one thing I can almost always rely on is that regardless of how our night went, Laurie will eat sometime between 5:00-7:00 in the morning and then she and I can go back to sleep until anywhere between 9:30-11:00. (Andrew has always been a great help in the morning with getting the boys ready for school if/when his schedule allows it and right now, it totally works for his schedule.)

Laurie's first real outing was to the pinewood derby where we went to cheer on big brother Ammon. Daddy was the cub master so he helped run the show. They made an awesome car together, but the pictures are on Andrew's phone so I'll have to figure out how to add them later.

This girl is just too beautiful for words!

The boys can't get enough of her.

Often times they go to bed feeling "Laurie deprived" because she slept too much and they didn't get to hold her and play with her as much as they had wanted to.

I just had to throw in this handsome picture of my happy oldest child.

I LOVE this kid!!!

(And his awesome brother and his beautiful sister!)

Laurie has accidentally ended up with TONS of purple in her newborn wardrobe. I like it well enough, but it started to get overwhelming. Fortunately we have been given some hand-me-downs to use that are helping to branch out of that.

She is such a sweet baby and Andrew loves coming home to snuggle her.

She lost her umbilical cord at three weeks and one day. Peter actually gagged when he first saw it and made a point to never look at it again. We were excited to get her belly button, free and clear!

Happy Daddy/Daughter snuggle time.

Another one of Laurie's first outings was to cheer Ammon on at his school geography bee. (He had a busy month!) The competition had two 4th graders, four fifth graders and four 6th graders. Ammon was one of the 4th graders and he came in fourth place! We were really proud of him.

After the geography bee was over, we took Laurie back to his classroom. He held her at the front of the room and then another classmate helped him call up his peers one at a time to come see her.

While they were taking turns visiting Laurie, his teacher called on them and they each made a comment of something that impressed them about how well Ammon performed in the geography bee.

He was really the man of the hour in a wonderful way!

The weather got nice enough, and I got far enough past the surgery that I decided it was time to venture out for a walk.

Laurie and I surprised Daddy at work and then we went outside and sat by the ocean for a while.

It was a gorgeous day.

I just can't get enough of this precious face!

The day after our big walk, I took a smaller walk around the corner to sit in the sun.

Instead of using the stroller, I just carried her in the pack.

It's hard on my back, so I probably won't be able to do that much, but I loved having her nestled up against my chest while we enjoyed the nice day together.

This is the beautiful sight I got to see when I looked down at my baby in the carrier.

Peter is awesome with his little sister and is great about carrying her and holding her.

We were very proud of him for being one of the students of the week after helping a new student learn the ropes of his school.

I loved hearing his thoughts in learning about Martin Luther King Jr. He was so sad to explain to me, "Mom, did you know that if it weren't for Martin Luther King Jr, Michael and I wouldn't have been friends!" He loves his cousin Michael so much. He really took that section at school seriously and was able to recite some of the famous speech to me. I was impressed. And I had no idea that he had ever thought about growing up to become a doctor.

Ammon also loves to hold Laurie.

He likes to have her snuggled on his lap while he watches TV.

He also likes to play with her EXACTLY the way he has seen Daddy do it.

He sat in Andrew's chair, put her up on his legs, and then kicks her legs back and forth chanting,

"Running baby, running baby, running baby. Stop!"

At the word stop, they rest her legs and then start the whole thing all over again.

Every time I zip Laurie into her carseat I am a little bit jealous.

Aunt Krista lent us this nice warm car seat blanket thing that looks SOOO happy.

We took a family outing to the beach.

The stroller is also a super warm and happy place to be.

Aunt Katy lent us this nice warm snuggly suit that has a place for the stroller straps to come through and buckle.

The boys had so much fun exploring the shore.

We stayed until the sun started to set and it got too cold.

The boys didn't want to leave.

Even though the first week of her life I couldn't shake the idea that I was staring at Ammon 10 years earlier, the two most frequent comments we get about Laurie are:

1 - "She has beautiful skin!

and

2 - "She looks just like Peter!"

The skin comment is interesting because one of the first things the doctor told us was that she had an extra thick layer of whatever that filmy stuff is on their skin when they are born and that she would have beautiful skin because of it. The comment about Peter is so interesting to me because Laurie is my first baby that I really see MY genetic influence in and Peter was the most blatant carbon copy of Andrew. But somehow despite looking so much like a Nunes, Laurie really does also look so much like her brothers. It helps me see myself in them more than I did in the past.

Those brothers can't wait until she is big enough to really play.

In the mean time, they have been happy to play FOR her.

We were excited to have her wear Peter's old baby outfit.

Her legs are soooo long, though, that it looks way too short for her.

The week before her blessing I decided we better try on the dress.

Laurie was given the name Laurel after my grandma.

Grandma Laurel is the person who picked out and bought this gorgeous dress for her.

It is gorgeous!

It only took four weeks or so before I actually got showered, dressed, and did hair and make up ALL on the same day. It felt good!

I LOVE snuggling my baby!

I mentioned to a couple of friends (one is my mom's age and the other is close to Grandma's age) that I hold her too much. They were both immediately mortified and said that you can NEVER hold a baby too much.

So... I just keep holding her.