Settling

Time - it's really all we have these days. It's precious. We have to choose wisely how we spend it and the computer just doesn't get much priority. But there are things that I want to remember about these early days with our three girls. So, while Daddy and the big girls are at the pool and littlest one is sleeping - I have a few thoughts I want to get out - bulleted style.

I got my fast delivery. We got to the hospital at 5:00am. Pitocin was started at 6:00am. By 9:00am I was 5 cm. When they checked me again at 10:45am I could see the look of surprise on the nurse's face and then she asked me to push. I was complete and she started scrambling around to get the room ready. I asked if Dr. Shoemaker was coming and she said "Oh, we don't need him yet". Once the room was ready - about 5 minutes later - she asked me to push again and then quickly told me to stop, left the room and called for Dr. Shoemaker - STAT. Three pushes later, Emma Ann Miller was born, at 11:09am. It was the easiest (outside of the 45 minutes when I really NEEDED the epidural) delivery by far. Makes me think I could have a few more (just kidding, Matt)!

We are on day six of Emma Ann's life and I still don't have a picture of all three girls together. I had sweet little shirts made for them just waiting for them at the hospital. But the big girls never made it up to the hospital room at the same time (Maddie never made it at all). They both came down with some kind of virus - fever, rash, lethargy - so we had to keep them away from the baby. We were all re-united yesterday and I was really glad to have all five of us together for the first time.

We had great intentions of going to the bay late yesterday afternoon to get pictures in above mentioned shirts. Matt was loading up Hannah Cate and Maddie in the car while I was changing Emma Ann's diaper. I thought she had what Matt likes to call a "poot gone bad" but in reality it was just the start of a major poop. In the middle of changing her, the phone rang and it was Hannah Cate's new teacher for next year. She had been calling for a few days and I knew I needed to talk to her, so I answered. Mistake. That's when the rest of the major poop started coming - with no diaper on and all over her "little sister" onesie. Only my hands were there to catch it and all the while I'm trying to carry on a conversation with HC's teacher. At one point, her teacher kindly told me that she understood why she hadn't been able to get in touch with me because she heard I just had a baby. "You just have your hands full" she told me. To which I thought to myself - You have no idea just how true that statement is right now!

Needless to say, we had to reschedule the shirt pictures once again. Maybe tonight

Last night I was able to crawl into bed with Hannah Cate and read her favorite "lion book" (the Richard Scarry book). After reading for awhile, we started to say her prayers. Our routine is that we talk about what to pray for first and then I usually say the prayer and she chimes in as she sees fit. I was thanking God for Emma Ann and that she was safe and healthy and that she's now a part of our family. Here comes HC's two cents - "And thank you that Mommy's belly button is fixed".

Maddie has been super sweet with the baby. She gets excited to see her - screaming out "BAY" every time she sees her.


Emma Ann has the sweetest dimple in her left cheek. I can't wait to see what it looks like when she starts breaking out the huge grins.


After just a few days of being home with all three, Matt is already planning a vacation to Mexico.

There's no doubt that we are busy. There's not a lot of down time around here, but our hearts are full and we are so thankful for this growing family.