12 on the 12th [06.12.12]

I have exactly 25 minutes before I am supposed to go help my sister paint ceilings in her new house. In that time I am going to get my June 12 on the 12^th posted. Because it is now July 18^th and Marlee is five weeks old.

Anyway, ready, GO…

01.   Awoken. A 4:00am contraction wake-up call confirmed it was baby day.

02.   Refresher. As not to make my hospital arrival during the transition stage again {like I had done with Jace} I googled a refresher on how to time contraction.

03.  Monitoring. 6:30 am we arrived at the hospital. I love the repetitive sound of a tiny beating heart.

04.  Good Luck Charm. I proudly wore the handcrafted good luck bracelet that Brynlee had made for me.

05.  Safe Arrival. Our sweet baby Marlee arrived at 10:08 am, safe and sound. And screaming.

06.  Exhaustion. Hot dang. I look like a rockstar. A swollen, exhausted, just returned from a miserable trip to Hades kinda rockstar. Oh, and my hair…Spence did it for me. Not bad, huh.

07.  Perfection. Spence went to the nursery and gave Marlee her first bath. When they returned we unwrapped the swaddled little darling and examined her miniature-ness. Toes, hands, ears, little bum…everything is so much cuter when it’s pint size.

08. Visitors. And then big sister, Brynlee, and big brother, Jace, arrived. Along with cousins Brooke and Zayne and Aunt Jami and Katie. Thanks girls for watching my kiddos – aren’t sisters the best. {I just realized that I cut Brookie out of that picture, but I don’t have time to fix it {25 minutes, remember}. Just image she is standing by Brynlee in all her Brookie glory with a paper constructed nurse’s hat and a pink bow attached to her head.} {Also take note of Brynlee’s shirt. Brynlee and Brooke were a tad bit worried about getting their matchy matchy cheer camp shirts mixed up so they wrote their names across the front of their shirts with ORANGE SHARPIE MARKER. Awesome.}

09.  Bearing Gifts. The gang brought some pink balloons for our new little princess and a pink and white orchid for me.  

10.   Meeting Marlee. I was so excited to finally have Marlee here because, well, pregnancy sucks. Duh! But also because I couldn’t wait for Brynlee and Jace to meet her - to make everything we had been talking about and preparing for a reality. The whole experience hasn’t disappointed at all. Without hesitation they both accepted her into our little family. They are such proud siblings.

11.    Big Brother. Jace walked into my hospital room with arms extended ready to hold his new sister. Kinda like, hand over the baby, big brother’s here. I still smile just thinking about it. So.Dang.Cute!

12.   Our Sweet Angel.  How could something so tiny make a group of people so happy? And to think we didn’t even know we were missing her before she arrived. Funny how that works, isn’t it.

And that pretty much wrapped up my hospital stay. We arrived at the hospital at 6:30 am, Marlee was born at 10:00 am and exactly 24 hours later at 10:00 am our new little family of five was homeward bound. And for the last five weeks we have invested the majority of our time staring at her itty bitty perfection. I truly could sit and smell her all day long. That smell! It’s the aroma of heaven, I suppose. So refreshing, so intoxicating. I’m so glad she joined our family.

Well, for now. Ask me again in two years.

{Kidding. I hope!}