Beautiful Lottie Girl

     Well, she's here. Our beautiful, and sweet daughter, Charlotte Rose, graced us with her presence July 24 around noon. Weighing in at a whopping 7lb13oz and 22in long! She is such a beauty and to say we are in love is an understatement.

      We feel immensely blessed and have loved the transition from a family of 3 to a family of 4. Hudson is doing really well with it and has fallen in love with his little "baby" as much as Nic and I have. In fact, a couple mornings ago around 5:30 I woke to Charlotte crying next to me in bed- I roll over to find Hudson had left his bed, climbed into ours and was trying to cuddle with her. It was absolutely heart melting. I know some people are anti-cosleeping and while for the most part I believe it is healthier for the parents if the babes sleep in their own beds, not to mention that everyone sleeps better without being interrupted by everyone else's movements- we do have them in with us from time to time.  I know I will live to desperately miss these cuddles and wish I had enjoyed them more so for now I am soaking them all up as much as I can. And the nay-sayers can just shhhh.

      We have been SO lucky to have had Nic home for the end of July and the better part of August- he has only had to go into work about 5 days, and had minimal at-home work to keep up with up until this past week when he traveled to OKC for their usual round of monthly meetings. We missed out on a lot of the early family time when Hudson was born because of travel and Nic's demanding work schedule so we feel very very blessed to have had him home to get to bond and enjoy these days that seem disappear so quickly. It's been a whirlwind. How is she already 6 weeks old?! Can anyone tell me?

      We got to have Jesse stay with us for the end of my pregnancy (as Nic was out of town for work for the 3 weeks leading up to my due date) and even then to the 5 week postpartum mark. Playing with Hudson, helping around the house, stealing my laptop all day, sleeping on our couch til noon-- you know, the normal 17 year old uncle stuff. It was a lot of fun having him here and I know Hudson already misses him like crazy. The first morning after Jesse left Hudson marched straight to the empty couch and started asking for him... Just too sweet. And I certainly miss having the dishes taken care of every night. Come back whenever you want, Jess! :)

      Anyways, we are loving our daughter, loving our son, loving each other and loving the life that comes with having a newborn and a toddler. Chaotic? Of course. Exhausting? Naturally. Wonderful? More than you will ever know.