Newborn Eve

My dear friend Kristen that did so much for us with Eve, including throwing me a shower and keeping my boys while we were in the hospital, offered to take some newborn pictures of Eve as a gift. She came over to our house when Eve was eight days old and I love the images she captured!

   

  

Kelsie designed this beautiful announcement that went out to family and friends.

 I am so grateful for this baby girl and the joy she has brought to our family!

The First Two Weeks With Little Miss Eve

There's really nothing like having a fresh piece of heaven in your house. It makes you speak kinder, love harder and realize how truly blessed you are. Our boys are absolutely smitten with her and Brian and I just couldn't get over how tiny and perfect she was. Which means LOTS of pictures were snapped!

 

How yummy are those legs tucked right up under her?!

We had lots of selfies to go back and forth with Breanne because she had her baby girl, Ember, two days later! We were so excited to finally confirm our suspicions of her having a girl. Baby besties are so much fun! 

Like I said, these boys are smitten with their sis! Thad would ask to see her right when he woke up in the morning and she was the first thing he asked about after school. "What is Eve doing?, Can I hold her?" My favorite is when he would be playing outside and run in just to check on her. He would tell his friends, "Hold on, I'm going to go look at my baby sister." Talk about melting my mom heart. I love him! Wes is also a sweetie and just talks in a high voice, "Hi baby!" or "She so cute!" while touching her head or face in some way. I have to remember to let them smother her a little bit even when it may not seem in her best interest...she will survive! Also, it took 3-4 days to get Wes to say that her name was Eve and not Faye. It is always so funny when things get stuck in their brains!

My amazing mother flew in on September 20 and we could just not have planned that any better! We agonized a bit over booking the ticket four days before my due date because we knew there was no guarantees she would be here by the time my mom was scheduled to leave on the 27th. It really worked out absolutely perfect...we got dinner brought to us by the Relief Society for the three nights between the hospital and her arrival and then she was here and ready to get to work when she arrived. 

The time passes much too quickly, and we tried to catch some moments and freeze this special time that is gone in the blink of an eye.

The first week was pretty dreamy because I felt so good and my mom was here, so I was able to sit back, or not, and see all the joy this sweetheart was spreading. She was so much sleepier than my boys were the first couple weeks and I would worry she wouldn't sleep at night because she slept so much in the day, but it hasn't been a problem since the day she was born. My mom mentioned a few times that she reminded her of Birtley. I hope that's not an indicator of the type of toddler she will be, because those stories are not as pleasant!

I decided to use this little Longhorn stuffed animal to measure her growth since she is a true Texas girl -- Hook 'em!

Even though waking up every couple hours at night is exhausting, when you have a face like this to stare at, it makes it not so bad.

But before I knew it, it was time to say goodbye to Grandma Cindy. She was amazing while she was here getting up at 6:30 a.m. to get Thad to school, cleaning up, making dinner, babysitting the kids and so many other things, but the thing I was going to miss the most is my mom holding my baby.

This is the thing that is the hardest about living away from family. Yes, it would be nice to attend Sunday dinners and birthday parties, have free babysitter now and then, but my family doesn't get to watch my babies grow, and that is hard. At the very same time I feel so blessed to be away and have these special visits from grandparents and other family members that are different from the day to day visits when living by one another. They are both good and I know that. I'm so glad my mom got to cuddle my sweet baby girl and spoil her brothers. We are blessed.

Oh how grateful I am for all of the amazing people in my life and for our baby girl for bringing us together. Love you so much, Grandma Cindy!