We're still alive

I know, I know you are never supposed to let a baby sleep on her tummy. Don't worry I was in the room with her the whole time. But admit it, isn't there something so endearing about a baby sleeping on her tummy with her little bubble butt up in the air?

We're all hanging in there. I think I hit rock bottom last week. So it can only be up from there, right? I don't know if it's the hormones or not but I've been doing my reading and I am confident that it's my lack of support that is causing me to feel so miserable. I have a mother, father, mother in law, father in law and sister in law all with in 40 minutes of me and how many of them have brought us a meal or groceries, or threw in a load of laundry or emptied the dishwasher or vacuumed for me????? None. No one has done a freakin thing. Sure they've come over and played with L and Z so I could catch up on laundry or something but that's about it. My mother actually came over a few weeks ago in the morning and around noon time I said " I'd offer you some lunch but I really don't have anything to make for you." What I was expecting her to say was "I'll go get us some lunch at the store." Instead she said "That's okay I'm going to get going now anyway." Thanks mom.

Am I feeling sorry for myself? You bet. It would be nice to be taken care of a little bit. Appreciated maybe. Okay, I'm done.

It fell off

Her cute dried up black stump of an umbilical cord fell off yesterday on her 15th day of life. It made me really weepy. I'm hormonal. I'm a mess but that's not the point. She' s very likely my last baby and the loss of the umbilical cord means she's no longer brand spanking new. She's practically all grown up already. Next thing you know she's going to be dressing like a prostitute and sneaking out her window at night to meet her sketchy boyfriend and smoke some weed.

How she spends her days

This pretty much sums up how little Ella spends her days. Getting carted around in her carseat fast asleep. This is right outside the bathroom door while I was bathing the two big girls. I was feeling brave tonight. Hubby wasn't home and I haven't given L and Z a bath without him home since Ella's arrival. It just doesn't seem worth the hassle. But he's going to be gone tomorrow night too and so I decided to give it a go and bathe them tonight. Of course Ella slept like a dream through the usual yelling and screaming of L and Z while they splashed and threw bubbles all over each other like a couple of maniacs. Then when it came time for me to turn on the shower head and rinse the bubbles off of them Ella woke up and screamed hysterically. It's like she knew my hands were full so she decided it was the perfect time to cry.

Stand By

I've not been a good blogger since Ella's arrival. I have a pretty good excuse. Hubby's paternity leave got cut short so I've been solo since Ella was 6 days old. Needless to say I'm a wee bit exhausted. Z has been waking up at 5 am and Hubby is gone from 6-6 each day sooooo no time or energy to blog right now. I'll be back soon. When I'm motivated I think I'll even write Ella's birth story too.

With her big sisters

Note how disheveled L and Z look. Messy hair, stains on their clothes. This is what happens to your children when mom is away for 48 hours, LOL.

The Newest Member Of Our Family

Meet Miss Ella Jane. She was bornTuesday October 10th at 11:48am. 7lbs 10 oz 20 in.

What to do What to do

Don't you ever have those days when the hours just loom in front of you, empty, waiting to be filled so you can pass the time with two little kids rather painlessly? It's only 8:22 am right now, I've already been up for nearly 3 hours (thanks Z) and Hubby is at work until tomorrow, soooo what am I to do with these two little "angels" of mine for the next 11 hours until bedtime? Unfortunately, my options are limited because we are pretty darn broke right now. So trips to museums or zoos are out of the question. I haven't mentioned this in my blog, I'm not really sure why. I guess I didn't want to appear like I'm looking for pity. But Hubby lost his job way back in June. Yes, he's still a firefighter, but unfortunately a firefighter's salary just isn't what it should be. He works two 24 hour shifts a week at the fire dept and he was also working for a mortgage broker. The second job is where the bulk of our income came from. Since interest rates sky rocketed the mortgage business has crashed which means there is no money coming in for us. It's just so depressing to be in your 30's with a third baby due any day and not able to pay the bills. Suck suck suck, it's like we're going backwards.
Wow, this just turned into such a downer. Hmm, guess I needed to get that all off of my chest. I'm done now. Onto happy thoughts....
And if you're wondering where the kids are right now, they're down in the playroom, two floors below me. Completely unsupervised. I don't hear any screaming so I assume they're fine. The four year old can take care of the two year old, right? ;)

Officially Two Years Old

Here's a pic of her this morning. The official two year old. She slept like crap last night. She wouldn't go to sleep and then kept waking up yelling through out the night. She must have been trying to replicate the night she was born. She arrived into this world at 2:36 am, what an ungodly hour for anything to occur. Sigh, I guess she was worth it.

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Zoey

I'm a bad mommy and I couldn't find a pic of you brand new saved in my files, I think I must have them all printed out (I hope) so here you are a few months old sleeping on your big sis.
You are quite the little firecracker Miss Zoey. You bring an abundant amount of laughter to our little family every day. We didn't know what we were missing before you came along. Watching you and your big sis play together, fight together, laugh together, cry together, sing together, sleep together, eat together and learn together has really opened my eyes to the great secret of what life is all about. I love you more than you will ever be able to understand.

The Best Dad

L had a field trip today. They went to the orchard that is about a stone's throw away from our house to go apple picking. To a four year old the most exciting part about a field trip is the ride on the big yellow school bus. They could have just driven around their school parking lot for 15 minutes and the kids would have been thrilled.
Last year I went as a chaperone on two field trips with her. This time Hubby went. L was sooooooo excited that her Dad was going with her. He completely rearranged his work schedule so he could go with her. You just know all of her teachers and the other moms were thinking "awww, isn't that so cute, it's a Dad." Sigh, he is the best Dad to our girls. He has so far exceeded my expectations as a father. He is like the father I wished my own was like.
I can remember a day when L was probably just over a year and she wanted Daddy instead of me when she fell down. I was so crushed that I actually shed a few tears. I had always been her "go to" and suddenly I had some competition. Now I can honestly say that I don't feel that way at all. I LOVE that my girls are just as comfortable and just as in love with their Dad as they are with their mom.They are very much "Daddy's girls" and I love it.
Could this be any sappier???

Birthday Party Day

We had a small family party at our house. MIL, FIL, SIL and her new hubby just back from their honeymoon and his four children. L and Z really enjoyed having their new cousins over for the party. We don't have any other nieces, nephews, cousins etc so it was really nice to have some noisy kids around to help us celebrate, even though they are quite a bit older than my own kids.

Birthday Party Day

Z's b'day isn't actually until Thursday but we celebrated it today. The four of us spent the late morning and early afternoon at a local children's museum. They have a great big water table that Z would have happily spent the entire two hours.