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We were blessed to have my parents be able to come out and help out when Meg was born!  They stayed for a week, shopping, cleaning, cooking, taking the big kids out for all kinds of fun (bowling, "Chicken Run", McD's, the park, trips to Sam's club…) making sure I took naps, and making sure Emma's birthday party still happened six days after Meg's birth.  Yeah, they are awesome.  Since I spent so much time sleeping, I don't have many pictures… but I have lots and lots of happy memories and grateful feelings!  It was perfect timing for them to be here to help out when Nate was so busy.  THANKS, mom and dad!!!  You guys are the best!

Born Tuesday, March 22 @ 12:55 am

7 lb. 12 oz. 19 inches

Can't tell you how grateful and happy we are she is finally here!  (And that she likes a pacifier!)

I have made it through 4 pregnancies without a picture of me near the end (actually without many pictures of me at all!)  And while that sounds like a good idea while pregnant, someday I might wonder what that big belly looked like.  So here it is.  And good thing I took it when I did… because if I had waited two days it would have been too late!

I finally figured out that that thought is why I've been humming the Christmas song "It's the most wonderful time of the year…" mindlessly lately.  With the melting piles of snow, and the melting block of ice, it IS messy… and days warm enough to do so ARE wonderful.  Everyone is loving being able to be outside!!  And so we will tolerate the 3 pairs (of Carter's alone) of muddy pants hanging in the shower to dry, and the piles of muddy boots (both rain and snow, since one set is still drying from the day before), and the mud that ends up everywhere.  

You may remember that Emma loves a good birthday party.  She loves to plan it, prepare for it, carry it out.  And her own birthday is no exception.  She wanted to be (and was) involved in all of it – making the invitations, bringing home signs she had made at school (that said "Happy birthday princess Emma!"), and making her cupcakes (to freeze and have on hand because we just had no idea when baby Meg would show up.)  Of course, one benefit to helping is licking the bowl…

We have some good friends in Japan, and with the recent events there we have been talking about it a lot, and the kids wanted to do something to help.  A friend here had noticed recently that the Church's humanitarian aid site had mentioned they were short on quilts, and since winter without power in Japan is cold, the kids thought it would be cool to make a quilt to donate.  (I also thought that undertaking a project of that magnitude would certainly put me into labor… no luck.)  I figured even if the quilt didn't go to Japan, it was something tangible they could do to feel like they were helping.  

I was surprised at how interested in tying the quilt the kids were – and how good at it they quickly became!   Even Carter was an active participant (I would poke the needle through and he would walk away with it until it was pulled tight), and Emma and Zach were independent quilters!  They finished it up in only 3 days… now we will see if it gets bound more quickly than my average quilt – we will hope so.  

…. then it's time she arrived.  Baby girl is the latest of our kiddos to show up, and we are more than ready!  (Although now that it's warming up, my flip flops look less ridiculous…)

You can never have enough pictures of matching mom/daughter pj's.  Emma is a darling mommy to Ellie!

So I am all for Carter using the potty… but not so excited about him getting his own TP.  

I heard the door open and close when I was down doing laundry… and came up to find that Emma and Carter were headed "to walk to the airport… don't worry, mom, we'll walk in the gutter" (which is our cul-de-sac version of a sidewalk, so to them that sounds safe!)  

I told them no.  Emma reassured me that she hadn't REALLY planned on going.  So instead they walked up and down the driveway all day long.  It was SO cold… but they didn't care one bit.