Welcoming Mary Claire

She's here!  

Our precious third angel made her entrance on Tuesday, February 21st, at 5:27 p.m. weighing in at 7 lbs 13 oz and 20 inches long.  She was our 2nd biggest baby and definitely the one with the most hair! 

She also came the quickest.  I started contracting (lightly) Monday night.  They got stronger Tuesday morning, and by Tuesday at noon it was time to call the doctor.  (because I was in agony, and they were 2-5 min apart for an hour!) 

At 1:30 pm Dr. Rister checked me, and I was at a 4.  Woohoo! It was time to go!  Mom and I met Sean at the house and grabbed all of our bags.  (The big kids were at school.)  We checked into the hospital at 2:00pm.  I got hooked up to receive the antibiotic for the Group B strep, and shortly thereafter got my epidural.  Thank goodness because I was at a 6 at that point!  :/

About an hour later Dr. Rister came by to check me.  When he did, his response was, "Well, you don't have much of a cervix left!".  Translation: Time to push!  ah!  That was fast!  (It was a whirlwind for us since my other two kids took between 16-21 hours to come once we checked in to the hospital!)  So we were shocked at the timing.  Anyway, here's some shots from the day:

All hooked up and waiting for the epidural to set in.  :)  (and I'm trying to hold Clarky still for a pic!)

Having popsicles with Mommy---and feelin the groove

The first glimpse of our doll!
The third time was so neat because our excitement and longing to meet her heavily outweighed our nerves and anxiousness.  Third time's a charm! ;)

Falling in love...

First family of five picture!  Such a neat moment letting the kids meet her for the first time!

Meeting Uncle Josh

One of my favorite quotes: "It is not a small thing when they, so fresh from God, love us".  How true! How true!

Pretty flowers from Gigi

Sean is the sweetest and gentlest Daddy.  These three kids are truly blessed!  The best thing about the hospital stay this time was our precious, quiet time alone with Miss Mary Claire each morning.  Just bonding and cuddling her. 

Meeting her Gigi (Papa was there too---we just didn't get a pic.)  

Meeting cousins Brooks and Sarah Catherine and Aunt Julia

What a blessing to be loved!

Meeting her Gamma and Pepaw

This shot brings me to tears.  The Lord has shown grace and mercy to us through His perfect blessings.  All perfect gifts!!

Just the girls---how blessed to experience sisters!!

Wow.  Who would have thought those two 22 year olds back in 2001 would be here in 2012?  :)

Mary Claire came bearing gifts! :)  Clark got a trumpet (kazoo)

And AnnMarie got a guitar.  They have really been into instruments lately.  Maybe from watching The Fresh Beat Band so much?  whoops

Wearing big sissy's gown.  Wearing her own headband.  :)  I am having TOO much fun buying these!

Sweetest little things!  They're already holding hands!  (And yes, I promise they're related.) :)

My little Eskimo

Little baby in a bonnet?  darling

Yowzas pretty swollen mama! ;)  But had to document Mommy and Daddy all alone with our little third munchkin!

Mommy taking pictures of every possible accessory

Gigi got a cute wreath for the door!

All dressed up, packed up, and ready to go home!  This beautiful blanket was thoughtfully made by my friend, Mrs. Lisa.  A treasure we'll keep forever!  And it's SO soft!

Melt my heart, little sweetie!

Heading out with baby gear in tow! 

And, once we got home, it was back to reality! :)  Love this sweet picture of Big Brother.

Little Missy has been dressed to a T by her Aunt Kristiana.  The cutest baby onesies/burp cloths/bibs around!
*And yes, she's already wearing bows!

And then there were five.  Daddy with his kiddos.  I just love how safe and secure they all feel in this picture.  

Meeting sweet Aunt Allison

Meeting Aunt Caroline and Uncle Luke

How loved this little one already is!  Welcome to the family, Mary Claire!

February moments

Some snapshots from our February:

It snowed for ten minutes one Sunday evening!

And yes, we had to celebrate as though it were ten inches.  :)

Sister's Kindergarten choir sang in church.  They were of course SO cute and made me a little teary. :)

And they were very animated.  We kept giggling the whole time.  :)

Our church had a "Daddy Daughter Date Night".  I mean, really, this was three days after MC was born so I was choking back the tears behind the camera here!
I love love love this picture of Sean and his mini me, and as soon as I'm back in action, I'm getting this framed for Daddy's office!
How fun to think that Daddy will have two little darlings to take to this next year!

SIGH.  His reply was, "I ACCIDENT'.  

And there have been many more of these since we came home from the hospital.  :)  These are the days...

Nursery time!

 As promised to some sweet friends, here are some pics of the nursery.  I'm sorry the quality is bad in some of these.  Everything seems to look dark and tan in these pics-----it's a mixture of bad lighting and my not so professional camera skills.  Come see it in person, and it will look much more airy and fresh!  

Here we go---come on in!

I got little Mary Claire sister a letter for her door to match her siblings.  It really helps dress up plain non-panel 70s doors if you have 'em!

Gigi gave her this precious vintage chair.  Would love to have known who sat in this once upon a time!

Snagged a new changing table for her this go round.  (The ones I used for the other kiddos were just dressers, and it always bugged me how the pad would slide around--so I knew this time I wanted a legit one with sides to hold it in!)
The mirror used to be in AM's room, but we've changed some things for her too so it got a new location.

Pinterest project #1!  If you have not yet discovered it, you need to!   (Pinterest, that is.)  I found these vintage frames at one of my many estate sales and took out the atrocious pictures.  Then I added some ribbon strips, and voila---a place to clip and display those teeny tiny bows!

Pinterest project #2!  (The ruffled shade)  This lamp is really special and sweet to me because it was Mimi's.  It was all brass, Sean spray painted it, and then I added the ruffled trim.  Quick change!

My sweet high school besties gave me this bookshelf for AnnMarie's nursery.  Fun to use it again!

The window wall

A quick shout out to Mrs. Nancy Maness (my sewing teacher) who so graciously agreed to "help" me sew these curtains, but then in the end ended up finishing them for me!!!!  She said she wanted me to be able to rest, and let me tell you it turned out to be such a blessing to me!  This picture does not do them justice, but they are beautiful!

One of my favorite little finds--this poof!  

Grandmommy gave AnnMarie this vintage doll furniture set, and it's been so fun to have it in the nursery!

Found some baskets at Ikea (score!) on our "Babymoon".  

The crib wall---still need to find some goodies to finish out the shelf, and still waiting on the bumper pad to be finished.  It's a very plain linen fabric the same color as the curtains.  Since those letters and curtains have such busy prints, I wanted the bumper to be on the plainer side with a ruffle.  No rush--she won't be in here for awhile! :)

That's Gigi in the picture, and that's the actual sweater she was wearing.  Yes, it's  a different color than in the picture, but in the fifties they had to "paint" the color on---and they made it blue! 

Baby Mimi and more of the sweet vintage doll furniture 

Another "reuse" from AnnMarie's nursery---the mobile

Gigi's Christmas present to Mary Claire---fun to see her monogram!

Love this precious smocked pillow given to AnnMarie by my mom's other friend, Nancy, who is now happily singing with the angels in heaven!  What a treasure to remember her by!
(And I picked up that little angel for her----wonder if she'll be a brunette?)

Her name hanging over the crib---the sisters have these matching letters in their rooms.  So fun to say "sisters"!

A cute little vintage dress I picked up recently

And last but not least, the gear packed and ready to go to the hospital---going home gown, boppy, carseat, and diaper bag.  Oh--and a couple gifts to the big kids from their baby sister.  :)
We're ready!  Come on, Mary Claire!