10 days in the making

Ryker and Jovie were both super excited to hold Hartley right when she came home from the hospital, but our Kip was hesitant.  Day by day, he would inch closer and closer to her.

 Her first day home, and Kip stands in the background, unsure what to think.

Peeking in a bit closer

and slowly he worked his way up to touching her.

and then, in Kiplin timing, he said "mom can I hold baby Hartley," flashing that shy smile of his.  

It took 10 days, but now he wants to see her and hold her several times a day.

One thing is certain, between the five family members that this little lady has, she is always in someones arms.

 and this mama has the best 29th birthday gift ever - These 4…

 And while my birthday was far from picture perfect, it was absolutely one I'll never forget.  From having 3 little minions bickering, arguing, and being in each others space all day long (which is ridiculous really, given their 4,000 square feet of indoor living space as well as 1 acre of outdoor space), to my first outing to Kroger with all 4 kids complete with a Jovie melt down at the check out, to a 9pm urgent care visit for Kip because he woke up from ear pain crying (and if you know Kip he is one tough kid - he was diagnosed with bilateral ear infection), and having three kids with croup as well as a newborn, and a husband who was gone at work from 8am-8:30pm…yep.

Just a picture to re-live that moment of sibling bugging at the very finest -

and another picture to capture the "we aren't listening to mom…moment number "tweny-two, five thousand" as Jovie would say.  These boys wouldn't stay out of the window, and because I am a great parent, after asking them to get out of the window I had to take a picture to capture the cuteness of their inability to listen.  Their smirks totally say "I know I'm not suppose to be doing this"

 Ryker wanted to take a picture of me on my birthday, I giggled and let him have a shot at the "big expensive camera."  He managed to capture the reality of being a mama of 4 - a pony tail (which hasn't seen a hair brush in at least 10 days), no make up, spit up stained right shirt sleeve, messy house, and minimal sleep…but hey, my wedding ring fits again, and I have earrings in!

 Busy attempting to figure out how to make a rubber band loom bracelet.  There were hundreds of rubber bands all over the floor, but for about 15 minutes they worked on this, and they didn't fight, so cleaning up all those rubber bands was totally worth it.

Little Lady rocks tummy time today during the big kids quiet time.  Sister must know she's got to be strong to hang in this household of craziness - Strong at just 10 days old.