And with our angels...: Firsts at home...

Its crazy to me to think that a week ago at this very moment we were in labor, anticipating the birth of Madelyn Faith. How can a week go by so quickly? I'm sure I'm gonna ask myself that over and over and over for the next... well, forever.

The past 48 hours at home have been magical. I can't think of any other word that encompasses all the emotions we've (I've) experienced.

When we pulled in the driveway on Wednesday mid-day I felt so many emotions. I had to hold back tears the entire way home. It felt so wonderful to be bringing Maddy home and yet, my mind somehow couldn't fully process what we were doing. It seemed still to be a dream. As we pulled in, Papa, Grandpa Chip and Grandma Darlene were waiting for us in the garage and the kids were playing in the street and on the sidewalk... watching for us to arrive. The moment Jarrett turned off the car, the kids were opening the door to the car where Maddy was on the other side. They practically jumped over one another to be the first to see her.

We brought Maddy into the house and thus began the life we know now... this crazy, hectic life... exactly the life I wanted.

The past 48 hours have been so wonderful. The kids absolutely adore Madelyn. They can't get enough of her. From the minute the house awakes in the morning, to the moment they go to bed at night, she is adorned with love, love and even more love.

Maddy is a wonderful baby. I am almost afraid to post it here... but she is such a great baby. The constant feeding we experienced in the hospital has now fallen into a pattern we can predict. The only time she cries is when she is hungry... seriously. Not with a wet or dirty diaper, not to be held... not because she's awake and wants attention.... the only time she cries (and it is hardly that much) is when I've tried to get a few more things done before feeding her and she's tired of waiting for me to respond. She's very good about giving us her non-verbal hungry ques... she tries eating her hand... all of it.

Once we eat, she either passes back out or she's wide awake looking around and taking every thing in. Its obvious she's grown accustom to the noise when she was in my womb. She sleeps through almost anything... the kids fighting, the screaming from Isabelle, the loud TV... well just our house.

And sleep she does. On our first night home I was worried she was going to be up all night since she slept all day. She proved mommy wrong, only waking up three times (actually one of them I woke her up to eat). And then there was last night... I fed her before we went to sleep and prepared to wake up a couple of hours later. Which I did, only to find her sleeping soundly. I decided not to wake her up and to let her tell me when she wanted to eat. Baby girl was such a trooper, she only woke up once, I repeat ONCE last night to eat. And after feeding her at 2:30 she went right back to sleep and slept in until 6:45 a.m. It was glorious! I repeat GLORIOUS!

We took Madelyn to the doctor for her first check up yesterday and she passed with flying colors. Dr. N said Madelyn is a healthy (big) girl (for a newborn). Madelyn weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces, up from the 7 pounds, 5.5 ounces she was when we left the hospital. And she grew from 20 1/2 inches to 20 3/4 inches by day 6 of her life. We are so thankful she's healthy and pray she stays that way.

This weekend we are celebrating her baptism on what will be my 36th birthday. This year I got the best birthday present and look forward to seeing her being baptized in the same gown I was baptized in 36 years ago. It will be another special day.

As I think about my miracle rainbow baby being almost a week old, I look back and realized I've been walking on the clouds since she arrived. A week ago right now, we were going through the difficult process of labor unsure how she would make her debut. A little more than 10 hours later, I'd hear the most beautiful scream as she took her first breath and at the same time she took my breath away. Oh what a wonderful week it has been.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past 2 days as we started our journey together at home...

She's trying to protect herself from all the noise I think.

Trying out the swing for the first time. She loved it and it kept her awake for about 25 minutes.

Someone was very excited to see her baby sister this morning...

And this afternoon, big sister "trying" to wait patiently for baby sister to wake up so she could play with her again... waiting is the WORST!

Mom got to play dress up as Madelyn went through 4 outfits today. Here's one of my favorite onesies she's currently wearing... "Future Runner"

She's LOVING being a big sister, in case you can't tell.

Our first night at home and it went really well. She only woke up twice and mom had to wake her up one more time to eat. Let's hope that's the start of a pattern of sleeping regularly through the night.