It's a Blessing

We had a good start to May with Layla's blessing--kind of bittersweet knowing it was to be the last of six (count 'em, six--and, yes, the last) babies that Rich has taken to the front of the chapel in their little white outfits. I'm thinking I might just be pretty sentimental with every "last" with this baby, so prepare yourselves for sappiness from here on out!

We are pretty lucky to have such a good, supportive family (and friend--just a shout out to my FAB friend, Heather, who is just like family). It was freezing and they humored me with a picture (or 5) anyway!

Here is the series of gotta-have-'em shots on the blessing day and the post-blessing get-together. And just for the record, she is such a good baby. Someone must've known that I needed one that would be nice to us. You know, bein' on the brink of insanity and all.

(Seriously, are all these ours??)

And this final shot is to show that a person (especially one like me) can go almost three years and not notice a physical feature between two cousins that is pretty much identical. Just LOOK at those eyes. Matchy-matchy genes! Oh, and the identical feature of darn good looking, too.

Daughters

"A daughter is one of the most beautiful

gifts this world has to give."

-Laurel Atherton

BELATED, YET WORTH IT

Happy Easter . . .

. . . from our little chick.

The Newbie

I've always liked the idea of documenting the "birth story" of each of my children, but have never made it   happen very well. I guess I was a little preoccupied at the time? This time (being our last time), I made sure to make it a priority and keep the camera out and handy at all times. Well, not all times--this is a family blog, you know. 

I'd like to thank the anesthesiologist for making it possible for me to be the patient and the photographer (Rich helped a little) at the same time. Epidurals are magical things.

We arrived at the hospital on Friday, March 23rd, at 8:15 a.m. for the scheduled induction. Can I just say how wonderful Pitocin is? It is. I love being able to plan something out that isn't typically very predictable. 

They hooked me up at 9:15 a.m. and just three short hours later we had a beautiful (yet somewhat purple) girl to call our own. We are so glad to finally have our little bookend baby here!

Without further delay, we'd like to introduce . . .

Layla Adair Wilcox

8 lbs. 7 oz.

19"

I haven't seen one of those little stick-on bows for a long time, folks--maybe that's why they added an extra one!

Don't adjust your monitors. She came out a little purple and bruised from her swift entry into the world. Only five minutes of pushing will do that, so we were told.  

The kids are pretty excited for her to join their ranks. Well, except for Max, who asked Aunt Jenni how to spell "kind of" when making a card for her. We think he likes her now . . . 

And, now, for the many faces of Layla. 

We feel very lucky.

What Do We Have Here?

Mom: "Hey Owen, what are you drawing?"
Owen: "Uhhh. . . these are all the weapons that I know of."
Mom: "I certainly hope so."

After four boys, Rich and I have realized that they are drawn to this kind of stuff, no matter the other "peaceful" things you encourage them in. They make weapons out of anything--food, Legos, their hands. Wars, wrestling and weapons. . . the three 'W's. They fill our days and are actually entertaining most of the time. And in one more day, we are adding a girl to this mix. Heaven help her.

Should I be concerned? No. . . I just told him to check out other books from the library that aren't under the category "Military Technology" and we will be gooood.

Plus, he is one of the best kids that I know of. And I know a lot of them.

Ryder at 4: an Overload

Now, if you are wondering if I meant Ryder, at age 4, is an overload or if I meant this post is an overload . . . then YES.

But, just look at this boy.

Here is his self-portrait, drawn almost 4 months ago, when his actual birthday occurred.  I'm pretty much behind on everything that you can be behind on.

I especially love that he has around 20 fingers per hand.  And the striped pants. . . . . with blood stains on one side?  Who knows.

The traditional handprints:

Rich and I say that all of our kids have loads of personality. . . . but this one takes the cake and the crown. Although Sawyer is giving him a run, I dare say Ryder will hold on to his title of "Mr. Personality".

For example, his use of the word "fantastic" has increased dramatically in the past week. Makes for some lively conversations, as he sounds more like a 40 year-old business man than a 4 year-old preschooler ("That is a fantastic lego set you just built, Max.").

He is pretty darn fantastic, if I do say so myself.

Hoppin' back on the bloggin' bandwagon

One of my New Year's Resolutions (I think there are 132 of them) is to be better about documenting my own kids lives. . . . . what they say, how they look, how nuts they make me (scratch that last one).  I don't want to look back and see that I took lots and lots of photographs of other people's kids, yet didn't bring the camera out for my own.  Wouldn't that be sad?? And since I'm horrrrible at journaling, here we go . . . .

So, here is my Ryder.  Very photogenic. And very everything else.  Those of you that know him are nodding your heads.

Overheard just today: "I'll do the honors (while grabbing the remote). . . . that's another word for doing something."

(More of this kid to come. This was one of his birthday photos that I took in September . . . . I'm a little behind to say the least, as the months between posts confirms the obvious! Let's blame pregnancy, shall we?)