A few months ago, I was working hard on past pictures and getting close to having the blog up-to-date. (I was "only" four months behind and was backdating my posts.) I love looking back at the blog so much and wanted to have this photo record her for our family. Then, in January, the most wonderful and surprising thing happened: We found out we were expecting a baby! When our kids were 13, 9, and 7! And we were 43!
Along with that wonderful blessing came the exhaustion of the first trimester in a middle-aged woman. Me! All my catch-up efforts went down the drain as I got even further behind than before, and I failed to blog any details of the pregnancy for our baby to read later. I didn't even blog the birth! (I should back up and note that I spent a lot of my pregnancy nervous/convinced that the pregnancy would produce a character-building experience, but that i wouldn't get an actual baby out of the deal. But I digress...)
So here, one month after our baby's arrival, I'm doing a quick post on that baby's behalf.
On September 5, Jeff and I got our kids to school...
met my mom at the hospital so she could soothe my nerves by braiding my hair before my c-section...
marveled at being able to experience this miracle one more time...
and met our darling, little, GIRL! Ivy Joy, only 8 lbs., 7 oz., 20", born at 1:02 p.m. I shed many tears of JOY at her arrival as an answer to many, many prayers.
She is perfect. I felt her absence in our family for many years and had come to peace with that, but now she is here!
And now we are six. And home. And exhausted. And thankful.
