We are home!

Well, Lil' Miss Ashley is resting peacefully now in the arms of her mama in her first night at home....

I can't even tell you how surreal the last few days have been for me. I have just a mound of emotions running through me and honestly I just don't have an ounce of energy within me to tell you even a couple of those thoughts. Mostly I just feel blessed...just thankful to the core for our sweet new daughter and how perfect and wonderful she is. I have to say if I close my eyes and ignore the chaos of the 3 kids we already have, Ashley is almost like dejavu for me...she truly is a mini Hailey. She looks exactly like her as a baby (though almost 3 lbs heavier!)...and she mostly has the temperment of her too. She is usually very laid back and a just "go with the flow" baby....I say mostly cuz when she's mad or upset she is VERY mad and upset...and she lets us know big time (we call this the Shelby trait :))....she had one of those moments yesterday and one today. But, if it only occurs once or twice daily then we can handle it! And she's like her big bro in the hefty department :) Just a beautiful, big girl. Not that small, normal babies are bad, but it's so fun to have roly, poly ones with big cheeks :) So, I guess what I'm saying is Ashley is her own little person...with her own sweet, yet fiesty personality :) She really is such a good baby and sleeps mostly like a pro unless she's in close vacinity to mommy and smells me :) Then she's licking her chops and wanting food always....but honestly, I don't mind. I love cuddling with her and there is truly nothing like a newborn baby in my arms again...and it's almost like I have to pinch myself to realize that she is hear and not inside my big belly anymore. After all this time of waiting and wondering what she'd look like and be like...to have her here living and breathing and part of our family...it's just too much to put into words. How very blessed we feel.....to have our family complete.

So, things are going well...the last couple days of hospital stay have been a complete blurr. I don't think we've ever had that many visitors and it was truly just wonderful to feel wrapped in love and support from our amazing friends and family. There was very little down time, but it was worth it to have our loved ones share in this event with us. Truly...we have an amazing support system. I am admittedly very exhausted. Honestly I've never felt this tired post-delivery (usually I have this weird extra energy afterwards)....and I know I really need to take advantage of the next few days when my parents and Kev are all home...cuz come Monday I am on my own again with all the kiddos.

I plan to blog about my whole labor/delivery later this week, but honestly it went great....not quite as fast as Dylan's, but very similar and thank the good Lord for my epidural (and that I even got one and it that if finally worked...long story)...it made everything much more manageable and pleasant. But, more about that later.......I will say that I am having some terrible back pain today and have had a hard time walking and even getting up from a sitting position. I'm hobbling around like a 90 year old woman :) So, I am praying that gets better soon as I can't care for all the kids when I can hardly pick up my 10lb newborn....but other than that I am feeling fine and the kids are just loving their new sister. I'll have to make a blog post all about that one too...but let's just say there is usually fighting over who gets to the hold the new sister....and Shelby seems to win out most of the time (big surprise that she is very persistent). Dylan calls Ashley "my baby" and even he loves to hold her and poke at her and point out all her body parts. And the big bro can't seem to dole out enough kisses...truly he loves to "love on her"...it's really sweet and I love that our new girl has a big brother to watch over her. Hailey, of course, is the perfect helper and she just gave the first bath mostly by herself. She is a pro and Ashley just loves to gaze at her and when she's upset it's Hailey that can calm her down.

I am just feeling so blessed tonight by my wonderful and beautiful 4 children. Life could not be better than this...

Anyway...I could go on and on if I had gotten some sleep in the last 3 days, but I haven't gotten much so I am off to bed. We'll see how our first night at home goes....

Thanks to all of you for your wonderful comments and emails (I have yet to even get on to read the emails yet...but will do that tomorrow)....and for all the phonecalls and gifts and flowers and just simplye the love and prayers and support....truly...I was overwhelmed with gratefulness to know so many people were thinking of us....we feel so incredibly blessed by you all and by our lil' family of 6 :)

So, until tomorrow or later this week when I have time and energy (and pics to share...don't worry, we have hundreds!)....I bid you all a fond good night :)