amelia's homecoming

we were so happy to be able to bring amelia home the day after she was born! the kids could not wait to have their baby sister HOME! (and mommy and daddy, too, i suppose!) when i talked to ethan on the phone that friday morning, i told him that we'd be coming home after his nap, and he asked, "are you bringing amelia home with you?" as if to say, "that's your ticket in the door, mom. so you'd better have the baby with you!" we were hoping to leave right after the pediatrician checked amelia out at 2:15, but they wanted to run another blood test to check out her bilirubin levels, so we ended up waiting over an hour for the 30 minute test results to come back. then it was one thing after another, so it was about 5:00 when we finally got the ok to go... and we high-tailed it out of there! (amelia's bilirubin levels ended up being just fine, by the way...) here we are leaving the hospital and entering the reality of three kids at home! :) and we only had a 2 minute drive home to ponder that reality... ha! here is our baby girl already asleep before we got home. (the last quiet moments of her life!!!)


ethan and caroline were more than ready to greet us when we pulled in the driveway! (this picture reminds me of when we brought caroline home.)


and as if on cue, both kids put their arms out and asked to hold amelia as soon as they saw her.


here we are, a family of five!
if my memory serves me correctly (which is not exactly a guaranteed things these days...), i think that our first picture at home with each baby has been one of daddy snuggled up with his new child. i don't think we got one picture of brian holding amelia at the hospital... but in our defense, sweet amelia, we were only there one day! so here is daddy enjoying a quiet moment his new baby girl.


i say quiet moment because it was not long (at all!) before ethan and caroline came runnin' to see their sister.


oh, this girl knows how to melt her momma's heart!
she is such a loving big sister.

and speaking of being a loving sister, caroline immediately gave amelia this cute little baby doll that our pastor's family gave to her as a big sister gift. look at her- she is taking this "big sister" thing seriously! (and as you can see, nana is enjoying her third granddaughter!)


saturday morning was our first morning all together as a family. brian let me sleep in a little, and when amelia and i got up, ethan and caroline could not wait to hold her. and caroline could not wait to "tickle tickle" her.




normally, this next picture is one that would go straight to the trash, but i had to include it to document "the morning after" our first night at home with amelia. i look completely 100% sleep deprived after only two nights with this baby! oh dear! the really funny thing is that ethan does too. as if he was up all night feeding a baby. yeah right. (and just to clarify... i am not nursing her in this picture... she's just laying on me!)



amelia was so sweet and brought gifts home to her big brother and sister. (we actually forgot about them for a few days--can't imagine why!--so they were delayed homecoming gifts!) as you can see, ethan and caroline were only slightly excited when they found out about this surprise! for ethan, amelia found a very cool race car kit. the kit came in a tool box with a drill, screwdriver, and over 20 pieces that make up the car. and amelia is already a great bargain shopper, finding this at 75% off (less than $5!!) at target! what a deal! and ethan has already enjoyed taking apart that car and putting it together over and over again. caroline is really into soft blankets right now, so amelia gave her big sister (and herself) matching flower blankets! caroline was thrilled to have the same blanket as amelia... and she always--without fail--refers to this blanket as "my cute blanket". i need to get this on video. it's hilarious the way she says it. she takes a good 3 seconds to say the "bl" in "blanket". anyway, here are some pictures of the kids enjoying their presents from baby amelia.



here is nana with all three kiddos!
to top off amelia's homecoming weekend, aunt kristie brought over a delicious dinner that we shared with nana, pappy, uncle jeff, aunt kristie, and karina. and of course we had to celebrate amelia's homecoming with CAKE! why not! amelia slept through yet another little celebration in her honor, but we surely did not want to wake her!


these kids crack me up. they are taking this cake eating thing very seriously. (and look at my niece after my own heart... just licking off the icing!)


we are so thankful to have amelia at home with us. it is so easy to take for granted the blessing of a healthy child, and we praise God for His care and protection over our family thus far. to God be the glory!