Friday, November 7, 2014

Why I Haven't Posted Anything In Ages.

I am so overwhelmed by all of the congratulatory comments I've received the past couple days. When I made the decision to switch to full time, every other aspect of my life got put on hold. It's been fantastic being home with the girls and just being DONE. The last five weeks, I've had to drive an hour and a half-2 hours (depending on traffic) to school. On one of my final drives, I was so overcome with gratitude at how blessed my little family and I were. This entire journey was very inspired and we were cared for and looked after in innumerable ways.

In July, I felt so strongly that I needed to switch to the full time program, despite having three kiddos 3 and under and no childcare planned out. A month or so after making the switch, I found out the campus would be closing sooner than originally stated. The past few months have been challenging. Ross has had to be a single parent, switching schools was financially straining, and the girls have been calling me "Grandma, I mean Daddy. Wait... Mom?" I spent many sleepless tear-filled nights wondering if I was making the right decision and if I was a crappy mother. I missed out on Tiegan sitting up for the first time, crawling, and getting her first tooth. (Which may or may not be a blessing in itself.) I went almost 5 weeks seeing the girls only on the weekends.

I know that this was what I was meant to do. And because I followed through, my family got to see and experience the Lord's hand in amazing ways.We were so blessed. Family members flew in to help with the girls, friends from church so selflessly volunteered to care for the girls. Sometimes even last minute the night before I'd get a text asking if I needed help and that they just felt like they needed to ask. On my drive, I'd be so exhausted and my favorite song would come on the radio, sparking some energy I didn't know I had. I met some incredible people, the girls were always happy and kept asking when they could go to their friend's house again. It was a crappy crappy situation, but I learned so much and I'm grateful for it. As much as we struggled, we were looked after and best of all, the girls were happy and well. And then the day I graduated, season 10 of Grey's went on Netflix. Which was also the day before Ross went out of town.

I found an amazing salon to work at where I pretty much got to set my own hours. I get to go back to being home with my crazy critters during the day, hopefully figure out my gym schedule since my thighs haven't seen a squat rack in months, and enjoy the Holiday season with my favorites. So many good things coming our way and I'm so grateful for everyone and their selfless service and support throughout this journey. And maybe now I'll actually update the family blog more often.



Monday, June 30, 2014

My Life Without Diet Coke.

Life is insane right now. As witnessed by my lack of family updates. My day starts at 5:30 when I go to give Tiegan a binkie to console her. Then I toss for another half hour before I get up at 6 to go running. (Seriously, I should just go at 5:30.) Once home, I get the kiddos up, cook up some breakfast (today was breakfast meatloaf and it was BOMB.). Then I whip Ross up a lunch while he gets in some extra time playing and reading with the kiddos. Once he's off, I play with the critters until they are ready for naps. Then there's the cleaning, and feeding, and changing, and cooking, and gathering off stuff before we head to the gym so I can squeeze in a lifting sesh before I head off to the salon. Ross meets us at the gym where I swipe the kids out of the play center and he swipes em right back in. We go to bed around 11 and wake up and do it all over again. It's an awesome crazy life. But it's also why we're antisocial and don't have any friends and I can't even manage to plunk out a family update on here.

But there was a major life event that requires documentation. My name is Katie Loveland and I haven't had a soda (ahem) DIET COKE in 44 days. What?! Seriously. Me, the person who had Diet Coke flowing through her veins gave up the bubbly goodness.

So here's what's up. Sure, it got me through long road trips, late night chemistry study sessions, but I first really really REALLY fell in love with the stuff after Claire was born. When Sonic was practically across the street. Mama Loveland come to help and introduced me to Sonic and the rest was history.

I had a rough transition into motherhood. Especially stay at home motherhood. I really struggled. My can of Diet Coke was literally my can of happy. I popped it open and was in a different place. Seriously. When the blow outs, sleepless nights, tantrums, and destructive two year olds happened, I was one drive thru away from serenity. Don't even get me started on how Diet Coke saved my pregnant little behind.

 The Sonic people knew me by name, would ask about my kids or comment on my new hairdo. There were days when I would go TWICE for a drink. That Provo Sonic is probably funded by sleep deprived moms. When we moved to Wisconsin, I looked up where the closest Sonic was.

But then something weird happened. I'd wake up in the morning and go straight for a can. But it wasn't giving me that JOY anymore. It was just something I automatically did. I NEEDED it. And I didn't want to be that person that depended on a drink to get me functioning. So I made the decision to quit.

The first few days, I didn't even have to think about it. But after that, the cravings set in. There were days that I NEEDED a drink. But I had such a good streak going, I didn't want to break it. I would dream about Diet Coke. Now 44 days later, I don't even think about it anymore. I still love something bubbly and cold, but instead I drink sparkling mineral water. I've noticed I have more energy, spend more time with the munchkins, and accomplish more during my day.

It almost sounds like a bad break-up. And it kind of is. But I will always be grateful to Diet Coke for giving me back the joy in motherhood when all I could do was survive. And thank goodness for Sonic's slushes, because the girls would be heartbroken if I broke up with Sonic, too! 


Monday, May 5, 2014

Real Life Mom Life.

I hate daylight savings time because "The sky's awake. And so I'm awake. That means we have to play." Or so my two and three year old seem to think. And Tiegan thinks that means it's feeding time.

My day starts at 5:30 in the morning. [Mind you, I fall asleep between 12-1 with a feeding crammed somewhere between there. I'm a zombie.] (Seriously. Why can't we work our time thing so that sunrise is at a decent hour. -Side note, I'm now in the market for black out curtains. Or maybe I'll just pin a blanket over their window. Stupid sun.) Claire was screaming that she had to go potty. During the day she has no problem going into the bathroom and doing her thing on her own, but for some reason in the early morning hours, she feels the need to inform everyone in the house and surrounding neighbors that she needs to go. We usually just yell back, "Ok, go ahead and go sweetie" and roll back over. But then she comes out cackling and runs out front to play, Aoife is upset because she is on the top bunk and can't get down to play, too, and Tiegan decides she is hungry again.

This particular morning I had Ross take all three girls in their early morning adventures. Usually I claim Tiegan and lay in bed and feed her with her dreamy gummy grin, and listen to her coos. But today I was tired. And grumpy. So I rolled over and put the pillow over my head. Around seven I came back to human existence and ventured out to the front room. Claire instantly perks up, "Mom! I pooped in my panties!" Ross and I turn, horrified, and start the interrogation to determine if she had taken off said soiled underwear and put on clean ones or if she was currently sitting in poo.

She claims she had taken off the underwear, so I go in the bathroom to find said panties flung on the floor, poo side down.

Claire and Aoife start fighting over who gets to sit on which couch cushion and it ends with Claire head butting Aoife's back. I get Tiegan dressed for the day and start dry heaving because apparently my 24 flu is lasting more than 24 hours. -No, I'm not pregnant. Yes, I'm sure. I have three children under four and I do NOT want four under 4. Or 5 for that matter.

In the bathroom, I find my phone charger covered in.... what? How did my charger get painted coated smothered in.... POO?!

My house looks like we should be on Hoarders. I've decided this week will be "Get rid of everything not necessary to survival" week. Today I'll be scrubbing around with my trusty barf bucket, starting with my newly poo decorated bathroom. I'll take that second round of Diet Coke now, please.

I'm so grateful that this job also comes with all of the giggles, wonder at nail polish, mussed up curly morning hair, coos and cuddles, something squishy and snuggly to love, and make believe games consisting of ghosts, pirates, princesses, witches, and stars. This is real life mom life, y'all.

PS. I have the greatest husband in the world. 

Monday, April 21, 2014

Easter at the Lovelands 2014

In preparation for Easter, I've been watching a church video with the girls each day. I think it was Friday's video that had a snippet of Christ being whipped before He was crucified. I love that the Church's videos are tastefully done and kid friendly. Videos have become a great teaching tool in our family, especially for Family Home Evenings. I was still panicked and concerned at what the girls would say, even though the snippet was so so short and mild. Claire commented on how the people were making Christ dirty. I had to explain that they were hitting him and hurting him and I found myself welled up on tears trying to teach my girls about what Christ did for us and why we celebrate Easter.

With our crazy schedules, we have to do Family Home Evenings on the weekends. Ross and I trade off doing the lesson and the girls trade off treats and activity. We've been teaching the girls about the Godhead and the First Article of Faith. This was Ross' week to teach. It just so happened this week was on Christ. I love the Easter Bunny and eggs, and all of the fun Easter traditions, but I really really liked having our Family Home Evening the night before about the Savior. It was a really simple discussion, but it helped get my mind in the right place for Easter, too.

We kept Easter super low-key. Ross' family always had a candy trail leading up to the Easter goodies. The girls woke up and came sat on our bed and I talked about Easter while Ross ran out to hide some eggs. Then we all knelt for family prayer and headed out to the front. The older girls got sleeping bags; Claire got a Little Mermaid one while Aoife got a Disney Princess one. (In hindsight, I think we should have gotten Aoife an Avengers one.) Aoife wasn't too sure about it at first, but once Claire slid in and started having fun, Aoife liked hers, too. Tiegan got a little doorway jumper. We had one before, but one of the cats peed in it and I had to throw it away. Ross got a game for the Wii U, and I've been slowly stocking up on professional make-up, so I just got a movie to add to our collection. We didn't do any big baskets, but I did order some kinder egg knockoffs that I've been enjoying. The toys inside aren't as exciting as the real ones, but they're still kind of fun.

I love Easter. I think it could definitely be in one of my top favorite holidays. As the girls get older, I'm looking forward to finding simple traditions to add, and finding ways to make it more about our Savior. I feel like there is so much surrounding Christmas and everything points to Christ, but I really struggled with Easter.

So yesterday was Easter. But it was also April 20th, which marks the day five years ago that Ross came to Idaho for a visit. And we smooched in the middle of the street and people clapped and cheered and cars honked. (I guess it was a good one.) And I was smitten.  Which made Easter all the more special, because I get to smooch him forever.

*I completely forgot to get a picture of all three girls together. Before church was insane. At church, Claire somehow got blood all over her dress. After church (Pictured above) The girls were more interested in the ladybug that Aoife had found and wanted to go see it again rather than smile for a picture. Oh well. They looked pretty cute anyway.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

America's Beauty Show

This weekend, I had the opportunity to attend America's Beauty Show in Chicago. I've been looking forward to it for months. Ross even took Monday off so that I could go.

Sunday after church, I helped Ross get the girls settled and finished packing before heading out. We were explaining to the girls that mom was going on a trip, and that they were going to have a special Daddy Day. Usually when we leave the girls, it's because we're going on a date, so Claire thought I was going on a date. We had to explain that Mom only goes on dates with Daddy. This was just a trip.

I didn't even get out of the neighborhood before almost tearing up. It was weird going on a trip alone, though I was excited to be a grown up and possibly sleep at night. Out of habit, I kept checking the mirrors to check on the girls, only to find empty car seats.

I started the show Sunday night with the Stylist Choice Awards. Stylists voted for the best products, educators, and platform artists of the year and there's a big show to present the awards with artistic presentations from different stylists.

The show started with a cocktail party. I had no clue what to expect so packed a black dress with black boots. Unfortunately, I also parked as far away from the correct building as possible. By the time I made the hike to the event in the high heeled boots, my feet were completely shredded. MISTAKE. Turns out I probably could have worn whatever I wanted. Some people were completely dolled up, while others just looked trendy in jeans and cool tops.

There was so much AMAZING hair. It was so fun to see everyone's style. There were so many incredible stylists and it was so cool to be in the same room as them. The Stylist that does fashion week everywhere had a mini presentation of the Spring/Summer fashion week they did a few months ago. It was AMAZING!!!! (Totally geeking out over the hair.) I LOVED it!

At the end of the event, we got massive goodie bags full of amazing products.  I didn't get back to the hotel till pretty late, and only got a few hours of sleep before my alarm went off. Honestly, the sleep felt so good, I was almost tempted to skip the show and sleep.

Let's just talk about Chicago traffic. I'm grateful I left early, because it took an extra HOUR to get there than it should have. All of the stop and go with more stop than go was lulling me to sleep. Which is terrible really, since that's when you need to be the most alert. I'm not sure why they even have speed limit signs when no one gets above 25-30 anyway.

The tops of my feet were SHREDDED from the night in high heeled boots. I couldn't even get them in my cute flats, so I had to wear flip flops. I wasn't even in the building before the comments on my flip flops started. I was truly embarrassed. Ok, HORRIFIED. I'm at a BEAUTY event in FLIP FLOPS. Without a good pedicure.

At the show, I was on a mission. There's a pair of shears I've been DROOLING over. I wanted to get them in my hands and try them out. And you can guess it, they're made by Sam Villa. I wanted to meet him, too. BADLY. When the doors opened, I booked it over to the Sam Villa booth. Of course he wasn't there, but those beautiful scissors were. I chatted with a lady from his team for a while and tested them out and fell even more in love with them. I think they'd make a lovely graduation present.

There was so much to see and do. It was insane. After picking up some make up for my Casper-white skin, I decided to start on one end of the room and work my way up and down. After a couple hours, I was probably about half way with a bag full of samples and pamphlets. Redken had a runway where they had education/shows going on all day. I had scoped out the time that Sam Villa would be on. I wanted to get there early to make sure I had a seat, so I started heading over about 45 minutes early. I turned the corner and froze. There was SAM VILLA! Right there! A few feet away from me! I was so excited, I almost threw up.

He was doing an interview with some Chicago TV people. After, they all shook his hand and hugged him and I was right there. Stalking him. I followed him while he was talking to people.Another girl had the same idea and we joked about how creepy we were. But the creepiness paid off! After the important people cleared, he made a point to talk to me. He shook my hand, gave a massive hug, and chatted for a little bit.

Here's the thing about Sam Villa: He's very humble. And personable. He treated me like a long lost friend. When we took a picture, he took me by surprise and shoved his face right next to mine.

Mission accomplished.

I took a front row seat to wait for him to come on. I'm glad I got there early. So many people came, the fire marshal came a few times to have people move, or he'd shut it down. It was really cool to see him work in person.

There's a newer product line out, at their booth they were doing color and cuts. I love watching different customizing techniques, and one gal really stood out. And my creeping side came out. Most people stand pretty far back when watching, but I got up in her bubble and asked a million questions. Looking back, I was probably a little too intense. I all but asked if I could try her technique, but she didn't seem to mind, and I learned a lot. Turns out, she's from Milwaukee and went to Martin's before it became Empire.  At the end of the cut, she gave me her card and told me to reach out to her.

I watched a few more Redken artists throughout the show. Redken has a 'pay it forward' and share what you know attitude. I think that was my biggest take away from the show. While there are talented, amazing stylists out there, they all just want to give what they have back. They would show you how to do something, provide the knowledge, and then tell you to go out and make it yours. They provide the knowledge and inspiration, but want you to mix it up and make it your own. And it isn't wrong. Everyone was willing to share what they knew to help everyone else out. And I love that. I got to see and learn about some amazing products, see some AMAZING hair, and meet some incredible people.
  

























Wednesday, March 19, 2014

We've Been MIA.

And quite understandably so. Since becoming a family of five, we celebrated Christmas, moved two days later, settled in, I've been going to school, Mama and Papa Loveland came to visit, my mom came to visit, everyone had the flu, and Aoife turned two.


I feel a little guilty not documenting the happenings of our family, but blogging was just one more than I didn't need on my plate.

I'll spare everyone the details of the challenges of adjusting to having three kids in three years (and three kids in diapers.).Tiegan is a pretty needy baby. I do freezer meals instead of actually cooking, my house is never clean, I get dressed just before I need to leave for school, and my girls have been wearing their dress up dresses daily and I don't even care. I spent most of the day on the couch and wanted to punch everyone that talked about how wonderful motherhood is.

I was drowning. I lost my patience more than I should have. I yelled, I cried, and most of all I thought someone screwed up in designing Kate's plan. I was not meant to be a mother. Or a wife. I was meant to have lots and lots of cats. I love things from Pottery Barn. I like my house clean. And quiet. I like to sleep. And none of those things come from toddlers and babies.

I get anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours of sleep per night. I felt like the nights I prayed the hardest for help/sleep, were the nights Tiegan struggled the most. It was easier when the sun was up, but I still wanted to trade the munchkins in for fish. Not even dogs, fish.

I reached the lowest of lows and asked Ross for a blessing. Immediately after, I felt relief and I wasn't drowning anymore. I started getting a handle on life and these crazy girls. My house is still disgusting the majority of the time, and I do freezer meals instead of actually cooking, but none of that matters.

I watch Claire blow bubbles and remember the joy of being a child. Aoife is just plain insane and impossible to keep up with, and Tiegan has the biggest gummy grin in the mornings to go with that intoxicating baby smell that makes everyone happy. I still don't fit in my pants, and I might not ever fit in them again, and the only thing in our house that is truly MINE is the Diet Coke in the fridge, but all of the little things are reminding me of just how blessed I am and how much I really do love being a mom. There's my explanation for being MIA -Now for Loveland happenings!

Aoife turned two. I had class that night, and having recently moved, we kept everything low-key. I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. Since when did birthdays become a huge production?
We met up with Ross for a birthday lunch. She got a massive sundae bigger than her head. She wasn't too sure about everyone singing to her, but loved the ice cream.

We had one really nice day a couple weeks ago. We took full advantage of it and went to the zoo. It's been a long COLD winter. As in school was cancelled a few times because it was too dangerous to go outside cold. It was wonderful to get outside. The girls loved the puddles from the melting snow and were soaked head to toe within seconds.

Claire sometimes gets in her own world. I think she thinks she's a princess? Amy way, she gets in her world and will say random movie lines. (Can you tell what we did all winter?) We were at the zoo when she entered her world. The ENTIRE time we were there, she'd walk around saying, "Who are you and how did you find me?" "Why do you shut me out?" "Why did you bring me here?" Things like that. Really great lines for her to be saying out in PUBLIC. I'm not sure why she couldn't have said happier lines. Bless her heart. It was hilarious.

We also signed Claire up for ballet this summer. She's finally old enough for a couple of the community sports! With the temperatures now consistently above freezing, I'm getting excited for all of our summer adventures. We will be living outside after this awful winter. I'm so grateful to finally be getting a handle on myself so now I can enjoy these three sweet babies. Summer can't come fast enough!

And now for pictures from the last couple weeks.





Thursday, December 19, 2013

Tiegan Is Here!

For everyone who would rather not read through all of the details-

Tiegan Skye Loveland
Born at 7:14 AM December 13th, 5 weeks early.
5 pounds 10 oz
19 inches
And absolutely perfect.

Thursday I had every intention of cooking, cleaning, and going to class. When afternoon rolled around, I had a weird feeling that I should stay home from class and clean. I was feeling pretty crampy, but I hate missing class so I was just going to go in anyway. I went to get ready and noticed just a little bleeding. She also hadn't been moving as much as she normally does. The longer I thought about it, the worse my imagined scenario became. I decided to call and see if I was okay to just watch it. But of course they told me to go in to get checked out. Ross was going to be home within the hour, so I decided whenever he got home I'd head in.

By the time I got to the hospital, contractions had picked up, but they still weren't painful. I've had a ridiculous amount of contractions throughout the entire pregnancy so I didn't think anything of it. The crampy feeling had gotten worse though. A couple different doctors came in to talk to me in triage and asked what I thought was going on. They decided to check to see if I was still leaking fluid and check my cervix. The first doctor checked me and said I was dilated to a 6. They left to go consult with my specialist team as well as the doctor on call. After a while they came back in and decided to have someone else check. The second doctor said I was a 4 or 5 maybe, but that I definitely stretched to a 6, so she wasn't sure where to call the number. They left again to go decide what to do with me.

I ended up spending a few hours in triage while they decided what to do. The plan changed a million times and it was frustrating not knowing if I needed to have Ross find someone to watch the girls so he could come in. At that point I was pretty uncomfortable, but just wanted to get sent home so I didn't have to be in the waiting game. I think it was around 10 they came in to check me again. I had thinned and dilated a little more so they decided to admit me.

Wisconsin has an attitude of "Keep the baby in at all costs!!" So none of the doctors wanted to do anything to intervene or help things progress. They were pretty sure I was in labor, but not 100% sure, so there was a chance they'd just be watching me over night and I'd be sent home in the morning. Contractions had picked up. I was uncomfortable but not really in pain. We decided to have Ross come in just to be safe.

I had packed the hospital bags a week or so ago, but I kept them in our room where Aoife naps. During "naptime" Aoife had been slowly unpacking and scattering the contents. When Ross went to get the bags, they were empty. I had to make up a list off of the top of my head and sent him on a scavenger hunt. He was also in the middle of doing laundry, and cleaning as fast as he could. Everyone give him a pinch and tell him what a fantastic husband he is.

While Ross was en route, I was moved to another room. I hadn't been pregnant long enough to have done the Group B strep test, so we decided to play it safe and get the antibiotics going. I was pretty uncomfortable and started feeling nauseous. I got to poke around the room. The bath tub was ridiculously deep and looked fantastic. They also had a birthing ball there that I loved. Once I was hooked up to the antibiotics, I got set up on my ball with my barf bag and water jug and I was set! Ross came in and played a game of Skip-Bo with me before I sent him to get some sleep.

I decided to hop in the tub. Because I was early, babe had to stay on the monitor and they also wanted to keep a close eye on contractions. They were every 2-3 minutes. But they had a really cool portable monitor I could take in the tub with me. The nurse was fantastic and brought me bath blankets and kept checking on me to make sure I was as comfortable as possible. I wasn't hurting enough to want anything, but she kept a close watch on me anyway.

After the tub I decided to get back in the bed and distract myself with Netflix. The doctor wanted to check me again and I was thinner and pretty loose. But still, Wisconsin wants to keep the baby in no matter what, so no intervening. They figured my water would need to completely break to get me progressing much more, and since they weren't going to break my water, the nurse suggested morphine to help me relax. The morphine only lasts about an hour, and just takes the edge off. Right after it went in I felt weird and was wondering what I had gotten myself into. My body just felt heavy and I was woozy. I turned on my lullaby station on Pandora and settled in. Contractions were picking up, but the morphine was wonderful. I was able to sit back and relax. A couple hours later the nurse came in to check on me. I was back to feeling nauseous and was now HURTING. It didn't take long to get to the "kill me now" point. It was close to 6:30 and Ross was awake now. The doctor came in to check me and I was now at a 7. She said my composure had completely changed and I was definitely in labor so she decided to break my water. Instantly contractions got a million times worse and it wasn't long before the tears were rolling and I was rocking around, getting on all fours, and acting crazy.

Shift change was happening so the new doctors and nurses hadn't met me when I was still happy and making jokes. They were walking in to meet me at the worst time possible. Later I found out I introduced myself as "Crazy". I always thought women who said awful things to their husbands while in labor were crazy, but after going through that, I completely get it. I didn't say anything to him, but I definitely shot him looks. Poor guy. Have you seen Bill Cosby's Natural Child Birth? Yeah- it was a lot like that.

While I was praying for death, I said yelled some gems that are now the nurses' new favorite labor quotes. Among the winners:
"Holy Frick!"
"Frick on a Stick!"
"Holy Crap!"

And the winner (while I was pushing)-
Me: "HOLY BURNING RING OF FIRE!!!"
Nurse 1: Did she just say holy burning ring of fire?
Nurse 2: Yup. I think that's a song.
All Million People in the Room: HAHAHAHAHA

And of course I had the sobs of "I can't do this." "I don't want to do this anymore." "I don't want to have a baby." "I don't want to push." Everyone was very encouraging and of course kept saying thing like, "You got this" "Good girl" "You're doing great" "Here's your barf bag" But my main nurse was my tough love gal and just what I needed. Every now and then she looked like she wanted to slap me, but she'd say, "We're having a baby right now. You HAVE to do this. You're fine." I was absolutely in panic hysterical. Tiegan was also facing the wrong way so they tried a couple things to get her to turn. They didn't work.

Not much longer and it was time to push. And I really didn't want to. Ross and I had always joked that he'd do the Bill Cosby chant, "Push him out, shove him out, way out!" But due to concern for his safety, he decided not to. It was probably for the best. A few pushes and a lot of "HOLY FRICKS" later, Tiegan came out crying. We had the nursery staff and NICU staff in the room just in case. I got a tiny peek at her before she was whisked away to be checked out. I sent Ross over while I got stitched up. She scored 9's on both apgars, and was absolutely perfect. I'm so grateful for doctors and medicine and for the aggressive approach we took with steroids. And everyone should throw Ross a couple Benjamin's for enduring an epidural-less delivery with me. Poor guy.

We got to cuddle for a while before we moved to the recovery room, which was great because she didn't have a name yet! We thought we picked her name months ago, but recently we started thinking of others. We came to the hospital with a few we liked, but after she was born, none of them were right. It was a little stressful having to start from scratch, but eventually we found the right name.

 She's a champion nurser and eats like none other. Because she was so early, they had to test her blood sugars before every feeding for the first 24 hours. She did perfectly. It was so much fun getting to keep her with me and take her home with us. We've had to take her in every day to make sure her weight and bili levels still look good, but we love this little nugget and can't believe we have a trio of little girls!

We are absolutely smitten. And life with three littles is absolutely insane so I'll have to post about that next nap time.