Once upon a busy week

Genivieve timed her visit perfectly.  After a busy week with sisters, cousins, parents and babies, we rounded it out with a brand new addition to the family. In pure Kelly fashion, she made her debut about an hour after Kelly and Taylor dropped Eleanor off with us (for the second time that night...). Oh, and remember it takes them about an hour to get to the hospital. So if you do the math, Kelly almost had her second baby in the car, much like her first baby. She had time to roll into the delivery room, hop on the bed, and Piper was here.  She made her entrance as though she was never not here.

Is there anything better than a brand new baby?  Let me answer that: No, there is not.

But let me back up to the fun filled week leading up to this sweet, sweet baby.  Gen and Zoey came on Tuesday and we busied ourselves with things like a trip to Pufferbellies, bug catchers for the bug loving cousins, and pizza on the patio with five very well behaved kids and babies.

                        She really likes to blow raspberries. Actually, I'm pretty sure she loves it.

       

                                "All we need are bugs, El."

                 Piper missed the cousin shot by a couple of days.....

       And seriously, all of these blue eyed children....so strange.  All four of us siblings have brown    eyes, yet all of our children (well, minus Quinn) have some shade of blue.

We talked about upcoming birthday parties for this one:

And this one:

In two and a half weeks, this girl will be two and I really can't believe it.  She is beyond fun right now and her personality (which she's full of, by the way) amazes me every day.  I have never seen a child copy as much as Quinn.  We can't even have a conversation in this house, without her be-bopping on over and chatting away, mimicking every thing that the talking person is trying to say.  It's hilarious actually and her vocabulary and speech has literally exploded. There is nothing that she won't repeat...so be careful.

 And she got her first trim from Mia. Reason being that she incessantly twirls her hair when she goes to sleep or when she is nursing. Therefore in the morning, we sometimes discover twirls (knots) that are beyond getting out with a comb....

 And she really likes to show her teeth.

 And she really loves this hat. And saying "Arghhhh."

And she really, really loves sunglasses. And heaven forbid the sun be in her eyes and she doesn't have her own. Not to worry, she then requests mine.

Then on Thursday, Eleanor spent the night while Kelly, Taylor, and Mom headed over to Charlottesville for what they thought would be Piper's arrival. 
It was not time for her arrival.
So we all went to mom's on Friday and had a last minute baby showering/food fest/labor vibe hang out session.

That night, Eleanor was dropped off again, the parents headed back over the mountain, were sent back home a few hours later, then a few more hours later, dropped Eleanor off again, headed back over the mountain, and this time. This time. This:

 I just have two words: Mother's Instinct. Oh, two more words: Trust it.

Oh, and if I were to use Declan's famous face and show it to the nay-sayers that thought this lady wasn't ready:

              Nee-ner, Nee-ner, Neeee-ner!

 Okay, sorry. Four more: Sisters are the best.

                               Niece #3

I took Isabella and Declan to meet Piper this evening. Isabella had a perma-grin the whole night and I think she should really go into the holding babies business. If only five year olds were hire-able (just excuse the made up word--I'm tired.)

All day, Declan and Isabella bantered back and forth about who would hold Piper first. Isabella conceded and then told me later that Declan could hold her first, only because then she could hold her longer....
And when his turn finally presented itself, he held her with the biggest, proudest grin, laughed a little and said "Oh, I didn't know she was real!"
Then he proceeded to kiss her in excess until I had to remove his lips from her cheek and distract him with questions like "Declan, why are you kissing her so much?"  To which he so perfectly answered: "Because I just love her so much." 

New, innocent, pure, life--it's the best.