Lest you be intimidated by my masterful motherhood

Deodorant? No
Brushed my teeth? I don't remember
Shower? Does it count if you don't have time to use soap? And have a screaming child laying on towels in front of the shower?
Make Up? Are you kidding?

"What do I have on?" you ask? Pink butterfly PJ bottoms, a T shirt (that must have been stolen from my little brother's closet at some point) that says "Real Men Wait." --Really an abstinence shirt on a mother of three??? No shoes..
And the shocking conclusion? I wore this to pick Taylor up from school.

Thank the Lord for the carpool line!!! (I don't have to get out of the car)

BTW...the outfit described above was not chosen for my by Anabelle, it just happened to be the only thing clean after Caroline spit up on me too many times to count in the last few days!!!

BTW(2) Many of you have wondered how I have time to blog? I don't!! Since 25% of my time is spent nursing, I've had to be creative on how to entertain myself during the 30 minute bouts. Now you know...:)

BTW(3) And to answer your question, she hasn't really gotten the whole sleep at night awake during the day thing. I had one night this week (the night before birthday party day) where she went four hours between feedings. I was a new woman the next day!!

BTW (4) Is it normal that I feel the need to explain to the salesman calling that the reason I can't listen to his spiel is that I have a newborn and two preschooolers? I guess I just think everyone should know that I don't need a home efficiency inspection right now!!!

His mercies are new every MINUTE!

Today was the big day. This was the first day that I was officially a mother of three on my own. Taylor had to be at school and Anabelle had a birthday party. First let me just give you an idea of how much we all have dreaded this day. Last week when Gran told Taylor she would be leaving the next day, Taylor's only response was, "Uh-oh." Apparently, she was as nervous as I was. Thankfully everything went off without a hitch. I did shower and put on deodorant, the girls were dressed and fed AND we made it to the birthday party with a gift and everything. God was good to me today. :)
What a precious group of girls that Anabelle got to party with. :)

It really helped my cause that Caroline spent the entire party doing this. Oh, and I had a great group of friends cheering me on and offering to help all morning.

Ms Caroline is three weeks old today. It is already going by so quickly!

Now, I'm back home in my PJ pants and everyone is resting quietly. What an amazing day...

We did it!!!

Our first outing as a five person family. You would think we'd start with a quick trip to Target, or maybe a lunch at Chic Fil A, but not us. We go all out! We started with Stadiumfest. There was face painting, Veggie Tales and we got to ride on school buses from the parking area. (that last part might have been the highlight for the girls. They thought that was super-cool)

We were only in the stadium for a little more than an hour, but there were no major meltdowns and we didn't lose anyone.

Shannon and the girls watching BMX bikers.

It didn't hurt that sweet Caroline slept through the whole thing...

Bob and Larry

Two weeks old

I realize that she was two weeks old on Monday and today is Thursday, but this is the best I can do these days. I'm just proud to have deodorant on at this point. The picture was taken on Monday. (Granted it was Monday night at about 11:30, but it was still Monday)

Now, this picture was taken about 3.5 seconds before the picture above. She can go from 0 to 60 and back in no time flat. She's going to fit in just fine. :)

Wiped out!

Can you see the fear in Caroline's eyes?
The Rushings have been here this week and the girls had a great time.

Papadopa Dee read stories...

Granny Ilene and the girls made cookies.

Now after a long two weeks of getting used to having three kids, Shannon heads back to work on Monday. I think he's looking forward to the rest. :)

Isn't it funny that they have the same hair line?

One week and a photo shoot

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get a two year old to both smile and look at the camera at the same time? I have all but given up. It sure makes for some funny photos. After asking her 100 times to look at the camera, and getting the "I AM!" response, we asked her where the camera was, thus the picture of her pointing at the camera.

Three out of five ain't bad

We managed to get three of the five of us clean and out of the door this morning for church. I won't speak to the cleanliness of the other two, but at least everyone had been fed. As I'm sure you can guess, the past few days have been a bit of a blur. At the advice of more than one person I've tried to focus on getting everyone in my family clean, fed and dressed. Now that may sound like a low bar to reach, but it ISN'T. If I can get that down, I'm going to start trying for vegetables and matching, season appropriate clothing next week. Yesterday, I actually heard myself say, "no, you can't eat the chocolate candy until you eat a few more french fries."

Caroline is doing very well these days. Sleeping well between feedings through the night and is pleasant during the day. The girls are in LOVE with her. It is so fun to watch them together. Anabelle is continuously talking to her. "Caroline, Mommy said, I can go throw away your diapuh, but I'll be wite back." "CAROLINE! CAROLINE! Don't cry, I'm your big sistuh"

I think we'll keep her.

no time for words...maybe later

Caroline Grace Rushing has arrived!! She was born at about 3pm and was smaller than both of her sisters at 7 lbs and 8oz. Big sisters are very proud.


Can you tell Anabelle is talking to her here? She never stopped talking to her. 'Caroline, Caroline...this is your hat.' I don't think she has figured out that it will be a while before she can answer, 'yes Anabelle.' Taylor is such a big sister pro.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. Things went wonderfully today. God is GREAT.

Countdown to Caroline!!

I know, I know, I'm sorry. I have not been doing a very good job lately with the updating the blog thing. As I'm sure you can imagine, it has been pretty busy around here trying to get ready for girl number three. We are finally down to counting the hours. I will go into the hospital on Sunday night to prep for an induction Monday morning!! We are almost there!!

Of course I have pushed my prep down to the wire. Shannon literally hung the last curtain in the nursery about an hour ago. Here are nursery pictures. I'll try to have pictures of the girls and their individual lunches with Shannon and me later this afternoon.

Of course I had to make her a bag. Have you noticed I'm really into the whole polka dot thing?