Open Letter to Dad

Good morning, Pop. How are you feeling this fine day? You're looking rather well. Is that a new shirt? It sets off your tan nicely, I must say. Speaking of tans, have you been hitting the links? You look so well-rested.

How am I? Oh, just fantastic. Thank you for asking.

But let's get down to business. I have a proposition for you.

How about you let me keep mom. We can maybe arrange a custody situation wherein I get to keep her and you can visit her - here - as often as you like. Really, we wouldn't mind that at all!

See, I'm just not sure if I'm ready, or able, to give her up. I'm having a hard time picturing my days without a nap in them. And she's just so darn good with my kids, what with the loving and spoiling and all. I just don't know if I can bear to let her return to Pee-Yay. I'm sure you can understand this, as I know you're quite fond of her as well.

So what say you, Father? I really think once you've had a chance to mull it over you'll see my side of things and agree that, as usual, I'm right about this.

Love,

Your sixth (and favorite) child.

Baby heaven

  

To all those people who stared at me incredulously during my pregnancy.

IN YOUR FACE!

This is why I have babies. LOOK AT THAT GLORIOUSNESS! So much cheek kissing going on here at chez rawlins.

And...that's about ALL that's going on here. Because I still wear my pajamas every day. And I'm cool with that. Sometimes I wear makeup WITH my pajamas. But the uniform doesn't change much from day to day.

Haley is kind of an awesome sleeper. I mean, she's still a baby, so it's not like she's going six-hour stretches or anything. But compared to some of my other non-sleeping babies, she takes the sleeping cake. Of course, I expect that won't last long. Because my luck in that area never does. So I'm soaking it up now.

Haley is NOT an awesome nurser. Which bums me out completely. We've been through a lot in two weeks (cracks, bleeding, mastitis, thrush, visits with the lactation consultant, crying on the phone with said consultant, crying every few hours when she just won't nurse). And now she's a bottle baby and I'm pumping for her. I did this route with my other non-nurser, Cam, so it's familiar territory. Not FUN territory, but at least I know I've survived it once before. And hey, at least she's healthy and happy and adorable and perfect, right? I mean, that's a lot of good stuff right there. So no complaining.

People keep asking me what it's like to have four kids. And honestly they're asking the wrong person. They should ask my mom (who technically has 8 kids, 7 kid-in-laws and 17.75 grandchildren). Because she's running the show right now. C-sections are no fun to recover from and I've been doing my utmost to try and stay down and get better quickly. And my mom, bless her heart, is doing everything in her power to make sure I have nothing to do even if I wanted to. The sink is always empty, the laundry room is tidy and the kids are always cared for. And somewhere in there she finds time to read, like, a bajillion books. SUPER POWERS, I tell you! SUPER POWERS!

As for my older babes, they are handling this whole business swimmingly. Sure I have to remind them a lot to "Be gentle!" and "Don't run next to the swing!" But aside from that they are taking to the job very well. And grandma keeps them busy, which is nice. Yesterday they had a sweltering picnic at the park (100+ degrees!!!) and then we all went to the mall so they could ride the train with their little buddies Melanie and Preston.

And now my brain is tired. I think I paused a half dozen times writing that last paragraph. You guys are going to have to lower your expectations for the next couple of months (years, epochs). This whole mommy business makes my brain melt.

Because I'm a little bit tired...

This is what I sent out via email to my family. Remember that I'm on painkillers and forming coherent sentences is hard and stuff.

"Hey everyone! Sorry it's taken so long to get some pictures out. Chase's laptop doesn't have our camera software on it because it's a work laptop. Anyway, Haley Jayne Rawlins joined the world kicking and screaming at 1:52 on Friday. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 6 oz. A little bigger than Miles, but smaller than Soph. She was 19.5 inches.
The girl can wail. She also has a good sized head. You'd think that wouldn't matter for a c-section but it was low enough that they were practically wrestling me on the operating table to get her out. That was pleasant. But she got out and we're all happy and healthy. I came home a day early due to good behavior (on Haley's part, anyway) and probably because they were sick of me. Whatever works, right? Either way we're happy to be home and happy that Vikadon (sp?) and prescrip. strength motrin exist. Big round of applause for the inventors of those.
Here are some pictures of the Halestorm, Hales, HayJay (and sometimes I call her Sophie. I plan on putting a therapist on retainer for the future, no worries). She's gorgeous. We love every square inch of her and firmly believe she was worth all the pain and nausea of the last 9 months. The kids are also in love with her (violently so, at times). As we say in Primary, "we are a happy family."
Hope you and yours are all well. We love you all!"

That's Chase's mom giving Hales her first bath!

"How many bags of fluids does it take to make Anna look like that, anyway?"

The big kids spent their visits climbing every surface in the room. Sooooo relaxing for me:)

 

I do want to add that Mama K has been an angel! The kids are loving all the time with her and so am I. Thanks for lending her out, dad. I'll try to get her back to you in the same condition she arrived in. Also? The first thing I noticed when I sat down at the computer were the search results for the "Find a Grave" website. Awesome, mom.