New Baby & Sibling Bags

Last Tuesday, May 27th, my youngest daughter was born.  We named her Margaret Noelle, but we all call her Maggie.  She was just over 9 pounds.  Both her and I are doing very well.  Spending a lot of time together (I am typing this with one hand, because I'm holding her with my left hand) and I am loving every second of it.  My husband has been able to take 2 weeks off of work to be home with all of us, which has been such a blessing.  

Garrett is a very hands-on Dad.  He is not one to stand back on the sidelines and watch my do everything.  I'm very fortunate that he is this way, as I know that isn't the case for everyone.  It's been so nice at night, nursing.  Garrett will wake up with me and grab me a fresh glass of ice water, change a diaper, take Maggie downstairs after I feed her so I can get a little bit of sleep.  It's been incredibly helpful.  Not to mention, he's been entertaining the older ones nonstop.  Next Monday will be my first day home alone with all 3 of them, so that should be very frightening interesting!

One of my biggest fears while preparing for a new baby was how I was going to make it special for my older two children.  Even while I was laboring, I was thinking about them nonstop.  With every painful contraction, their smiling faces appeared in my mind to help me get through it.  Even while pushing, I kept thinking how I needed to do this as fast as possible so that they could come to the hospital and meet their sister and see how much I loved all 3 of them.

One of the things I did for them was make them a special gift bag to receive once they got to the hospital.

There was a bag for each of them.  I took a photo of the contents of Eva's bag, which were virtually identical minus Abe's having Ninja Turtles and Car-Themed items as opposed to Hello Kitty and Disney Princess stuff.

1- Mini Dry-Erase Board 

2- Sticker, Crayon and Activity Book

3- Drawing Paper

4- Markers

5- T-Shirt that says "Big Sister" & "Big Brother" : I used iron-on's found at Hobby Lobby

6- Tin with some snacks and money for vending machines

The bags weren't anything too fancy, but the kids loved them and wore their shirts to the hospital the next day.  They have also been so great with Maggie.

I wasn't sure how Abram would do, not being quite 2 years old yet, and used to being the "baby."  But, he will ask to hold her and goes out of his way to check on her when she is crying and gives her lots of kisses.  Eva is just a natural, wanting to hold her and will pick her up out of her bassinet on her own. She's been a big help to me when I've needed an extra set of hands so I could go to the bathroom or something else.

Overall, Maggie's first week of life has been pretty easy and I'm very happy about it.  If you remember from my post SOMETHING ABOUT GIANT BEASTS, I had a condition called polyhydramnios during this pregnancy.  I was HUGE HUGE HUGE: full of so much fluid.  It was exhausting, and I was never comfortable.  Since the Maggie's birth I've felt so much better.  Here's a picture comparison of me 1 week postpartum and the picture I used in the aforementioned blog post:

I haven't stepped on a scale (we don't own one, thankfully.)  But, as you can see- there is probably a 30-40 pound difference just from all of that fluid loss.  Heck yes.  (Also, sorry about the messy laundry room in the  back of the current photo.)

Now that you know what I've been up to, I'd love to hear how you all are doing!