Three...

THREE kids...feels like a lot.

Not just in the day in day out tasks, like wiping noses and making meals and reading stories and bathing...but the responsibility of raising three girls in the instruction and discipline of the Lord...feels like a lot.

Three mouths to feed and bodies to clothe. Three educations. Three proms. Three weddings!!!

Three hearts to nurture. Three souls to win to Christ.

For some reason the magnitude of this responsibility is just now hitting me. It's easy to get into "survival mode" with three little ones, but I want to do more than that. I don't want to just make it through the day. With a newborn, that's all I'm doing right now. At the end of the day, if everyone is dressed and fed and not crying (or at least not all three crying at once), I consider that a successful day. But in the very near future, my days will require much more than that. Three little ones is physically exhausting. Three older ones will be emotionally exhausting. This blessing of motherhood is no easy task.

I'm learning that motherhood is all about prayer. We can discipline, we can train, we can love...but in the end, it's the Lord who captures their hearts. I have no control over their hearts. And that's hard for me to accept, since I'm an extreme control freak. So I'm committing myself to prayer....

"But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."

-Jeremiah 17:7-8

Baby Stella

Precious Stella has been in our lives for almost 2 weeks now, and already I can't imagine our family without her! I feel so content and complete with her here...she has been such a joy in such a short amount of time.

Mark and I stayed in the hospital for 3 nights this time and I'm so glad we did. I missed my big girls but I just love the time alone with the baby in the hospital. Plus having your meals brought to you in bed is hard to resist :) From day 1 Stella has been pretty laid back. She's very sleepy, probably the sleepiest of my girls. She is also very tolerant and patient and doesn't cry or startle easily. She must have gotten used to all the noise and action in utero!

Just love this picture of Lucy and Stella in the hospital...

It's pretty difficult to get pictures of Stella alone since she has two adoring big sisters. I'll try to get more of just her, but for now this is what our past week at home looked like:

 Naked baby!

Poor Stella. Annie canNOT leave her alone. The wet on the side of her face is from Annie licking her. For some reason her new thing is to lick when she kisses. 

Lucy has been so helpful! 

Rare moment of Stella's eyes open. She reminds me of Lucy's newborn pictures when her eyes are open 

I have been getting lots of rest thanks to fabulous friends and family who have brought meals, cleaned my house, and entertained the big girls. Mark went back to work this week and we were sad to see him go, but my mom is here helping out as I continue to recover from surgery.

For now, I'm enjoying soaking up time with my three girls without all the added responsibilities of cleaning and cooking and LIFE in general :)

Baby Surprise

She's here...one week early! And she finally has a name.

We knew for a while that her middle name would be Jean, after her two great-grandmothers, Barbara Jean (my Mimi), and Wilma Jean. Then we had a list of about 15 names on my phone that we changed almost daily. After she was born and I was still in the OR, Mark narrowed it down to about 5 names. After spending some time with her in the recovery room, we decided on Stella.

Stella Jean Campbell entered the world on October 11th




She was 6lbs 14 oz, and 19.5 inches long. She was transverse inside of me so they had a really hard time pulling her out, which has made my recovery pretty rough. She has black hair (gasp!!) and her face reminds us of both Lucy and Annie. She is absolutely perfect and we are so thankful.

This is my favorite pic of Mark holding her in the recovery room...already has him wrapped around her tiny finger.




So far she is a great nurser and a great sleeper, which is pretty much all I could ask for!




Lucy was SO excited to meet her. Annie is obviously clueless, although she did keep patting her on the head saying "baby" and smiling. I'll post the better pictures later when I can sit down at the computer but I got this one of Lucy on my phone.




Lucy is such a great big sister and I know she is going to be a huge help with Stella. I'm a little worried about how Annie is going to adjust though.

We got home today so I'll try to update more soon. I can't believe we have 3 kids! So thankful for a healthy baby and safe delivery.

Annie at 18 months

This is kind of a horrible thing to say because I have two other children at other ages right now whom I really do love to pieces...but 18 months has to be the best all time age ever. You know, in my super experienced 4 years of being a mom opinion.

I love 18 months. I love toddlerhood, really. When they interact with you, soak up new information, learn new words every day, but are still small enough to cuddle, want to be held, and aren't quite old enough to start talking back and voicing their own opinions :) (would you be shocked to hear I have a VERY opinionated 4 year old??)

At 18 months, Annie is a teeny little thing, only weighing 22 pounds! She is wearing mostly 18-24 month clothes, but some 12-18 months still fit her too. 

She is VERY active....she can climb on anything without help. She is constantly on a chair, a couch, the kitchen table, a bed, and I've even caught her on the kitchen counter a few times. Along with being active comes lots of falls and war wounds. Her head and face always look like she was in some sort of fight...and lost. 

She is lovable and cuddly, and has such a sweet spirit. Every time she sees a baby or an animal she cocks her head and scrunches her face and says "awww" in the sweetest voice.

She is talking a lot, but not as much as Lucy was at this age. Annie just says what she needs to to get by and the rest is covered up in gibberish and laughing. She can say everyone in the family's names, including grandparents. Her favorite thing to do is point to everyone in the room while saying their name, ending with herself, who she calls "nee nee". She won't say Stella. She just calls her "baby".

She has one word with multiple meanings. "Shooce" could mean juice, shoes, or Lucy. "Go go" could mean yogurt, good girl, or cookie. "Baaa" could mean ballon, ball, or back (her word for going outside, because we often go out the "back" door...).She can say night night, milk, baby, car, and everyone's names pretty much perfectly. There are lots of other words she says that I can't think of right now. "Beeyah" for zebra is probably my favorite. Oh and she has recently picked up "mine".

She went down to one nap right before 18 months...really I forced her to. She would have taken 2 naps for a bit longer I think but with Stella coming I wanted her to be taking one really long afternoon nap. She requires a lot of sleep, but she doesn't KNOW that she requires a lot of sleep. She doesn't love to sleep like Lucy does, she would rather be right in the middle of the action. Annie is often the first one to go to bed at night because she can fall into melt down mode rather quickly...as can most 18 month olds.

She LOVES her sisters. Big and Little :)

She also LOVES her mama and prefers me over anyone else. I'm not complaining.

She is very obedient to my voice. We really have not had to discipline her much because if I tell her to stop doing something she stops. I'll enjoy that while it lasts.

Most of the challenge with raising and caring for Annie is physical. She is hard to keep up with! My day mainly consists of pulling her down off of surfaces, taking sharp things out of her hand, and chasing her away from toilet bowls and Heidi's water bowl.

Oh and cleaning her. She is the Messiest. Eater. Ever.

I love this sweet girl with all my heart. She is such a blessing to our family. She is a ray of sunshine, a ball of energy, and a cuddle bug. She can make you smile in about 0.1 seconds.

See?? She made you smile didn't she....

Happy 18 months little Annie Faith!