Dusting off the old blogging fingers

This picture perfectly captures the whirlwind that is our life

Because when better to recapture your sanity through the interweb then when your children are losing it?

And I guess because it's been way, way too long. So many thoughts and moments to catch up on but I'll start with the one that has rocked our world significantly since May. We added a new little lady to our tribe (can I say that since Marty is like 1/100 Native American? Let's say yes)! Luciana Marie Link came into our world by force. She was not budging at all when it came time to come around and I wasn't waiting, so at 41 weeks and 1day Marty and I packed our bags, kissed the kids and headed to the hospital. I'm not sure what I expected being induced but it certainly wasn't what I imagined. I'll spare you all the details but after a long, night of waiting and a super fast delivery our newest addition was here (because everyone cares about stats she was 7 lbs 10oz and 20 inches long). She is an absolute dream. We adore her. Literally, the kids adore her; their sun rises and sets with her.

We had the blessing of my mom being able to be with us for the first month or so of Luciana's life which made the transition from two to three much easier but also all the harder when she left. I don't want to say that I fell into any sort of depression after she left but the adjustment was harder than I had anticipated and I think, probably like many mommas, I was lonely and feeling overwhelmed with life while Marty was away at work for some long hours. It's better now and God worked perfectly as only He does. He placed the right people in my life right when I needed them and slowly life fell back into a (new) routine and I came back to life. I like life with three (I get lots of crazy looks while out shopping with three...I didn't think three was a lot and I still don't but I guess whenever people have more than two it's an anomaly or something).

Life continued way too fast and in addition to Luciana coming into the world, Judah turned two, my sweet boy is growing up faster than I'd like him to; and we celebrated Gabriella's 4th birthday. They amaze me every. single. day. with their imaginations and how quickly they develop. I never would have imagined parenthood to be like this. It has some of the slowest days that fly by. I end each night by looking at my sleeping babies and marveling at how the day brought something new for someone, sometimes everyone. People keep telling me not to wish these days away, and I don't, even though they are long. I know that way too soon they won't need me to affirm their accomplishments so I try (and fail) to be present in every moment. This usually requires copious amounts of coffee and prayer.

This is teetering on being too long with too little sleep. Hopefully my next blog will actually be a little thought provoking but that might require my own brain to step up and organize something other than diapers into size 2 and size 5...cause that's where we are in this chapter of life....