5 weeks?

Ahhh. A quiet moment to settle in with my thoughts and my blog. The little girl that has completely captured my heart (and destroyed any hopes of a complete night of sleep or a balanced budget) is taking her umpteenth nap for the day...this time on Daddy's chest.

Where have the last 5 weeks gone? I can't believe that much time has passed since our little Lauren landed in my arms. I have not spent much time blogging or on my computer. The T.V. has not been on much. The house has gotten progressively less tidy. Craig's parents, my mom, Maddie, and my friend Molly have all paid visits. We have taken our first road trip (to get Mom and Maddie in Grand Rapids and see family and our friend Mary). We've fallen into some sort of awkward routine. We've laughed and cried, but mostly have been humbled in awe of how in love we have fallen with this little miracle girl.

I knew by her trickery in the middle of the pregnancy that this little one would either be very stubborn or very content. As it turns out, we got the latter. Having no real relative experience, it seems safe to say that Lauren is a very easy baby. She cries when she is hungry, she cries when she needs a diaper change, and she sleeps. And sleeps and sleeps and sleeps. I never dreamed that I would spend so much time waking up my baby to eat. She gets so cozy that she would sleep literally all day and was slow to gain back the weight that she lost shortly after birth, so we had to (and still do at times) wake her up to eat. There is something so unnatural about that!

We are so blessed. I used to question why having a family was such a process for us, but when I hold my girl in my arms, there is no doubt in my mind that God was waiting for His perfect timing for her to join our family. He is so very good to us.

With that, I will close with a few random statements/questions that you may have heard if you were a fly on our wall in the last 5 weeks.

• "What did we ever do before Lauren?"


• "What happened to us?" (while completely sleep deprived in the doctor's office while Craig read me a children's book and I laughed hysterically)


• "Whose idea was this baby thing?" (asked in the middle of the night while attempting to quiet and comfort a screaming baby)


• "How many times this week have you washed the sheets?" (the answer was four. The kid's timing is impeccable)


• "Diaper failure! Diaper failure! Help!"


• "I'm not the one that spoiled her."


• "What do we do now?"


• "What happened to the box of diapers?"


• "It's my pillow, and if I am ok with baby puke on it, then that is my business." (not me)


• "How did we get so lucky to be parents to this little angel?" (spoken in all honesty)


• "This kid is just playing games with me now."


• "I think I just got outsmarted by a newborn."

OK...time is up and baby is awake. Goodnight all! We're hoping for a good nights sleep tonight, but if not, those quiet moments in the middle of the night holding my girl are pretty awesome, too!