Motherhood...Pure joy (most of the time)

I had quite the Mother's Day this year that I could not let it go without being remembered somewhere.  Even if it is on this poor neglected blog!  Carter was so excited about his Mother's Day gift.  He could NOT wait for Sunday. 

One guess on what he got me?

 You guessed it!  FLOWERS...and the best kind...the ones this Momma NEVER has to water.  They are the sweetest tissue paper flowers I have ever seen.  I love them and still have them on my counter TO THIS DAY:)  Thank you my sweet Carter!  I LOVE being your mom.

My good friend Laurel send me this sweet Mother's Peal bracelet.  It has the pearl colors of the birth stones of all my children.  Such a sweet gift to remind me of ALL of my precious pearls.  They are so precious.  I love this bracelet and wear it all the time.

 The last gift was a combination Mother's Day Gift and what we call it "pushing present".  Chris got me another pair of beautiful Tiffany's earrings.  He really knows how to spoil me.  I'm so glad to be the Mother of his children.

Since Mom was in town with the birth of Avery we were able to celebrate Mother's Day with her.  This is what we had printed for her this year...and we hope she liked it.  We miss her so much when she is not here.

Being a mother is something I have ALWAYS wanted to be.  And I love it.  But it stretches me more than I ever thought possible.  Many days I wear my referee shirt more than I would like....wipe up more messes than I thought was possible...do so much laundry I feel I am working at the laundry mat...but the kisses, sweet words, and love I feel FAR out weighs anything else!  I love these kids and I am so glad that have been sent to me and our home.  I hope I can be the mom they need me to be.  I will try EVERY day.  I love you!

And Then there were Three...

The day finally arrived.  Avery Brooke Edwards joined our family on May 3rd at 8:33pm.  I was induced 5 days early at Saint Joseph Mercy Hospital and we were ALL so ready for her to arrive.  Everything went well in the laboring process.  YES I got an epidural (love those) only this time it worked a little too well.  Once the needle went in there was imediate NUMBNESS!  So numb I could not move my legs.  I kept asking the nurse..."Now you are sure I am not paralyzed?"  But she assured me I was fine.  And with time it wore off enough that I could move myself when I needed to. 

I was stuck at 7 cm dilation for hours.  But all of the sudden as soon as my nurse went home and shift change happened I started to be in a LOT of pain.  That is when the hubby got a little woozy!  Now Chris is not one for needles...blood...pain etc.  But he has never had problems in the delivery room with the boys.  But this time HE DID!  When the severe pain started the nurse moved me to my right side and checked me and 3 pushes later...Avery was HERE.

She had a LOT of vernix caseosa.  She was COVERED in it.  But she was PERFECT!

She weighed 7 pounds and was 19 inches long.

And she reminded me so much of her brothers.  Especially Carter.  We loved her from the moment we saw her. 

We had lots of questions for the nurses on changing a GIRL's diaper...they just said, "yeah...now you've got INDOOR plumbing!"

The boys stayed at home with Grandma and Grandpa Edwards.  They came first thing Friday morning and the boys could hardly wait to meet "THEIR" baby!

Don't mind the lady in the BRIGHT RED shirt with the BIG-ness all over.  She snuck in the picture with the boys!  OK, fine it is me...I never like post pregnancy pictures of myself until the kids are atleast a year old!  But the boys are so cute in this picture.

The BOYS just LOVE her! 

 This was the picture of when we took her home from the hospital.

They had a hard time sharing "sissy". 

Welcome sweet Avery!  We could not be happier!

Pre-Baby Fun....

Before Avery joined our family we enjoyed just being outside and doing some fun things with these two...

 Yes the final days of only having 2 children and being a family of 4!  It was in the 80's in March and April so we lived outside.  That is SO unheard of for Michigan weather.

 Carter LOVES to climb trees and he was having his own little adventure under the pine tree.

 Sorry this picture is so blurry...These are pictures from th iPhone and the posted on Instagram (my new love).  The boys had a blast building toilet paper towers.  They must have been entertained for about an hour.

 Eli has really enjoyed this spring...he changed so much in the months before Avery was born.  So much personality...so much sass...so much FUN!  And OH THE CURLS!

 And YES...if you drove by our house on the day this hooligan was wearing this "get-up" you would have had a great laugh.  This is just how we roll sometimes at the Edwards home.

 BUT...we enjoyed spending time with just these TWO!  They are best buddies.

 And this was the view I got many times on our daily walks.  Oh melt my heart.  I hope these two are BEST friends forever.

 And YES...of course we did make a visit to DQ!  The boys love a good Blizzard:)

Now for the sake of TIME...which I never have enough of...I am just going to post some pictures of Eli's shananagans!

And we got a "Trail-a-Bike" to go on Bike rides with dad!

And of course Eli had to join in the fun!  They love their rides with Dad.

And this was my last visit to the doctor before there was 3!  And YES...I was soooo BIG!