many monkeys: Happy Birthday, Blaire!

A year ago tonight I was taking an ambien, so I could sleep before my c/s.

We dropped the boys off the next morning in a very normal fashion and made our way to the hospital, expecting to greet our third boy. Well, I was. :)

As they were delivering the baby, gender still unknown, it began SCREAMING. This baby was NOT happy. Carleton told me, well....we have a screaming head! That was new. Justin wasn't breathing at birth, and Collin cried just a bit before quickly settling. This baby was howling. Then came shock #1 - It's a GIRL! And shock #2 - only 7lb 3oz! Oh, she was just so lovely! The operating room staff was so excited - nurses who aren't assigned to you poke in your recovery room to find out the gender. It's so rare that people don't know! They wanted to know right away what her name was. We had no idea. It's shameful, as we'd been having children for over 6 years....you would think we would be fixed on one. We had three girls names...and we wanted to check her out and see which one fit!

Blaire has been the sweetest baby. This past year has flown by! She's cuddly and loving - and completely attached to me. Only recently is she showing some independance. She'll toddle off after the boys now. Just this weekend she has started playing outside in the sandbox with Collin. Of course, she's eaten a little bit of sand....but she is really starting to enjoy "toddler" activities...not just being on mommy's hip.

I still stumble over the word "daughter"...it's just so different after boys / sons. I have managed to stop referring to her as "buddy" or "little buddy". In fact, she may never know her actual name since we all use nicknames on her constantly. Miss B, princess B, Sister B, Blaire Bear.