Waaaaa

It seems as though Sarah is already a little drama queen. Out of the blue, I can pretend to cry, and she will start crying like someone took her bottle. Some people may think I'm mean. I'd say I'm just trying to develop her lungs. Whatever the case, she's so cute! Keep an eye out for that bottom lip!

Potty Time - Emmy Style

Emmy has started to understand that her diaper is gross if she goes potty in it, so we have introduced the "potty" to her in hopes that she moves towards it pretty soon. At first, she was scared of the actual potty (it's a Princess Potty that claims to 'sing' at the kid when they go in the potty --- I have yet to see how this thing works, but whatever). Emmy has moved on from being scared of the potty to intrigued by it. Last night, she wanted to open it, sit on it, get up, and then close it...over and over and over and over again!

This ought to be interesting. Potty training my Little Spitfire all while nursing Sarah, dealing with an inquisitive Sam, and a potentially bored Rachel (once Summer Break starts) is certainly going to be interesting. If I can survive this summer, I'll be doing good. Oh! Pray for me, would ya?!

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Ok -- 20 minute update

I just put Emmy on the potty for the very first time to try to get her to go in the potty...and within minutes, she went! Maybe this won't be too bad after all! Woo hoo!!

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Ok -- Another Update -- 3:30pm

Of the 4 times that I have had Emmy attempt to go potty today, she has gone potty successfully 3 of the 4 times! Yaaayyyy!!

Sam Speaks

Sam's Sunday school teacher's name is Mr. Robert.

Sam calls him, "Mr. Robber" because he hasn't had to actually pronounce it out yet. We will be working on that!

Check Out Those Eyelashes!

Of course, this is the one picture that show her eyelashes like crazy, and it's the one picture that I couldn't get the red eye out of. Oh well!!

Crazy Arms

These pictures were taken in a matter of about 30 seconds. She hasn't quite beaten me senseless with these arms of hers yet, but she certainly does like to move them around! Every time she's on her back, her arms go crazy!

Crazy Arms - Solution

I have now given Sarah something to do with those arms of hers!

Random Sarah Pictures

Sarah & Sam - On the Mat

A Good Big Brother

He is absolutely in love with his little sister! He wants to kiss her, touch her, love on her, look at her, talk about her, think about her, and whatever else he can do with her nearly all day long. He wants everyone else to love her just as much as he does...even if they are strangers!

If we go to the store, he will get the attention of a random stranger, cashier, or anyone that will listen, and say, "That's Sarah! Isn't she cute?" He will also point out to, again, anyone that will listen, how little her pinkie toe is. It's so adorable!

Something that I've always found just astounding is the way these kids all seem to know each other. Right from the start, they have calmed down when they are around each other. It's something that Rusty and I have often just shook our heads about because WE know that they are brothers and sisters, but they seem to know it in their own little way.

Rusty has already started training Sam to know that he is his sisters' protectors, and he takes his job VERY seriously! He even protects his sisters from each other! Emmy will try to touch Sarah when she's not supposed to be, and he'll step in and protect her.

He just loves it that I took his picture with JUST Sarah. I'm tellin' ya. I don't think he could love her any more than he already does!

GQ Sam

I told Sam to "pose" for the camera. This is what he came up with! Ha!!!

Sarah - 1 Month

Little Itty Bitty turned a month old in what seemed like days! She is doing wonderfully, and has been the much needed addition (and completion) to the Corley Clan! We thought that with Emmy, we were done having kids, but surprise! And, what a wonderful surprise Little Sarah has turned out to be! I am a bit biased, but I'd have to say that she is one of the most gorgeous Littles in the world.

She is giving me 6-7 hours of sleep at night, and is one of the most calm babies I have ever come across. She lets us know when she's hungry, she needs to be changed, or if she has a burp. Otherwise, she is content to play on her mat, in her chairs, or wherever we put her.

She's had some bouts of reflux/colic, and the typical baby acne issues, but other than that, she is in perfect health. She's already gained 2 pounds from when we left the hospital weighing in at a whopping 8.3 pounds. She's still smaller than when Emmy was born, but that's ok. She's perfect the way she is!

Every now and then, we'll get a good little smile out of her. Her dimple in her left cheek just melts my heart! I can't wait to catch it on the camera so I can share it with you all. If I couldn't have another kid with blue eyes, a dimple is the next best thing! Her eyes will most definitely be brown. They are that smoky grey color just like all of my other brown-eyed beauties have been.

Sarah changes nearly every day. I remember waking up one morning, and just looking at her because she so obviously changed overnight. One day, I will look back on these pictures and just wonder where the time went, but for now, I can't wait to see just how gorgeous all of my Littles turn out to be. God really has blessed me with all sorts of things, but next to my husband, I couldn't possibly have been more blessed to have the Littles that I do!

I'm Still Here

I know you guys are looking for updates....I NEVER thought that I would ever be THIS busy -- in my entire life! I have some good pictures of all of the littles on the camera, but I have to get them to the computer, then uploaded to the blog, and then I have to talk about it. At the moment, I only have time to write this little update, but I promise, I will overwhelm you all once I can get a minute. Promise.

X O X O

Sister, Sister.....Sister!

I never imagined that I would have 3 daughters! Look at these beauties!

The Cheapest Toys

Church Picnic

We went to the church picnic this past weekend. The kids got their faces painted, but were so hot by the time we got home, they wanted to go play in the hose. They wanted their pictures taken before the water smeared their paintings.

Daddy's Little

Music Man

Cody LOVES anything and everything about music.

Sleeping Little

The Baby Papasan

Emmy never really liked the baby papasan when she was younger. Now that Sarah is here, and is in the baby papasan whenever she sleeps (unless someone is holding her), Emmy suddenly likes it -- whether Sarah is sitting in it or not!

Some Videos

Emmy and Sam Dancing & Emmy Playing with Sarah

Sarah Angelie

Sarah Angelie was born on 4.19.2010 @ 6:08am. She weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces. She was 4 days late to the party, but now that she's here, it was totally worth the wait!

Sarah's labor & delivery story is very short -- mainly because it didn't take very long to have her -- which I'll NEVER argue with!

Sunday night (4.18), we went to bed at around 10:00, and at 12:50, I woke up with some contractions. They weren't really bad...just annoying more than anything. I tossed and turned and tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't, so I jumped in the shower. I figured that since we were past our 2nd due date, this was probably the real thing (as opposed to the fluke the previous Tuesday that put us in Triage---ugh).

I woke Rusty up around 2:30 or so, and told him that we should head to the hospital. I called Mom over to keep the kids, emailed Angelyn, called Beth, and we headed to the hospital around 3:45am. We were sent to Triage, which is normal. They monitored me and the baby (just like the previous Tuesday), but for some reason, my contractions (that were getting faster and faster and more and more intense) weren't registering on the monitors.

The midwife that couldn't find my cervix (Debbie) over the last few office exams was on call. She came into Triage at around 4:45am to exam me to see how far along into labor I was, and she STILL had trouble finding my cervix. She had a fellow nurse come in to get her opinion, and that nurse was able to determine that I was 3.5cm dilated. Yaay! I wasn't imagining it! We were in LABOR!

Debbie suggested that I walk around the "Triage Loop" for a little while, so Rusty and I began the walk to try to get labor to come faster. We walked for about 5 minutes before I had to go to the bathroom. We headed back to Triage, went potty, and then headed back to the "Loop". My contractions were 1-2 minutes apart, so we told one of the nurses. She suggested that we go back to the bed in Triage and after a few minutes, they decided to admit me to the hospital and moved me to the delivery room. By the time I got into the delivery room, it was around 5:45am, and somewhere in there, Beth had arrived, Angelyn was called to come, and I was in a TON of pain - begging for an epidural with all of my soul.

Once I arrived in the delivery room, I went to the bathroom again (all while having some seriously intense (and SUPER FAST) contractions). I don't know how long I was in there, but afterwards, I climbed into the bed where Little Sarah would be born. I begged and pleaded for an epidural! I was in AGONY! The nurse explained to me that in order for me to have an epidural, I had to have an IV, get bloodwork done, and a few other procedures prior to the epidural, so I asked her to go ahead and start my IV and get my bloodwork. In the time that it took her to get the IV put into my hand, I had at least 3 contractions. They were SO fast and SO intense. She got the bloodwork ready to be sent to the labs, and then it started. I didn't see this until AFTER Sarah was born, but my bloodwork never even made it out of the room to be analyzed! It got tossed onto the nurses' desk at some point.

The nurse finally realized that I wasn't kidding about my contractions. I wasn't set up on any Mommy or Baby monitors yet, so she couldn't really "see" what was going on with my contractions...she could only hear my complaints, my crying, my pleading for medicine, etc. She decided to exam me to see how far dilated I was at that point.

I don't remember seeing many things during Sarah's labor and delivery because my eyes were closed, but I remember hearing lots of things (over my screams). The nurse checked to see how far dilated I was, and I heard her say, "Well, you're 7...wait...you're 8....you're 10, you're 10, you're 10!" And she ran out of the room.

Somewhere in there, Rusty told me that he needed to call Ang to tell her that it was time, and I told him that he needed to be right there where he was, so Beth stepped out of the room to call her. Ang was already on her way to the hospital, and when Beth was telling her that it was time, she barely made it back into the room before Sarah was born.

I had NO control over my body at this point, and Sarah was coming...and she was not kidding...AT ALL!

The next thing I remember seeing is Debbie running into the room trying to put on a glove. She yelled at me, "Rebekah, you have to stop pushing! I don't even have my gloves on yet!!" I told her that I had NO control, and I think she realized that as she got her first glove on and was holding Sarah's head in from coming out any more than it already had because Little Sarah was already halfway born! The nurse put on Debbie's other glove, and from what I understand, Sarah was born before Debbie could get her other hand back there to catch.

My water broke, and within seconds, Sarah was born. She came SO FAST that she was born onto the bed because the delivery bed wasn't even broken down, the stirrups were not set up, and the nurses were darting around the room. The midwife was there to pick her up off of the bed, but Rusty says that there was a moment that the panic stopped and everyone looked down onto the bed to see Little Sarah lying there. Rusty didn't even see her come out because she came that fast! Beth was standing there in amazement (and confusion -- her job was to hold my right leg, but we never even made it to that part)!

The nurse placed Sarah on my chest, and I looked down at her and said, "Hello Little!" They didn't have a chance to clean her up, so I got to hold her for a little over an hour while they got everything set up for her bath. I was able to nurse Sarah without any problems whatsoever. It was like she came into this world knowing just how to eat, which was a blessing all on its own.

From the time that I was placed in the delivery room (5:45am) to the time that Sarah was born (6:08am) was 23 minutes! Wow! I am fairly certain that I was in shock all day on Monday -- as were the rest of us -- because of how FAST Sarah came! Rusty's energy drink hadn't even kicked in, Beth's hair was still wet from her shower, and Angelyn got there, literally, minutes after Sarah was born!

God is SO great! I was very specific with my prayers for this labor and delivery.

I asked for labor and delivery to be fast.

I asked for Sarah and me to be healthy during and after delivery.

I asked that nursing be an easy and enjoyable process.

I asked to be able to walk around and not be stuck to the bed or medications.

Prayers ALWAYS get answered! Sometimes, the answer is "No." Sometimes, the answer is "Not right now." Sometimes the answer is "Yes." One way or the other, they are answered, and I firmly believe that. Thank God that this time, my answers were all "Yes!"

Sarah struggled with jaundice, as expected, but we finally came home from the hospital on Friday night (4.23). It was SO great to finally be home with the last "little" in tow!

I am so excited. I have been blessed with such a wonderful God that has given me such a wonderful family! If I have nothing else in this life, I have faith that God's plan for the Corley Clan is in motion and will work together for our good, and I can't wait to witness what wondrous things are in store for us! All 7 of us!