She finally came! Little miss Ruby was born in March. I had false labor twice , (nature's extremely cruel prank on any mom) but my little bundle of joy completed our family at last!
Having four children to be responsible for was pretty freaky at first. The day we brought Ruby home from the hospital, I got super sick with a fever of 102 and a nasty cough. I had somehow avoided the cough that had been making the rounds with EVERYONE IN OUR FAMILY FOR TWO MONTHS! I think once I gave birth, my body finally gave up trying to fight off all those germs. I started to feel better, and the reality of our new family hit me. Everything was chaos. Every noise seemed amplilfied by 10. Every mess appeared overwhelming. Every fight between the older three kids, 8, 6, and 4, was more annoying. And I won't bore you with the taxing ordeal of sleepless night after sleepless night.
I know anyone who has had children knows the tornado that ensues in the weeks following your newborn's arrival. And anyone who has multiple children knows you have to relearn how to manage everything all over again. Those first weeks caught me off guard.
Slowly, though, life started a new normalcy. We were all adjusting to the situation pretty well. Then, when Ruby was six weeks old, her blessing day came! It was lovely. It was wonderful. We had the family over to celebrate and enjoy refreshments. Of course many photos were taken. When Ilooked at one of pictures of Chris, all the munchkins, and me, I couldn't believe it! "We have FOUR kids!", I thought to my self. Actually, I kind of screamed to myself. Seeing our whole family on the couch stunned me. I got scared for a minute. How in the world was I going to be good at taking care of these people? Then I looked at the beautiful, innocent faces of my kids and relaxed. I have great children! I looked at the hot, handsome, loving face of my husband, Chris, and I remembered that he is here to help me. And I felt the comfort of the Holy Ghost telling me that I have a loving Heavenly Father's assistance- if I will ask for it. I have a perfect example, Jesus Christ, to follow.
I am not worried anymore. Tired, yes, Overwhelmed and burned out, yep and yep. But not worried, I have faith that if I do my part to raise these spirits I've been entrusted with, I will not be alone!
