Life Lately- Family of 5 Edition

Well first of all, HELLO!

Things are a little different in our house since my last Cherry Pie post. :) We are officially a family of 5 and are loving having our sweet Emily home with us!

I am working on her birth story and can't wait to share her sweet newborn pictures as well. Hopefully I'll be able to get those out in the next week!

Ryan and Natalie are both adjusting well to having Emily home. Matt and I are trying our best to give them individual time when and where we can. My parents have been staying with us during the week to help make that possible. They are a huge reason why our transition from 2-3 has gone as well as it has. We are so thankful for their time and help! 

The sweetest part of being a family of 5 is seeing Ryan and Natalie get so excited to be around Emily. Even little Natalie has held her several times and given Emily the biggest grins and sweetest kisses while she's been in her arms. And Ryan, bless him, loves showing her off to family and friends who have visited and gets so excited over the littlest things she does like open her eyes. He is such a sweet big brother!

I've definitely felt that mom guilt from not being able to spend as much time / individual time / or time in the same way with Ryan and Natalie these past couple of weeks, but I'm reminding myself that it's already getting easier and we're only 2.5 weeks in. I know this will also continue to get easier when Emily is in a more consistent routine with eating and sleeping, but I have to say, the sweet girl is totally rocking both areas for being less than 3 weeks old!

Matt and I keep saying that we're taking things one day at a time and want to make sure we enjoy all there is to enjoy about these sweet early days with a newborn and the simple days at home with all three. I am so thankful that Ryan and Natalie love playing at our house and have so appreciated my parents and Matt for spending so much time at home with us these first few weeks. Matt was home the whole first week, has been coming home early from work, and has been so great about taking Ryan and Natalie places on the weekends to get quality time with them and give me time to rest and spend alone with Emily. And my parents have done the same during the week, either taking them to the park or swimming in the pool while I feed/sleep/attempt to accomplish a thing or two. ;) Needless to say, I think I've said the words "thank you" at least 1,000 times in the last two weeks.

So here's a look at what we've been up to since we've been home! Fair warning, this post is a looong one. ;) And as I mentioned at the top of the post, I'll hopefully be sharing Emily's birth story and newborn photos soon.

In the meantime, you can keep up with us on Instagram @hmnelsen if you'd like!

Sweet baby girl had on my dress that I came home from the hospital in, but it was pouring down rain and surprisingly cold, so she ended up going home in her hospital hat and blanket since her mama forgot to pack a cute blanket or hat. Sweet third baby. :)

HOME!

This is a still shot of a video I took of the kids reaction to having Emily home. Natalie went straight for the bow on Emily's hat and that look she is giving... 😂

Ryan wanted Emily in his room for milk and stories time and Tally wanted to join in too. Sweet big brothers. ;)

Ryan also insisted that Emily have his orange bat by her crib because he thought she would like having that near her while she slept. I love that boy and love age 2!

Emily's first morning home :)

My sister and her boys came over to see the kids and brought a whole bunch of new books for Ryan. So sweet!

Dinosaur stickers from one of his new books. :)

He loves holding her :)

First bottle with Daddy!

Matt took Natalie and Tally on a hike while I got time with Ryan and Emily at home!

And then he took Ryan to Chick-Fil-A and sweet buddy took a break from his meal to read his new book. :)

Checking out her little sister's fingers

Emily's first time down by the pool. ;)

First frog catch of summer!

Matt's sister brought dinner over one night (so sweet!) and the only picture we remembered to take was this cute one of Uncle Jay snuggling Emily during the whole meal.

This pic 😂 This was our first Costco trip as a family of 5. We forget Emily's wrap so we got two carts to fit the food and the kids and then Miss Natalie made it known that she would prefer to walk. She is so funny and is a girl who knows what she wants! 😂 Matt and I said we would certainly remember that first trip as a family of 5 when Emily was just a week old. And his face- he is seriously the best.

Monday (when Emily was 8 days old) was my first solo morning with the kids and it went so well! My parents came in around lunch time, so I had the morning by myself with them. Emily slept soundly in between feeds which gave me such sweet play time with Ryan and Natalie. It was exactly what we all wanted. I snapped these pictures to send to Matt:

Then when my parents arrived, we got the kids down for nap and I took Emily to her 1 week appointment.

Sweet little love. :)

Nonna was telling Ryan that he used to always sleep just like that with his fist by his face when he was a baby. 

One-on-one time at the park for Nonna and Natalie! I loved seeing this picture pop up on my phone while they were gone!

This contraption is so great. All 3 of our babies have loved it. I'm certain that if they made it in toddler and adult sizes, we'd all have one. ;)

Nursing a 3rd baby looks a little different than nursing a first 😂

Matt is always so great about jumping right in to play with the kids when he gets home. I could hear them laughing down my the pool while I fed Emily in the living room upstairs and snuck a picture from the window.

Post dinner doting and posing ;)

Ryan helped me make Oatmeal Chocolate Chip lactation cookies one day that turned out really tasty! I'll be sharing that recipe soon as well!

I mean, the sweetest.

Heading out for some evening chores- naked of course. 😂

Sweet buddy put this whole setup together while I fed Emily one morning and was so proud!

Man we love these girls!

Another grown-up thing this almost-3-year-old has been doing lately- reading before bed. Sweet buddy. His bedroom door is a french door that we never switched out when we made his room a bedroom, so I love peeking in at night and seeing if he's fallen asleep.

Last words before this picture was taken, "I'm not tired quite yet."

Pool time with daddy! I can't wait to get the all-clear from the doctor to be able to get in with them!

My sister scooped up Ryan on Monday of this week and took him to mine for rocks and gems in Dahlonega! He had the BEST time and has been sorting his new rocks and gems everyday (multiple times a day) since. This was really his first trip without us and he did so well! 

While Ryan was with my sister, Matt took the morning off and we both took our girls to the zoo! It was so fun seeing Natalie walk around all over the place and having sweet time with just her and Emily.

That night, we had an impromptu dinner/pool party to celebrate Papa's belated Father's Day. And since it was July 3rd, we celebrated with fire crackers and smoke bombs after dinner.

This was our attempt at a group picture. ;)

On July 4th, we had our friends and their kiddos over and somehow managed to get all of the little ones to pose for a picture with their popsicles. Notice how our two didn't want to take a pause from eating to pose for the pic, especially Natalie- hah!

:)

We stripped her down for the rest of her popsicle eating and snuck this pic of her little baby buns as she ate and looked out at the other kids playing. Sweet love!

Family walk / caravan 😜

Modeling a new swaddle from her Aunt Kathryn :)

Sweet Nonna snuggling one baby and doing leg bounces with the other :)

Loving on her little sister!

Papa and Emily- he is the best with our kiddos at every stage! Love the way he loves on them :)

That wraps up our first 2.5 weeks as a family of 5! Thank you all for your sweet words on Instagram and Facebook and for making it to the bottom of this post. ;)

Hopefully I'll be back sooner rather than later with Emily's birth story and newborn photos!