The final piece of the puzzle

She is the baby that almost wasn't.

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When I was pregnant with Alexa, my body protested.  My back, legs, and hips suffered.  At least once a day, I muttered, "I will never do this again.  I'm DONE."

And yet....

Driving home from the hospital, with a less than one week old Alexa in the backseat, I said to Nick, "I don't think we're done."  He wasn't so sure.  His first concern was for my health...I now had 3 c-sections in my history and he was worried that a 4th pregnancy and surgery would be dangerous.

After some discussion and an assurance by our doctor that another pregnancy would be safe, he finally agreed.

Just 9 months after Alexa's birth, a pregnancy test came back positive.  My 4th and final pregnancy made me nauseous, tired, and miserable.  I was in near-constant pain.  I often made the joke that "I said I wanted another baby...I never said I wanted to be PREGNANT again."  In the end, of course, my reward was a tiny bundle of perfection.  Our family was completed on April 26, 2007, when we welcomed Rachel Julia.

Once again, it was love at first sight.  She had squishy, warm cheeks and wisps of brown, silky hair.  She nursed with big, noisy, greedy gulps and we all laughed at her sailor-sized burps.

She has never had a shortage of kisses and love.  Now that she's older, she repays those kisses as often as she can.

Benjamin was smitten.  He happily performed his duties as a Big Brother.  He had an unending supply of patience for her.  She tests his patience quite a bit these days.

 She is happy and sweet and funny and the only one of my kids to go completely bald.

Now she is curly-haired, while the rest are straight.

She is brown-eyed, while the rest are blue.

I'll always be grateful to that little voice in my heart that spoke up.  "Yes, it will be difficult, but it will be worth every minute.  This family isn't done yet."  I listened to that little voice.  And I've never regretted it.

 Happy 3rd Birthday, Princess Rachel.

We all love you...To the moon and back.

And we're so glad you're here.