three 4 year olds...

happy, happy birthday to my beautiful, non- toddler girls. we have come so far in 4 years and at times i could not even imagine arriving at this point. three very different personalities, voices and looks all from the same, over sized belly.

emma rose (baby a) was the first to arrive at 3:17 pm. she weighed in at 5 lb. 4 oz. she had the least amount of hair of the 3 (emma, emma hair- dilemma). the whole birth ordeal made her a little sad and a little angry.

claire elisabeth (baby b) was the second one out. she followed behind emma by only 1 minute. as the sister squished between her 2 sisters, she was the smallest. she weighed in at 4 lb. 12 oz. and had a mop of dark black hair. her head was so tiny, it looked like a tennis ball.

lauren elise liked the room she gained when her sisters vacated the uterus, so she went hiding under my ribs. the dr. had to climb on the operating table to pull that little girl out. (which involved a frightening amount of reaming on my stomach and him commenting that i will definitely be sore now.) she finally came out at 3:21 pm. she had been sitting on top of the others and she weighed the most. lauren topped the scales at 5 lb. 9 oz. she had these enormous eyes...my sister called her a yard gnome.

since birth, claire has always been the smallest/shortest and lauren the biggest/tallest and emma right in the middle. we have had some long days and some long nights, but when i recall how i was feeling 4 years ago.....terrified about them being okay, overwhelmed about going from 1 child to 4, exhausted from a very hard pregnancy.....we are certainly blessed.

i hope the next 4 years don't go as fast as these last 4 have. i hope they continue to develop their unique personalities. i hope my stretch marks will magically disappear. i hope we can survive 4 teenage girls someday.....

here are some pics of our journey so far....