MARGARET LOUISE

Hi friends.

I'd love to introduce you to the newest member of the Petermann family.  This is Miss Margaret Louise - most commonly called Maggie.

She arrived just when scheduled - via c-section - on May 10th.  She weighed 8 pounds, 8 ounces and was 21 1/4 inches long.

As I am writing this, she is only three and a half months old and I had to go look at her baby book to see how long she was when she was born.  And that's even after one of my aunts asked me this same question just a few weeks ago and I looked it up then.  I'm pretty sure this didn't happen after Sam was born.  In fact, without looking it up, I feel pretty confident that he was 22.5 inches at birth.  I guess that at least some of the stereotypical things about being a mom more than once (and now more than twice) are true.  Poor baby number three.  Sorry, Mags.

I am thrilled to report that my postpartum recovery was about a thousand times easier after Maggie than after Eli.  I went into the birth experience with some hope, but not a lot of expectation.  And, I've been so pleasantly surprised.  A healthy body is such a gift and one that I am cherishing right now.

Our little Maggie Lou - according to growth charts and baby clothing sizes - is not so little.  She currently wears a combination of nine month and twelve month clothing.  She is a long girl - already 25 inches at her two month appointment and, I'm quite certain, a lot longer again in the month and a half since then.  She has sweet baby rolls on her arms and legs to go along with the height.  Her last known weight (just before three months) was 16 pounds 10 ounces.

As seems to be the case, Maggie fits just perfectly into our little, crazy household.  She sleeps through all of the drumming and singing and dancing and yelling that go on around here.  She smiles at us with a look of delight in her eyes.  She puts up with the utter lack of a schedule that we force her into.  Basically, she just goes with whatever is going on.  Again, I present to you: baby number three.

It's been just over 100 days since she came into our lives and already, she seems like she has always been here.  It's a good gift that God gave us to be able to adapt and build new ideas of normal all the time.

She is a sweet little thing.  Easy going.  Smiley.  Coo-ing and "talking" to us.  Content.  Intently watching her brothers - when they sit still for a minute next to her.  And loved - so loved.