We made it through the first month! (Updated with Pics!)

Mia is a month old today. We've survived our first month with ten kids. I want to slow time down and speed it up all at once. I am desperate for sleep. Desperate for a way to fall into a better routine. Desperate to be able to keep the house in fairly decent order (note: I didn't say spotless or even super clean...just fairly decent order), with out having to sacrifice my school work or a decent dinner on the table to do it. I am tired of wearing my hair in a pony tail, wearing no makeup and smelling like sour milk because of constantly leaky breasts. I miss regular jeans...sick of tugging and pulling up maternity ones that are too big, but still all that fits if that makes any sense. And I'm so ready to put my babies to bed and have some private time in the evenings for myself, my older kids and my hubby.
Yet, I am also savoring these precious moments and in some ways, hoping they last as long as they can. I'm savoring the way Mia's tiny self looks wrapped in my arms, savoring her sweet new baby smell, her first smiles (which have just started), her newborn cry, her very first coo's. I am loving how her body melts into mine when I comfort her, how she eagerly latches onto my breast and her eyes lock with mine until she drifts off into her milk induced sleep. I even love the way when she is screaming in her swing, she quiets instantly as soon as she feels my touch. I love cuddling her at night, and realizing that she depends on being able to feel me and smell me in order to sleep soundly (and for a decent length of time). I love how her eyes search me out, and the look of tranquility and peace that comes over her face when she sees me. And watching her explore new things with her eyes...yesterday it was the ceiling fan...how things that are ordinary and plain to me are wondrous and novel to her. Because she may well be my last, I am savoring all those moments and I don't want them to pass too quickly.
Her first month has been beautiful, challenging, and amazing all at once. I feel so incredibly blessed to have her. I am so thankful to God for my ten blessings. And at night when I am laying in bed between my smallest blessing and my soul mate, I thank God out loud for my life. Yesterday, as we sat in a little local Italian restaurant with our kids, Albert asked me if I was doing what I wanted in life. And I felt fortunate to be able to say that yes, without a doubt, I am doing what I always wanted to do.