Welcome to the world, Leo Henry Zielinski!

Where does one begin to catch up on blogging after nearly 4 months of no posts? Perhaps I could start with the most wonderful happening in that time frame, and the biggest reason I haven't been writing.

At the wee hour of 5:50am on Wednesday, November 26, we welcomed our third, amazing bundle of joy into the world. Leo Henry Zielinski weighed in at 7 lbs and 9 oz and measured 21 inches in length. We were thrilled to add another sweet boy to our mix. And sweet he is.

Labor and delivery was as you might expect with a third child. Everything went well with the overnight induction. Contractions were bearable. Pain was managed. I pushed just twice. He was, after all, almost a full 2 lbs. smaller than his big brother and sister at their births. Hunky dory, right? It wasn't until a couple hours later that my room was swarmed with clinicians, and they called for the hemorrhage kit. Yes, the hemorrhage kit. And while I'm obviously fine, as I sit here and type, it was a little touch-and-go for a short while. This was my first and only complication of any kind with child birth. I'd be OK if that never happened again. And so, surely, is Jason.

We had hospital visitors eager to meet Leo, but not many, because true to style, we went home about 24 hours after Leo took his first breath. And since it was Thanksgiving on the day we were discharged, we stopped to pick up our meal at Bob Evans! I had planned way ahead for this, because, well, I'm a planner and I needed a plan. So, Bob Evans Farmhouse Feast was booked months in advance.

It will take me a while to sort through the past few months for the purpose of the blog. I feel like so much has changed in our household since we welcomed Leo. The big kids are bigger. We had multiple holidays in the mix with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. And I've been back to work now for a couple weeks, so we feel very much back into the swing of things. It's just that our swing has grown by one seat.

Just a few minutes old, and already this cute.

Hanging with Dad.

So fresh.

A visit from Poppy.

Holding hands with my boy.

Dads and babies. It was a busy week!

Leo getting kisses from his new best friends.

When a baby is in the hospital on Thanksgiving, this happens.

On our way home with so much goodness.

Helping already.

Loving already.

Chef Jason! He operated the oven and warmed up our food like a pro.

QT with Mimmy.

Just stopping to admire his new little brother.

Kissable.

Emerson reading to Scooby Scarlet. Scarlet's penchant for this costume in her second year of life deserves a blog dedicated to it. I'll add that to my list.

Rollerskating in the house. 'Cuz she's the middle child. 

It's true...we're all in love with him.