Well, so much for that...

Allow me to quote the last line from my previous blog post.

"Maybe I'll blog again before we have our third child ;)"

So about that...

Cara Nicole was born in April 2011 and I most definitely did NOT blog before I had my third child. Whoops! It was a pretty uneventful pregnancy - we found out when we were about 30 seconds pregnant, so it was an impossibly long 39 weeks, but I survived. She was born in a hurry, and appropriately on 4/13, giving me one of my favorite Bible verses from Philippians to recite through the lesser contractions. She's such a peach - I wish each and every one of you could meet her. You'd honestly want to give her a pony.

The only real speedbump in the pregnancy was that I did end up with Bell's Palsy at 36 weeks, which was very surreal and bizarre. If you've ever known anyone who has had it, you know what I'm talking about. I basically lost the use of the entire left side of my face for 3+ months. Friday I was fine, and Saturday, I had no moving parts on the left. Couldn't pucker, couldn't wiggle my nose, couldn't close my eye or lift my eyebrow. I told God that I was really OK with this whole thing (though I could definitely see how it could throw someone into a very depressed state), as long as I could get my eye back and my mouth back. I told Him He could keep the forehead wrinkles. See? Compromise.

That was the end of March. I didn't get "full" use of my face back until July. I say "full" because it still feels strange to me around my mouth and cheek, though outwardly you'd never know. It was most definitely a test of faith and my optimistic nature though. Every twitch caused much rejoicing, and every time I could close my

eye a little more, even if it was only a millimeter, was awesome. It was hard to go out in public because I felt like I looked so strange, but my family truly kept me positive. Not once did my kids make a comment about my face. Not once did my husband make mention of the fact that I looked freakish. I love them all dearly.

And here they are (minus the biggest one... he's at work:)