Andrew at ONE WEEK OLD

Hello, again. I just published his birth story, but it had been sitting ready to publish since the day I got home from the hospital (I didn't want to forget the details, although I obviously still was foggy on specific times, oh well). I still love him and he is still a great baby!

Hooray.

So we survived a week! He really is a good baby - he doesn't have any major crying for no reason moments, and even though he still wakes frequently at night to eat, he always goes back to sleep. He's only been "awake" after eating during the night a couple of times and I still put him in his crib or cradle and he'd put himself to sleep. Awesome! Let's hope this lasts.

Again, it's only been a week. So. We'll see!

I keep getting excited about things, and have to keep reminding myself that he's still just a newborn and that although things like sleeping 4 hours at a time all through the night is AWESOME it probably isn't a permanent thing YET, and I usually am right :)

I've been in such good spirits about having him in our home that the exhaustion has been kept at bay, until today. I have been feeling it quite heftily today.

I am SUPER BLESSED and have been able to have Trenton home (he's working, but he's here!) ALL WEEK and I also get him for the next TWO WEEKS work free! I'm spoiled, I know! (EY's only redeeming quality is paternity leave).

I'm already getting SUPER NERVOUS about what happens after those two weeks are up. I know I just need to enjoy having him here and take advantage of the extra hands while I can (which believe me I DO) but I also keep wondering to myself when I DO have him helping with things what I would be doing if he weren't here. Seriously, how do you do it? My mom mentioned that sometimes I'll just need to put my baby down and let him cry while I help the girls with something (like going potty, getting lunch etc etc) and I can't really see any other way than that to do it. He's going to be having to wait to eat a lot of the time if that's the case. With Mackenzi being right in the process of potty training and with Brooklin starting to decide she doesn't know when to go pee and therefore leaks all the time (poor girl is probably starving for attention? whatever! pee when you need to pee silly child!) I imagine Mr. Andrew will have to learn patience early on.

I dropped the girls off at my parent's house just now for a sleepover and when I got in the van to head back home I had a mini melt down. Not much of one, just enough for my eyes to well up and for me to need to take a few deep breaths. I think I've been in survival mode and while like I said, I have really really loved Andrew as a newborn and it hasn't been as "scary" as I was anticipating/remembering it being with Mackenzi, I still think I'm more terrified of this whole adding another family member permanently in newborn form thing than I'm letting myself realize.

So, something that I have LOVED this whole week is the super sweet hugs that I get from my little Mackenzi. I used to have to try and trick her into giving me hugs and kisses, but she willingly will fling her little body into my arms MOST of the time when I ask, and I LOVE her hugs! She still has some baby chubs and she is just the funnest little body to squeeze.

Trenton and I have been really making an effort to make sure we give both girls more attention than we normally would pre-baby. We really try and give extra hugs and kisses (especially to Brooklin who seems to be having different issues as I mentioned earlier) and to maybe read more stories than I normally would etc etc. I don't know if they're feeling the love, or if they're still feeling shafted, or even honestly if the notice a difference one way or another, but I sure hope that they continue to love their little brother even with all the attention he demands, and that they don't resent him or us.

So. Awesome post. I don't mean to be Debbie Downer, and I really am not FEELING like Debbie Downer - but sometimes it's just good to get the feelings out and to be realistic with myself. I'm not going to lie, having that mini emotional moment really took me by surprise, and made me realize this is affecting me more than I thought. Of course, there's still the lingering hormones to take into account...

Ha.

So I'll end with my favorite picture so far of my three Littles:

in which the misses are supporting the mr in tummy time

paha, I love it.