Easter Weekend.

I am in awe of the fact that we took Adam to two holiday meals today, and he slept quietly through both of them. That never happened to me with Ellie. I know he's still little, and he could go rouge at any time, but I am constantly amazed. All I ask of him is that he eat well and keep the crying to a minimum, and thus far he's excelling at both. Our biggest issue is that he still likes to be held while he's sleeping, which means I've been sleeping in the recliner with him on my chest at night. He'll sleep in his bassinet during the day, but not at night (for more than five minutes.) We're working on it. The good news is that once he curls up with me, he'll sleep quietly for 2-3 hours at a clip, and I'm sleeping pretty well during that time. But it's not something I want to do for the next 18 years. He's quite the snuggly bug.

We've had a very nice weekend. Mimi and Pa came for lunch on Saturday, which made Ellie happy as a clam (and Adam snuggled with both of them for extended periods of time.) That night Tim and I loaded both kids in the car and went to Gigi's house. Having two babies in the back seat is a surreal feeling. I'd also forgotten how awesome it is when your newborn screams the whole ride home, and you know there is nothing you can do to make them feel better. Point for the two year old, who can usually be placated by a Miss Elena song or a rousing chorus of Single Ladies.

Adam did get an Easter basket, even though he wasn't supposed to come until tomorrow. What baby doesn't like binkies and bunny ears? Ellie got a very cute new tutu skirt, which she of course hates. She loves her bunny ears and microphone, both from the dollar bin at Target. OF COURSE.

This morning we went out to Mimi's for a fabulous Easter brunch with the whole family. Ellie was in hog heaven chasing around with her cousins, and Adam was quiet as a mouse for the most part. I managed to stuff myself in a pair of real, non-maternity jeans and actual clothes, and felt like a human being. Still, we were all so tired that Ellie fell asleep right as we were pulling into the neighborhood, and after I fed Adam I curled up in bed until E woke up (2.5 beautiful hours later.)

She is such a sweet big sister. Her first concern when she wakes up (morning and nap) is wanting to come and see him, and snuggle with him, or have us all lay in bed together. There's no real jealousy coming through, and she's very concerned for him. The hardest thing we're dealing with is her just being two, and entering a very defiant, sassy phase. She is loving being contrary, and I am hating it. It's so arbitrary too. She'll come over and I'll be nursing Adam and she goes "what are you doing?" and I tell her I'm giving her milk, to which she responds "no you're NOT!" in this bratty voice. We have a lot of discussions about our rude words versus our kind words lately. I am also considering a sassy mouth shock collar (kidding...)

After nap time we went to Gigi's house for Easter dinner. Granny Janny was there, which meant the rest of us were all dirt to Elizabeth Beans. She was remarkably good and incredibly cute, and Adam slept in his bouncer for the entire meal. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for me to have to eat a cold meal after nursing an angry baby (who would start crying fifteen minutes later just the same.) Both children amaze me with their loveliness sometimes.

I will post pictures later - they are uploading slowly, and I have to haul myself into bed for my 10-11pm "nap."

First 24.

We've made it through our first 24 hours as a family of four, and Ellie has not yet asked us to return Adam. In fact, she has been a very sweet big sister about everything. She loves to hold him, she likes to pet his hair, and she got a kick out of the fact that he burped when she patted his back. Our only struggle is reminding her that she can't bother him, touch him or talk to him when he's in his bassinet. And she's been a little over wrought here and there, but that's normal. Also, she's a fairly spirited two year old to begin with, so the fact that she wept for fifteen minutes over not being allowed to eat cereal for lunch does not leave me stunned.

She's very excited about it all - she liked that Adam came and sat with her while she had a bath, and then she insisted on wearing her astronaut jammies so they could match. Last night as we were finishing up reading her a story and singing her a lullaby she got incredibly excited that we were all together, hugging and saying goodnight, and she yelled excitedly "this is my family!" I may have wept, just a little.

Adam's sleeping is good (for a newborn.) He eats well, but is up for close to two hours in the middle of the night, with all the eating, burping, pooping and hiccuping. He's so sweet and snuggly though that I don't blame him. I will take all the cuddles while I can get them.

Tiny astronaut bear prepares for launch!

Captain Elizabeth and her tiny copilot

Lulu is intrigued by the movement in the bassinet

Thor, who could barely stand to be in the same room with Ellie for the first 12 months, crams himself into my lap with Adam within 12 hours. Everyone around here is more confident as a second time parent.

Close up of our sweet love

Home Again Home Again.

It's official, we're a family of four, freed from the hospital. Though we are no means alone, thanks to our wonderful families, who have been amazing this entire week. I don't know what people do if they don't have family living nearby - it was such a relief for me to spend four days just taking care of myself and taking care of Adam, knowing that Tim was busy being daddy of the year to both kids, with Best Supporting Actresses Gigi and Mimi and Sara (honorable mention to Pa and Grizz, as always.)

Tim stayed home with Ellie last night, and Adam and I managed pretty well. He did do a two hour stint in the nursery so I could sleep (after he'd kept me awake eating for close to two hours) and he got himself a little sponge bath so he smelled and looked good for his big foray out into the world. It was really wonderful for me to have that time to just bond with him. Every time the nurses came in they'd remark that I was doing skin to skin yet again. I can't get enough of those warm little baby cuddles! I'm an addict. My doc signed off on me yesterday, and the pediatrician signed off on Adam this morning, so we just had to wait for all of the final paperwork and the birth certificate. It's always funny to me how they give you until the very last minute to name your child. Then again, as I've told people, it's so strange to me to hear people calling Adam by name, since it was such a big secret for so long. Like you all are cheating or something. I am just so used to calling him "the baby" or "hey you," as in "hey you, scoot your butt out of my ribs, you're hurting me."

Tim and I were home around 1. Gigi had picked up Ellie from preschool and taken her out to lunch, where Ellie proceeded to smear food and water all over herself. I got a big kick out of coming home to my kid, running around the driveway in just a pair of leggings. She was happy as a clam, the little urchin. She of course, wanted to hold the baby brother, and then we got her down for a nap. Adam had something to eat and then I went to sleep for a couple of hours as well. Gigi stocked our fridge for supper, and she and Sara stayed around long enough to welcome Ellie back from her nap, and so now it's just the four of us plus cats, figuring out how life works.

I know the real battles lay ahead of us, but I'm so thankful to be feeling so well. I don't know if it's the difference between having a routine, scheduled csection versus a semi-emergency one (I know I'm glad to not have gotten put on any of the blood pressure meds!) or just because I went into the delivery in better shape (we took our last family of three walk on Saturday morning. Since we were taking it easy, the three of us only walked 5 miles.) But either way, I'm moving slowly but moving ten times better than I was with Ellie. It helps that nursing this time is like rolling down a hill, versus a painfully steep uphill learning curve. Tim will be home with me for another week if I need him, and we've got all the grandmas on call, plus I have all of my wonderful mom friends checking in with me. To think, three years ago I came home and knew NO ONE with small kids, and now I have a dozen wonderful girlfriends who remind me on a daily basis that anything I need, they're here to do. We are so lucky to be so loved.

Hopefully Adam will enjoy the bassinet and crib more than his sister did. And Gigi still has her fancy fun cage, which I think Ellie only slept in twice.

Beans assists with crib and bassinet set up this morning.

Red Hat Redux.

Honestly, I don't think my kids look a lot like each other. But I'm hopped up on painkillers, so what do I know?

Ellie at Work.

"oh baby brother, I know it's hard, but it's okay"

Night Two.

It was a long one, as they warned us it would be. The first 24 hours babies are mostly sleeping and recovering. Then they wake up a little and start acting like they've got no manners, and have never lived outside of a uterus before. Last night was hours and hours of nursing and a lot of snuggling. Not the worst thing in the world, but I did have the nurses take him for an hour so I could get SOME sleep. And I'll be napping while he naps today. Thankfully, I have nothing else on my docket.

Tim is taking Ellie to her final session of music class today and will spend some time hanging out with her. She continues to do pretty well with mommy being gone. I'm just thankful that she has all of her wonderful grandparents so close, and so she feels like she's getting a treat in sleeping over at their house. It really takes a load off of my mind, and lets me worry about myself and my small fry for a few quiet days (the last quiet ones I will see for awhile, I suppose.) When Ellie visits us at the hospital, she's been remarkably gentle. She figured out that she can climb into bed with me by herself, so that's good (she gets crabby when someone else tries to pick her up and put her in, and I can't dead lift 35lbs at this point.) And while she's happy to see me and tell me about her day, she mostly wants to know what her brother's doing. Yesterday was very thrilling in that she got to see him drinking milk, AND he pooped himself and got his diaper changed.

Supervising!

She likes to tell him not to cry (even though he's not really crying most of the time) and she likes to tell everyone get out of her seat so she can hold him. She's 97% gentle with him (would like to give him the occasional tight squeeze) and will very sweetly clap hands with him and sing one of her music class songs. We'll see how enthused she is when she has to share the back seat of the car with him, and when he cries too loudly over her Miss Elena songs.

He's been mostly a mellow boy. Happiest when snuggling with me and visa versa. My nurse yesterday said that he's nursing like a week old baby, which I feel strangely proud of. I guess all of that hard work with Ellie is finally paying off!

In the meanwhile, we finally got a picture of him with his eyes open.

He's a cute one!

Day One.

It's been a good first twenty four hours with our sweet boy. I'm amazed at how much better the entire experience has been. First off, I dropped Ellie at preschool and for the first time ever, she went to her teachers and said goodbye without a tear. SUCCESS! It did my heart good. We came home, got our stuff packed and headed off to the hospital, where the worst part of the process was having my IV placed. I nearly passed out. We had a great nurse, and a fabulous anesthesiologist, and of course, my sometimes impossible but highly competent OB. I'd heard recently that the hospital was instituting a "baby friendly" csection policy - in most "baby friendly hospitals" if you have a normal delivery, they immediately put the baby on your chest for the first hour to encourage bonding and breastfeeding, if you so choose. Obviously, that's harder to do with a csection. With Ellie, they held her up so I could see her, cleaned her up a little and then held her so I could give her a kiss, and then she was gone to recovery to get weighed and bathed and wait for me. Tim went with her, and I just sort of laid there, waiting for it all to be over. This time, I asked if the baby could stay with me, per the new policy. Turns out, it's not official policy yet - they'd done one trial of it. But the OR nurse and the baby nurse were willing to give it a try, provided my doctor was comfortable with it, and he thankfully was. It was wonderful beyond words to get to meet Adam immediately and hold him and talk to him while they finished the surgery. He was all bundled up and I held him on my chest, and Tim helped me keep him steady. It meant the world to me, and I really appreciate the medical team making it happen.

Thus far, he's very sweet and mellow. When Ellie was born, she screamed from the minute they pulled her out until we were reunited in recovery. Dr. B even joked "what are you guys doing to that kid back there" because she was crying so hard. Adam cried when he came out, but quickly calmed down, so much so that I started asking if he was okay. Nursing Ellie was a steep, uphill learning curve. Nursing Adam has been an absolute breeze. They both came out with beautiful dark hair, but I think Adam is going to more closely resemble Tim.

I'm feeling pretty amazing. I avoided all of the blood pressure drugs this time, and so don't feel like I got hit by a caravan of sewage trucks. I was all most of the monitors by 24 hours post, and was able to get up and walk in the middle of the night last night. I'm not eager to go home or anything, but it's nice to feel like I can get out of bed without falling over from pain.

So, we've had a good day. Lots of snuggling, a visit from the most dedicated big sister (so far) and I changed my first little boy diaper. It ended up Adam peeing all over himself. I am new at this.