In which there are copious amounts of awesomeness and pain.

"...and then they brought this thing home with them..."

Life with a new baby. Always exciting. Especially when you get to see it through the eyes of a 15 month old. Which, if you look at it from that perspective, it's more annoying than fun, and kind of irritating because here is this brand new toy and nobody will let me play with it! Alex has been adjusting well. She is mostly not so interested in the newest arrival, until of course said arrival is on mommy or daddy's lap, than said arrival turns into the most awful thing on this planet and we must be rid of it as soon as possible!! And then she goes for the kill. Let's just say that I have been keeping her nails short and as dull as possible lately. She pets him nicely until she's gained your trust, then it's GO FOR THE EYES! GOUGE GOUGE GOUGE! Then she walks away and play with her toys like nothing happened. But she's getting better. But it would be a bad move by mommy to leave baby in a room unattended with her. Baaaad move. (Hence the lack of pictures of the two of them together... I have one, but there's only half of Eli, and one arm of Alex's that's going for the eye gouge. My hands are too occupied trying to keep Eli alive to be able to take pictures. When things calm down, I shall record their childhood together. Until then, use your imagination.)

Eli is a good baby. Nay, he is a great baby. He doesn't spit up. He's very patient; it takes alot to make him scream. He doesn't cry during diaper changes. He doesn't cry at bath time (not even his first bath!). He's two weeks old, and he's got his days and nights securely in place, giving mommy 3-4 hours in between feedings at night. He nurses like a champ, and quickly! We are done in about 10 minutes usually. He's so alert. And once he is asleep, he sleeps through EVERYTHING, which he didn't really have a choice in, because if he wanted to sleep at all, he would have to be able to ignore his loud loud sister. And... he's only peed on me three times! Good boy!

It's rough. I know.

And, he's a thumbsucker. Now I understand what that feeling was way down south when he was still in the belly. It was him raking his hand across to get it to his mouth! I get it!

As I've said before, nature is God's lullaby to an infant. He loves it outside. I just wish it wasn't so dang hot!

We did alot of this the first few days. We would just move from the chair to the couch to the bed to the basement. I've been able to really enjoy these first few weeks (aside from a few bumps... to be addressed later). I've been much more calm with him than I was with Alex... mostly because I am not petrified of him. I know he won't break if I touch him. I know that babies just cry sometimes, and it's unneccessary for me to join in (although... come on... I did forget how powerful an infant's cry is... goes straight to your core!). I've really just been able to take it all in and love every bit of it.

Our time in the hospital was a good start. It was relaxing, and not as painful as last time. (I have to confess that the entire time in the hospital, my son was referred to as a 'she' and 'my princess' the ENTIRE time... apparently masculine pronouns went out the window when I had a daughter... but I am glad to say that it's been at least a week since I have referred to him as a girl. Yay for great moms!) My parents were able to make the trip down and take care of Alex, so I knew she was in good hands (although it was very hard dropping her off at her babysitter's the night we went in. That was the first of the tears...). And when they brought her in for the first time... WHO IS THIS GIANT CHILD RUNNING TOWARDS ME! Still, two weeks later, I gasp when I unzip her sleepsack in the morning... such large feet! And those hands! (Better to gouge you with, my sweet!) She's huge! (And not even 20 pounds yet!) But it's so fun to be able to enjoy the sweet little nothings of an infant and then jump right in to this huge personality that is Alex. I feel like I get the best of both worlds right now! (Although... really overwhelming when those two worlds combine and there is no backup on hand!)


(I took a chance with this picture... hoping he didn't blow out his diaper on this quilt! Grandma made this with her own two hands... BEAUTIFUL!!!)

So, yes, life has been good. BUSY. And CRAZY. But good. As I said before, however, there have been a few bumps. My recovery has been slow, and at some points just plain backwards. Within three days of being home, I got hit with a bladder infection. Ok... no big deal. Got some meds. Finished those on a Friday. By that Sunday, ahhh, bladder infection is back! Doc gives me a new prescription, which has two different pills that I take together. I take 3 doses of those, and... what's this? Hmm... hives. Breaking out in various parts of my body. Especially my hands and feet. That's no good. Ohhh, and tightness in my chest. That's probably bad. And fun! Body aches! Yay! Oooo and a fever!! Call my doc, they tell me to GO TO THE ER RIGHT NOW. Find out while we are there that not only was I having an allergic reaction to one of the pills, but I also just happened to get some random virus that was ripping through my body. I got to do various tests while I was while they checked for pneumonia, blood clots and so on and so forth (yay for my first catheter!! <---mildly uncomfortable). They send me home, tell me to take tylenol for the fever, and to stop taking.. let's call it pill #1. So that's what I did. The next morning I took my next dose of pill #2. Guess what! MORE HIVES!! Ahhh they guessed wrong! Awesome. Call my doc, he prescribes me a new pill. So now, here I sit, after 2 days of bedrest that included lots of sweating and not alot of sleep, on my third round of meds for the SAME DAMN UTI. And, to top it all off, I had something really awful happen that set my recovery back alot... so icky that I won't go into detail, but I assure you that I deserve your sympathy. It's cringe-worthy. So... it's been an interesting two weeks to say the least. It makes me feel good, however, that I can look back on them and I only see the bright spots that are the newest addition to the family. It's been so easy and so natural to have him in this house. It's right. My children are beautiful. My husband is gracious and patient and loving. My God is good. I've not a thing to complain about. (...except my bladder...) :)




... I should note here that I have been working on this post for almost two weeks, which is why it says I posted it on the 18th... it gives the day I start the post, not the day I finish it. These pictures are not the most recent. Be patient. :) I'll catch up eventually. Maybe.