Back To Work

We kicked off the start of our first week home with the baby with Jim having to work a 15+ hour work day on Monday.  I spent much of the day feeling anxious, overwhelmed and exhausted.  With my body still trying to recover I was incapable of doing many of the things I wanted to do.  Fortunately, as always, the older kids were very understanding.  They were (and still are) so incredibly helpful..

Kyle is going to be a great Dad someday!  He enjoys snuggling up with the baby and often times will hold him while I'm getting the girls up to bed.



 Bella and Savannah continue to shower their little brother with tons of love and attention.  They don't have any jealously issues at all.  I think this is because I try to include them in whatever I can when it comes to caring for the baby.  Whether they help by getting me his diaper changing supplies or clothes, they feel like they're being included and it helps them to feel important, too.  Bella especially loves to feed the baby, but that can prove to be kind of time consuming because I have to keep repositioning him on her lap and then I have to take him from her multiple times to burp...but I try to let her give him at least half of one bottle every day.

Now that Jim is back to work he has very little time to spend with the baby.  Most mornings he only sees him for 10 minutes or so, but he does the best that he can with the little amount of time he has and we both agree that his long work days are worth it to have Friday's off.

One thing I'm noticing, since the baby has been here, is that Bella and Savannah have been glued to each others sides more than ever lately.  Most of the times they're engaged in some sort of imaginary play - whether they're playing "baby and mama" or "horsies" or "dogs", they'll play together for hours without interruption.  Often times I'll hear one of them say to the other "you're my friend, right?", which is super sweet.  Of course, that's not to say that I don't sometimes hear "you're not my friend!  I'm not playing with you!", too!  haha!  But for the most part they've sealed their sisterly bond, which is awesome.

As for Sebastian, he's settling into our family quite nicely.  He weighed 7 lbs, 1 oz when he was born, came home from the hospital weighing 6 lbs, 10 oz and now he's back to 7 lbs - so he's feeding well!  I've been putting him to sleep up in his crib a couple of times through out the day, just so that he'll be used to it when the time comes to transition him from the bassinet in the living room up to his bedroom!  While the other 3 kids went straight into their cribs the moment we got home from the hospital, the nursery was on the main floor so it didn't require me having to walk up and down the stairs.  We'll move Sebastian upstairs to sleep on a more regular basis once he cuts back on his night-time feedings but for now, with him eating every 3 hours 'round the clock, it's simply easier (and better for me recovery wise) to keep him on the main floor.  I usually spend half of the night on the couch and the other half in my bed!

As each day passes he looks more and more like his big brother and - so far - he has the same laid back personality as his brother did/does, too!  He does spend a couple of hours every day crying for no reason - I call it his "fussy time" - but once we get through that it's smooth coasting for the remainder of the day/night.  Typically he will go right back to sleep after a feeding during the middle of the night so while my sleep is broken up, his is not.

Despite the fact that I'm tired all the time and my hands are full all the time I honestly couldn't be happier.  I have been blessed with children, something I'll never take for granted!  And, as the song goes.. "If I could make a living out of loving them, I'd be a millionaire in a day or two"!