Our New Normal

Wow. Almost 8 weeks have really already passed since Evie was born? That is crazy! I need to "catch-up"on all the happenings of our "new normal." I will hopefully do better with the blogging since our craziness is starting to settle into a routine.

The past 7/8 weeks have been a crazy whirlwind of visitors, outings, and hosting. Crazy? Absolutely. Fun? Absolutely. I told Jon that with the next newborn, I think I'm going to go into hibernation mode. I just can't "recover" as fast from all these activities and I feel like my little girl is growing up way too fast in everyone else's arms!

My favorite, most fond memory of the last 7/8 weeks was our first afternoon and evening home. It was just the four of us and it couldn't have been more lovely (even among my pain from birth, a crying newborn, and a very hyper 2 year old). When we got home from the hospital, Jon set me up a spot right in the middle of the living room with a rocking chair, a little side table for all my stuff, and something to put my feet on. I couldn't go up and down the stairs and wasn't really able to do much. But it was so nice to be home. So nice to be just us. Next child? More days like this in the beginning.

Our new normal. 1st night at home.

An extremely hyper two year old, sooooo happy for his Mommy and Daddy to be home WITH him.

Evie's first storytime with her Daddy and big brother Mekonen. I cannot get over how tiny she is in this picture. My how big she is now. 

E & M ... my babies

Evie's 1st night at home in her bassinet. She looked like a glow-worm. 

Evie's Sleeping
The first several weeks were rough, not necessarily the getting up in the middle of the night to nurse thing, but more so the crying. Evie cried and cried from about 10:30pm-3am most nights and nothing would console her. Many times, I could be found, hanging over the side of the bed, with my head resting on her bassinet, rubbing her back, both of us crying. Oh boy. Daddy spent a lot of time walking Evie around. One night she was screaming at the top of her lungs, and I was extremely annoyed at Jon for something. Then Jon started "racing" around the dining room table and marching the length of our downstairs. I just started cracking up. It was too funny...and it made her stop crying, and made both of us start laughing. Gripe water and gas drops became our best friends those first several weeks (although sometimes they didn't work one bit!) Luckily, that has gotten much better. She has some crying issues like such earlier in the evening now, around 8-10pm or so. But I can handle that cause she is sleeping at night!

The middle of the night feedings were rough... mostly because I was having such a hard time staying awake when she was eating. If I fell asleep, then Evie fell asleep, and she wouldn't have had a full feeding. Often times I would use that time to read. Thankfully Jon was able to sleep through most of it. He set up a little light for me on my side of the bed and my night table was stocked full of baby supplies, books, and magazines!

Those late night feedings had me looking like this, during those daytime feedings. Yep, I have a newborn. (I look hideous, but oh well. Tis the season right?) 

My cousin Jessica arrived the weekend after Evie was born. She was such a huge help with Mekonen, playing with him, entertaining him, etc, while I figured out how to care for this itty bitty newbie in our family. She is a Cubs fan and had my kids all "cubbied out." Adorable.

For the first several weeks after Evie was born, Mekonen was SUPER hyper! He was all over the place, just goin' crazy. Maybe this was his way of dealing with the new changes.

My parents arrived the following week and I was so glad to see them! We went to the Children's Museum, out to eat, the park, etc, etc! My Mom and I did a lot of shopping and she went way overboard spoiling us and our babes. Mekonen absolutely loved all the attention he got from his Grandma. And Grandma was extremely encouraging about everything, literally everything. Even my two year old who thinks that since he has a new sister that he doesn't have to obey right away. Oh little boy, not on your life! We were so sad for them to leave. If I type anymore about this, I may burst into tears. I miss my family like CRAZY.

We literally had friends pouring in and out of our home for weeks. It was so fun!!!! What a blessing to have so many people love on our little family. Friends prepared meals for us too which was a great help.

Storytime! 

 Evie Rae's first bath at home! Let's just say she did not appreciate it! 

This picture cracks me up. She always puts her hands like this. 

Peek-a-boo!! Where does she get those stinkin' adorable lips?!?!?! Oh so kissable!

This simple little outfit is one of my favs!! And that smile? To die for!

 Glimpses of Evie Rae's first several weeks.

1 week old

I can't believe how alert she was, even at one week. She was smiling the first week, and no it wasn't just gas! When I talked to her, she would get the cutest little grin on her face. 

 2 weeks old

I LOVE how Evie konws my smell and knows my voice. It is THE.BEST. When she is crying (whether being held by someone else, or in her bed, etc), and I pick her up and start talking to her, she almost always settles right down and snuggles in. I love it. One night Jon and I had Evie laying between us in bed talking to her. Everytime I talked to her, she would smile. Then when Jon would talk, she would furrow her eyebrows. Haha. It was so funny! 

 3 weeks old

 4 weeks old
Evie followed my face at just about a month old (April 27th). It was so cute. She kept staring at me and every time I moved she followed me with her head and eyes. Cutie.

 5 weeks
Evie started sleeping about 5 hours at night around 5 weeks old. Now that was glorious! Yeah, I can do five! What a nice milestone. :) And now, her 1st tutu!

6 weeks

Seems like the weeks correspond with the sleep! Miss Evie is now sleeping about 5-6 hrs. at a time during the night! She is becoming more and more social and responds with huge smiles when you talk to her. 

All in all, adjusting to this little babe wasn't as dramatic as people said it would be. And, Miss Evie is now sleeping 7-8 hrs. at night (so that probably helps A LOT)! Wahoo!!! Yeah, it wasn't a piece of cake, and there's a lot of adjusting to do, but all in all, I'd say it's been great and pretty much what I expected. So we continue on to find our new normal! Thanks for being patient with my slow blogging!