Mom's Birthday Surprise

1834_061509
Originally uploaded by hgraham06

June 15 was mom's birthday and Nick's first day of work. He didn't have any clients scheduled, but he made up a story about working in Beloit, WI and instead of going to work he went to pick up Jen from the airport. He came home told mom he lied and she should come outside to help him with a package that he had picked up. THIS was the moment mom saw Jen and realized what was happening! Priceless!!

A Family of Four

As I look at this photo it is hard for me to believe that my own family is now the same size as the family I grew up in. Dad took this photo outside our home in Madison about a week after we came home, and the look on Noah's face is still a fairly accurate portrayal of his feelings about Abby - a mixture of curiosity, affection and mild trepidation. He has acted out with me a lot over the last week, and I've discovered that the exhaustion that comes with newborns is nothing compared to the emotional exhaustion of trying to stay consistent with Noah as we both navigate through this transition. I do make sure that the two of us get time together as often as possible, and that always seems to be the best medicine.
Thankfully, Noah can also be incredibly affectionate with Abby. This next picture is from the first week at home, and is how Noah "hugs" her. I LOVE it!!! His most recent thing is giving her kisses, and actually the first time he did that was such a perfect example of the dichotomy of his response to her. Noah leaned down gave her two very gentle kisses on her forehead and then all of a sudden his hand came slamming down on her head!
In the meantime, Abigail is so easy! Oh my word, it is amazing! In part, I think our reading, discussing, and sorting through parenting styles is paying off, but we also just seem to have been blessed with a child that is fairly content. She is SO LITTLE!!! Oh my word, it just amazes me how tiny she is. Though at least at two weeks I don't feel like she'll break if I touch her the wrong way! :-) Mom is convinced that she smiles intentionally, though I don't think that's actually possible yet. We are a Baby Wise family, and I've been really pleased with how things are going so far. Abby put herself on a three hour schedule the day she was born. At night she sleeps between 3.5-5 hours consistently. We are working on adding wake times after feedings. The most difficult thing for me right now is actually having the discipline to get her up to eat at 3 hours. She likes to sleep so much that she'll go for 4-5 hours if would let her. For those of you who remember our struggle with Noah not sleeping well anywhere but our arms, I am happy to say that is not the case with Abby. She sleeps well in both her bassinet and her crib! Praise the Lord!

My postpartum healing has been going well. My postpartum emotions are....fine. Depending on the day that could really mean I'm doing well or stand for "Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional" HA! I've been enormously blessed to have so much help! Mom, of course, is here helping. Dad, and our cousin Molly, were here for the first week. Initially, I felt completely overwhelmed by the idea that I would have to manage the needs of these two kids once mom leaves and Nick returns to work, but as I've started feeling better, I'm also gaining more confidence in my ability to handle it. I've started delaying how quickly I ask for help in order to take the opportunities to figure out what I'm going to do when Noah needs to get out of bed and I'm in the middle of nursing, etc.

Regarding Nick's work, his official start date is this Monday, June 15. They have not been able to get much on the calendar for him yet, but that just gives us more time together. As Nick continues interacting with his new boss, we continue to see that the Lord really does know what He's doing! Cleveland is starting to get exciting!

Having Abby has made us even more grateful that we will be closer to both of our families! It certainly was wonderful that mom and dad got to enjoy Abby's first days. They are such happy grandparents! We think Nick's parents may be able to come around the time of our move. They have graciously offered to drive a moving truck for us if we go that route. In the meantime, Nick has been to Cleveland to start the housing search, and we are hoping to get that finalized over the next week. We will both be grateful to see the pieces of this move beginning to come together!