A Week of Four

 

Today at 2:23 p.m. it has been one week since we became a family of four.  It is hard to believe that only a week ago he was still in my beach ball belly and now he is with us.  Yes, that was the point, but there is still something to amazing about that.  My how things can change in one week! After a brief hospital stay that was anything but restful (won’t they ever just leave you alone?) we came home to introduce Everett to his big brother and begin the process of settling in.

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So far so good.
(Minus the fact that Colter managed to get strep a day after we got home just like with Caden!)

 Everett is a sweet, sweet, chunky little man. At 5 days old we officially decided he had outgrown his newborn diapers since his thighs get squeezed too death by them.  Go figure that now we have to go exchange our pre stock of newborns for Size 1s already!  Most newborn hats slide ride off his head and sit on the very tip top also a bit too small.  Fortunately, until today it hasn’t been too cold and he hasn’t really wanted or needed a hat while bundled up with us in the house.

Yes, he has dark hair…for the time being.  Caden had a VERY fine dusting of dark hair his first couple weeks.  Everett cooked a couple weeks longer than him so naturally he has more hair, but it still isn’t much.  No one could make the call as to if it is going to stay dark or not but that seems to be the most immediate striking difference between the two right of the bat.  Other than that, and the chunkier cheeks most of our friends feel as though they are staring at Caden as a newborn.  Precious round button nose? Check. Pouty pink lips? Check.  Wide grey blue eyes? Check.  It will be interesting to see how he changes and what really is alike and different.

Thankfully, Everett is a champion eater too.  The first day or so home is always a little rough as he starts to get hungry and I don’t have much for him yet.  Once he could go into a milk coma after a feeding he has been a content, sleepy newborn happy to be fed and snuggled.  Despite the difficulties of entertaining older brother while feeding, I am trying to embrace this time with Everett again.  I don’t mind the nights so much just like before as it is such a peaceful time the two of us have together without distractions or stresses.  You can’t be upset with a tiny person who just needs you because he is hungry!

Settling back into newborn life is a walk down memory lane.  It hasn’t been THAT long since we were doing this but we find ourselves chuckling at the memory of getting peed on, diapers that always need to be changed and then as you soon as you change them….changed again, the flailing newborn arms that don’t know they are attached to a body etc.  The nice part is that all of those things that were so new to us then are as familiar as our daily routine and just seem to be a part of life as anything else. 

Everett got one good day of snuggling in with his Dad before Colter was quarantined.  It is sad that they have only been able to spend “time together” from a distance that Everett can’t even really see him at but I know their time will come!  Colter would like to not have to walk around with a surgical mask over his face too.

If you remember, when I wrote about Everett’s room in “The Nest” I mentioned that there would be one difference once he was born.  Now, his full name is hung below the monogram letters too.

So, as with Caden I will do a what we have survived in this very first week of our new family.
- We survived labor…from it’s start of intense regular contractions on Tuesday morning at 6:30 a.m. accompanied by a stomach virus to it’s finish on Wednesday at 2:23 p.m.  My boys sure do like to make their mama have a nice, long, really get the feel of it labor! So much for the second is shorter.

- We survived the nurses that would leave the only light on I couldn’t turn off from bed and who would leave the door open upon leaving so I had to go close it.

- We survived getting home without hitting any potholes this time. Thank goodness.

- We survived introducing him to his big brother who has yet to be anything but sweet to Everett.

- We survived the nights without any milk and have gotten on track without having to see the lactation consultant this time.

- I survived taking Everett to his first doctor’s appointment on my own so that sick Daddy and snotty big brother could stay home and away from us.

- I am surviving with Colter being sick in these first times together again. At least I wasn’t used to the opposite right?  This just seems like the way our family does things!

As if we thought we would be anything but, we are completely in love.  I sit and look at all of my boys and feel so blessed to have such a healthy family.  Here is to surviving and thriving for the remainder of Everett’s first month and beyond!