One Week with the New Babe

I come to you feeling rested and insanely, over the top in love. I’ve spent the last week staring at my new little girl for hours, marveling at how suddenly grown-up my oldest daughter seems next to her, and using the phrase “our children” gratuitously.

I have so much I want to write about - our incredible birth experience, Aliyah's interactions with Everly, the way it has felt for my heart to quadruple in size and scope in the past six and half days - but I am feeling a bit tongue tied by the greatness of it all.

Physically and mentally, I’m feeling really good. My recovery has been drastically easier than it was with Aliyah and I have so much more confidence in my abilities to care for this tiny little being this go round. I feel like the first month of Aliyah's life was a blurry haze as I cautiously navigated my first lessons in mothering. But with Everly, everything has come more naturally and I am enjoying experiencing all of the tiny little newborn things that I had somehow forgotten (despite my efforts to soak up every moment).

I love the puppy noises Everly makes when she wakes up and stretches her tiny arms over her head. I love the little wrinkles she gets in the corners of her eyes when they blink and try to adjust to the daylight pouring in through the windows. I love the frantic, open mouth, back and forth motion Everly does when she’s hungry and knows she’s close to my breast. I love how impressively strong the grip of those tiny little fingers can be.

I know just how quickly this stage will pass us by and I am promising myself that I won’t forget these little newborn gestures again.

I’ll be posting sporatically over the next few weeks as I want to squeeze every last ounce out of this uninterrupted, completely devoted time I have with my family to do whatever my heart desires with my husband and children. Responsibilities and the real world will come calling again soon and I don’t want to miss the opportunity to make the most of the time we have.

And with that, I’m off to nurse my golden haired girl - I can hear puppy noises coming from my lap as I type this!