Calm before the storm

Yesterday, DH turned to me and asked, "So is this the calm before the storm?"  Absolutely, I agreed.  These are the glorious days when The Baby sleeps 22 hours a day and DH are both at home together, leisurely spending the days with all four (FOUR!!!) of our boys.  I figured I should blog about it now, before DH heads back to work next Tuesday and The Baby realizes that he's not getting nearly enough attention by quietly snoozing the days away.  The storm is a-comin', but in the meantime, life is pretty beautiful in Casa de Sunny.

As far as the immediate transition of accepting another sibling into the fold, Bean and Nix and Gax absolutely adore their baby brother.  Bean asks to hold him constantly, always wants to be near him, and shows patience and concern when The Baby is upset.  He asked me yesterday when I was going to grow another baby.  He was devastated when I told him that I was all done!  Nix loves to pet The Baby, points out his various facial features (we get daily confirmation that he has a nose, ears, eyes, and a mouth), and brings him toys and stuffed animals.  Gax enjoys checking on The Baby as well, but he is so busy testing the limits of our baby-proofing efforts that he spends the least amount of time with him of all the brothers.  The Baby has easily taken his place as one of the family, like he was always meant to be with us.  I think he was.

So far, The Baby has been eating and sleeping better than any of our previous newborns.  Which is largely in part, I think, to the fact that I am far less inept now than I was four years ago when we brought Bean home from the hospital.  This time I was ready with my Fenugreek and Lecithin supplements to aid in breastfeeding, both of which are an invaluable help to me, and although The Baby's latch leaves something to be desired, I have a better understanding of working through such issues.  We won't find out his weight again until Thursday, but he appears to be thriving.  Thank goodness!

I think our (relative) success getting any sleep at all is related to how smoothly the nursing is going.  I'm able to fill him up a little bit better than I have with newborns in the past, so he's only waking up two times at night.  That's about two to three hours of sleep at a time!  (With the twins it was more like one to two hours at a time, which is again why I remember virtually nothing about their first year.)  The Baby is still in that initial phase where he sleeps allllllllll the time, waking only briefly to eat and poop, so I'm doing my best not to get used to the quiet nights.

The hardest part of the past week and a half has been recovering from the C-section.  The nurses told me afterward that getting your tubes tied during the surgery makes recovery more difficult, because the doc was messing around with more of my insides, so those need to heal as well.  Didn't really occur to me beforehand, although it wouldn't have changed my decision.  Anyway, I am getting around okay, but I still have plenty of aches and pains, and I am so tired of not feeling good.  I just want to feel like myself again... which unfortunately seems like quite a ways off at this point.

So that's where we are now... doing pretty well for the moment.  I am extremely nervous about what's going to happen with DH heads back to work next week, the proverbial shite is going to hit the fan.  When I think about it too much, I want to hide in the corner, curl up into the fetal position, and cry.  But in the meantime, despite the cold and rain outside our house this week, it's happy and warm inside.

DH helped the boys decorate pots and plant flowers for me for Mother's Day.
They also made me some soap (a "beauty bar").  It was adorable!

M&Ms are the big thing in our house these days.  The twins ask for them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.  Here, Nix shows off his matching car.

Gax likes to test out our baby items to make sure they are safe.

He also gave his review of DH's swaddling skills.

This is where The Baby spends many hours of his day.

Nix brought his beloved Froggy Frog to The Baby when he was crying.

Fireman Bean takes a break from his hero duties.

Baby Bliss

He's here.  He's perfect.

Born this morning just before 9 am, weighing 9 lbs 6 oz and measuring 21 inches long.

He's very healthy and there were no complications with the C-section.  And despite DH's coworker's concern that there was a second "ninja baby" that was hiding from the ultrasound tech during the pregnancy, indeed there was only one.

Bean, Nix, and Gax met him, love him, and can't wait to fight with him over toy ownership and who got the largest cookie for dessert.

I haven't come up with a blog nickname for him yet -- taking suggestions!  But as with the other boys, I'll give you a quick peak at his real name.



Thank you for all the prayers and good thoughts -- they must have worked!

Almost there....

Just checking in one last time before this little baby boy arrives earth-side on Friday!  We are now a mere 5 days away from his delivery (or fewer, if he prefers an earlier birth date), and I am... dare I say... getting excited?  Excited to meet this new person, excited to introduce him to his brothers, excited to have a squishy little newborn one last time to hug and kiss and breathe in. Mmmmmmmmmmmm, my mouth is watering thinking about his chunky little num-able legs!  Or maybe it's just the fact that we're about a half-hour late on dinner right now.  Don't keep a pregnant woman waiting on her meal.  For real, dude.

Not everything is done from my big to-do list, but it is what it is, I guess.  We are now simply trying to keep the hampers empty and the fridge full, as Grandma and Grandpa will be staying at our house with the boys while DH and I are in the hospital for as many days as I can convince the insurance company that I need a quiet, private room with cable TV, wireless Internet, and a nurse responding to my every need.  And some things from the list we are just having to hire out -- I'm taking about you, power-washing and staining the fence.

Bean is very excited to meet the baby, he continues to ask adorable questions like "Does the baby pee in mommy's tummy?" and "Is the baby wearing clothes?"  When I told him the baby was not wearing clothes, Bean nodded knowingly and said, "So he's wearing jammies."  I explained again that actually, there was nothing in mommy's tummy with the baby, not even jammies.  To which he laughed and asked incredulously, "So he's just running around naked in there?"  While Bean is eager for his new brother to join the family, we can tell there is a little uncertainty and apprehension that naturally comes along with that.  He wants to spend lots of time close to me and is even more adamant that I be the one to give him a bath, read him books at night, etc.  I hope the transition isn't too difficult for him.

At only 25 months old, the twins are limited in their understanding of what's about to happen.  But interestingly, even though they use far fewer words than Bean did at 25 months old when the twins were born, they seem to have more interest in and a better understanding of the situation.  They will point to a baby in a book or on TV or at the store, and then point to my tummy, saying the baby's name.  They will point to infant items in the house, like the bouncy seat, and say the baby's name to designate that those are his things.  We had a friend-of-a-friend visit recently with her 7-week-old baby to get some tutoring on her new ring sling, and all three of my boys were so gentle and sweet with the little one.  It will be interesting to see how it goes around here.

So that's about it, just counting down the days and trying to enjoy the last few moments that I will ever be pregnant in my life.  At this point, that can be a challenge.

I'm still not sure I believe it.  Me, four kids.  Four little boys.

But believe it or not, here it comes.

A few last pictures...

Gax sports a Beco doll carrier when babywearing (or rather, bear-bywearing).

Nix prefers a wrap when wearing his Froggy Frog.

The "nesting" bug has really hit all of us.

Gax has mastered everything about the toilet except its actual purpose.

I thought it sounded too quiet in the playroom...

Gax's new massage chair.  He likes to turn on the vibrate function and chill.

Nothing goes better with rockin' music than a sippy cup of juice.

DH took this picture while I was in the bathroom.  It's nice to be loved.