Life As We Know It...

Life the past 5 days has gone remarkably well and we're all making a pretty smooth transition to being a family of four. With all the extra help my mom's been able to provide and with Lem being home we've been able to keep Sycely on her schedule and she's been getting lots of attention. She's been getting to do some special things with her "Far Nanny" too. They've been enjoying playing outside, going for walks and even took a super fun trip to the zoo.

Ella is getting herself a schedule established and seems to be quite content with life outside the womb. She's a super great sleeper so far, for the most part. We had a couple "off" nights, but it turns out she sleeps just fine if she's laying in bed with her Mommy instead of in her bassinet. Otherwise she's been sleeping some pretty long stretches at night- 5 hours or so without waking. She seems to be pretty excited about this whole milk thing Mommy's got going on and after nursing she's usually pretty conked out for a while. Who wouldn't be...full tummy, all snugly and warm-a nap just makes good sense.

Ella had her first at home bath yesterday. We had to be extra careful of her belly button still, but Mommy, Daddy and Big Sister made for a pretty good bathing team and got the job done. Sycely hasn't too excited to help wash her hair, but she was all about scrubbing her down with a soapy washcloth. Ella was all about getting out of the bath and back into her warm snugly clothes!

Sycely has pretty much mastered the whole Big Sister thing. She seems pretty okay with this baby being a permanent fixture around here. She hasn't told us she's ready for this new baby to "go back to her house" yet. I think all the conversations and preparation activities we did with her really helped reinforce that Baby Ella was going to be a permanent member of our family. Sycely's been great about making sure Daddy doesn't forget Ella's hat and she's quick to let us know anytime Ella makes ANY kind of sound. She's been reading to Ella, tucking her in and kissing her goodnight at bedtime and has taken to "keeping an eye on my baby sister...how 'bout THIS eye?" as she looks at her, head cocked, with her one eye focused on Ella's every move.

I'm feeling absolutely fabulous and can't believe the difference in recovery between the two births. I'm super excited to be allowed to be up and around now and getting back to some of my Mommy duties with Sycely. I feel about 90% and am really trying to remind myself I need to take things a little slow and not overdue it, just because I feel so great. I'm working on getting the rest of the prepping done for Sycely Princess Tea Party for her birthday this weekend. I'm so glad I did so much pre-planning and prepping in the weeks leading up to Ella's arrival so that I have just a few simple baking and decorating tasks left to do before Saturday. We'll keep you all posted on any updates we have to share.