Oh Baby!

See, I gotta stop saying what's up next with the blog. Because then I get myself into a hole where I don't want to post because I haven't written the post I think should come next, and then I don't write anything at all. It's the perfectionist in me coming out.

So. Someday I will write in full detail about the day that Julie came home, because seeing my little girl waiting to meet her baby sister is a moment I will always treasure.

The Crocs, not so much. But they were the only thing I could shove on my poor swollen feet.

The fact that the first thing Gwen did when we got inside was run to find a blanket to spread over Julie's car seat was pretty priceless, too. Of course, this shot of Gwen sharing her magazine is a classic. Someday, I'll download the video of that day off the Flip, and you can watch the whole thing, complete with my postpartum self blubbering in the background.

Gwen is officially great with her little sister. She loves having a baby around, and loves to introduce her to everyone. "This is my baby sister named Julie!" she pipes, at all hours, to her daddy, to the neighbors, to all of our visitors, and to her little friends. "My baby sister!" Named Julie!"

She asks for her like that, too, although that's fading away now. Mostly she says, "Mama, can I see Julie? Can I hold her?" This was Day 1:

This was week 3.

We're home, except when Jim is at work. Which is a lot, admittedly. Which is a damn good thing, except when it gets to be 6:00 or 7:00 or bedtime. Even then it's still a good thing, I just have to remind my hormone-soaked exhausted self why that is. We're home, and I have the family of four I always wanted. And when I'm not hormone-soaked and exhausted, I have these shining moments of pure happiness. Julie's soft and sweet and oh so tiny. Gwennie's big big big and dances around the house singing. I have two beautiful daughters.

I'm more relaxed with this baby, except when I'm not (the umbilical cord thing freaked me out a bit. Gwen's fell off in the NICU, so I wasn't all that involved with it. Julie's got all goopy before it finally fell off, and I was sure it was infected or something. It wasn't.) With Gwen, it's a different story, and relaxed is not the right word at all. Annoyed, maybe, on a good day, and it can go downhill from there. But that's a whole other blog post, right there, and I'm not promising to write it.

Signing off now, to get the big kid to sleep before the little one wakes up again...