After the Wonder Dust Settles

 

Sunday morning. We made it to church on time but not without some apologies from the frantic mother (me).

 The neighbors gave us lots of chalk.

 Stuart who loves to water my flowers and keep the dogs water dish full. Do we notice a theme? 

 Mia works very hard helping with dishes, laundry, and Olive watching.

She also spends hours reading.

 Ellie has become a great help with Olive. Sometimes she is the only one who convince her to eat her supper.

My greatest accomplishment yesterday, out for a walk.

At 4 weeks old Henry is sleeping 6-7 hrs at night. I pray that it continues.

Because he does not settle very early, I'm not getting up during the night. 

Olive who chipped her front tooth this week. Oh dear.

Henry's first trip to work. Uncle Ted got stuck with baby holding duty. He's pretty good at it. We like when Ted is around. 

A new baby in the house:

Most days are great with small portions that are hard and I wonder how long this lasts? The rough moments are not really what you remember when you think about having a baby. Unless of course you're the one having the baby. 
I have cried over the most ridiculous things. I have had to apologize to those that I love.
I feel ditsy because I walked into my friend’s kitchen table. Then I came home and walked into my beds foot board. I finally planted the potted flower that had been waiting for a month to be planted. I did this at 7 AM while wearing my pajamas. Tired of watching the blooms fade away I desperately grabbed the plant that had been resting patiently in the kitchen, the shovel that was on the porch, and headed out to get it in the flower bed. Walking onto the yard from the porch I hit my head on the hanging fern and got soaked from the rain the night before. Do hormones make one clumsy? I'm going with that. 
The sound of Henry crying feels like physical pain and I might go crazy if I have to hear too much of it.

I Google “postpartum hormones” to read other peoples stories because sometimes that is the only thing that reminds me that this is normal. (just 4 weeks ago I was Googling “overdue pregnancy” to read all the horror stories, it can be helpful and it can end up a punishment- that Google)

Our friends and family have been so generous with us. Meals and gifts that just didn’t stop. Someone checking in with a “how was your day” text. Seems small but is so nice and speaks love. The neighbor headed to Target checks to see if I need anything. My freezer has strawberry jelly in it that I did not make. My mom took the children cherry picking because she knew they would love it. 
One of the worst things, I can’t seem to finish my sentences. I start to tell Nate something and fifteen minutes later I realize that all I ever said was, “So you know…” Poor conversation drives me crazy so I really do not like this. Everything seems disjointed, my brain and my limbs.

Meanwhile the baby is sweet and he is so good. We could not love him any more than we all ready do.

On the way home from swimming Stuart thought Henry looked cold so he gave him his towel. Then he leaned over and tried to grab Olive’s towel for himself, so loving.