Thankful

I have been meaning to write this post for awhile. I have to be honest when I say that the first 8 weeks or so after Blair's birth were a little difficult for me. Don't get me wrong, I feel super blessed to have two healthy kids, but it has just taken some adjusting to going from a family of 3 to 4. Blair was also fairly fussy her first 7-8 weeks but is now doing SO much better. Halle also did really well at the beginning to adjusting to life with a new sister at home and though she has always and continues to be great with Blair, there have been a few more tantrums for us which was to be expected!

Words cannot express how grateful I am for both of our parents. My parents were here helping before Blair joined us and left a couple of days after she was born. They were a huge help with getting things ready in the house and with Halle, especially after Blair was born when we were in the hospital for a couple of days. They took care of her and I didn't worry at all even though that was the first time we have left her overnight. She did great with them and was sad to see them leave. But, thankfully, Brandon's parents arrived the same day my parents left and stayed for almost a whole month! They were such a huge help with the cooking, cleaning, playing with Halle and just helping do whatever was needed! I don't know what I would've done without either of them! THANK YOU!!

Brandon has also been gone a lot recently with interviews for fellowship, so my Mom came back out to help me some more. She was a huge help with the kids. I was so thankful that she was here. She not only gave me company while Brandon was gone, but I was able to hand over Blair to her at any time and she was able to settle her down...she definitely has a special touch and developed a relationship with Blair! Blair smiled at her more than anyone else! She also helped with Halle, cleaning, getting me whatever I needed, etc. It was a huge blessing!

 

I am also extremely thankful for our generous friends who brought us dinner. I didn't have to cook for at least a couple of months after Blair was born which was amazing! Today, Feb. 18th, was the first time I have gone on a big grocery store run with both of the girls! I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends here...thank you!

And, just so that I don't forget (in case there is ever another newborn in the house!), I couldn't have survived those first few months without the following things!!

• My Iphone and the YouTube video of Running Water that calms Blair down instantly (Brandon found the video as an alternate solution to me running our faucet constantly!) - we just purchased a white noise machine so that I could actually use my phone when I leave the house!
• Baby Bjorn - the only way I was able to get Halle dinner in the evening was to put Blair in the Bjorn which she now is not a huge fan of
• Halle's clock that made her stay in bed until 8am! I'm not sure what I would've done with sleepless nights and a toddler waking up any earlier than that!
• Video monitor - it is so nice to be able to check on my girls while they are sleeping or sometimes not sleeping (Halle!)

Things are going so much better now. We moved Halle to a room downstairs so that we could move Blair out of our room and get some deeper sleep. Halle is still transitioning to being downstairs all by herself but is doing pretty well. She just figured out how to open doors so that has added to the transition! Thankfully, she obeys her clock fairly well as long as we keep on reminding her and really praising her for staying in bed until the "cow is dancing"! Blair is also doing better without hearing us getting ready for bed and Brandon's alarm in the morning. She is a more sensitive sleeper than Halle ever was so it has been nice to have her in her own room which we have been calling "the nursery". She is still in the newborn napper in the Pack N Play but will probably transition to her crib fairly soon, once she is over a cold which she has had for the last few weeks. She is sleeping more at night which makes for one happy Mama!