Tidbits: 2 weeks of Anna edition

-Anna is 2 weeks old, and it feels so tough to find the time to update here. But if I don't record it, these days become a distant blur that is lost forever. So here's what the last 2 weeks have been like.

-The boys had a mild cold right when we came home from the hospital. It wasn't even worth mentioning except that I was immediately worried that Anna would catch it. She's now been congested for 5 or 6 days. Luckily it's all nasal (I would be worried if she were coughing), but it adds further challenge to eating and sleeping, neither of which are a walk in the park right now anyway. I have really enjoyed the January baby thing so far (it's so cold that I don't mind being holed up at home for weeks on end) except for the germ factor. My heart races every time I hear the words "flu epidemic" and I feel paranoid that the kids will bring something home from school that will be dangerous for her. But I know I need to relax. She weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces at her 2 weeks check yesterday, so she met the goal of regaining birth weight.

-I am completely humbled by the generosity of our friends and church community here. First of all, a group of 7 ladies that I am so fortunate to call my friends (Beth, Kate, Wendy, Adrienne, Marianne, Liz, and Angie) got together and cooked a freezer full of meals for us, then brought it over and filled up our freezer. Then other moms from my MOPS group have started bringing hot meals at dinnertime a couple of times a week for the next few weeks. My friend Jenni (hi, Jenni!) brought a FEAST the other night plus gifts for the baby AND the big kids - it was amazing. We are so thankful for the support of our family and friends.

-Brian is still off work until next Thursday. I know I am spoiled for him to have this much time off, but I literally don't know if I could do it without him at this point! I am just now starting to feel like I could physically handle all the drop offs and pick ups that are required in a week. I don't know if I'm a wimp or what, but the physical recovery for me is always really rough, and I actually think it has gotten more difficult with each delivery. So many (very familiar) aches and pains. And nursing STILL hurts like crazy, even 2 weeks out. I'm really hoping that feels better before I'm left on my own. But everyday is a little better, and I feel SO much better than I did this time last week.

If you'd like a new friend, place Anna on your chest and settle in. She'll love you forever.

 -Sleep is still quite challenging at night, but slowly getting better. Brian swears that it was this difficult with our other kids, but the blog archives say that they were all at least doing several stretches in the bassinet at night by the end of the first week. Not Miss Anna - she's not a fan. For the whole first week we were taking turns holding her in the glider all night. As of now, she's been doing one 2-hour stretch in the bassinet each night, then sleeping the rest of the night either in bed with us or in the glider in my arms. I keep wondering if it has anything to do with her being born at an earlier gestation? Or it could just be her temperament. Either way, we're a little bleary eyed.

-We had a little bump in the road on Tuesday afternoon. Luke was walking up the stairs and somehow tripped and fell. I'm still not clear what caused it, but somehow he gashed his chin. As soon as I saw it, I knew it needed stitches because it looked pretty bad. I am SO thankful that it happened while Brian was home so he was able to take Luke to Urgent Care and I could stay home with the others. Brian said Luke did amazingly well getting 5 stitches (cried when they had to hold him down but once they got started stitching he just stared at them). They don't seem to bother him much now, so I'm hoping that they will heal nicely and be done.

Katy adores this baby. She says things like, "Turn her face away from me, because I canNOT resist kissing those cheeks when she gives me that look!" She did not hear me say that, you know? That is a sincere expression from her heart, it's amazing how innate it is to love babies.

-Remember how I was thinking about martial arts as a potential activity for David to give a healthy place to outlet some physical energy? I just got an email from a place 1 mile from here that's starting a new class, reasonably priced, for his age group in February. And there are 2 free trial classes next week. The timing might not be great (do I want to add an activity to the schedule right now? no, I do not.) but we might try the free class. David hasn't gotten to do anything that was just for him before, so we'll see. 

-I swear Anna is almost smiling at me already. Her face lights up when we coo at her. She's so stinking cute, and I am constantly struck by how amazing newborns are. So tiny, so innocent, so precious. I know this will be over before I know it, so I want to appreciate it as much as I can, despite the aches and pains and sleepless nights.

From my mom, obviously (if you know my mom).