adjusting

Hello hello.  

As promised: everything else.

Emma is 12 days old [or 13 if I don't get this finished during this sitting] and Lily is 21 months and 3 days.  And we are surviving!  I have been asked how I am handling the adjustment, and honestly, I think I am having the hardest time.  The first three days were really, really hard [I'm not sure if it was really as hard as I remember or I was just tired, emotional and super charged on hormones] but Lily is taking it pretty well.  She loves to help as much as she can, always wants to be in Emma's face [of course] and wants to hold her all the time.  I'm still learning to relax and let Lily help and hold her, and not be all paranoid that Lily is going to accidentally hurt Emma.  But Emma is going to need to be buckled into the swing when Lily decides that the mechanism isn't going fast enough and needs an extra push.  

I think we will definitely have many more temper tantrums from Lily about not always being first with my care and attention- to be expected- but we have already had a few episodes of Lily refusing to get off my lap when I need to feed Emma, and we've gotten through it.  When Emma naps [which is a lot!  Apparently this is normal and what babies are supposed to do, as opposed to what Lily did..], Lily and I play, clean the house together and read stories.  Off the top of my head, the big jealousy point is when I put Emma in the front pack: I'm not sure if Lily thinks that she should be carrying Emma or if Lily wants to be carried herself.    

Other adjustment points: the first 2-3 days, I had the hardest time remembering that the new baby's name is EMMA and not LILY.  Jesse found this highly amusing.  Additionally, I got so used to calling Emma's room "Bob's Room," that when I was trying to direct my mom to find something in there, I called it Bob's room.  Happily, I am figuring out who is who, and have only called Lily by the dog's name once so far.  This week.  

As far as Jesse is concerned, I'm not sure he has noticed a difference ;) ok, I kid, but when Emma is down for the night [hopefully] in the co-sleeper in our room, Jesse likes to walk in and turn the lights on and continue about his business.  He told me that last night he walked in and heard Emma hiccuping, but couldn't figure out what in the world was making that noise until he turned around and saw her laying wide awake staring at him.  He makes me laugh.  I handed Emma off to Jesse and he just took her and continued with whatever he was doing.  Then he stopped and said "look at me, I'm a pro!  Remember when I was scared to hold Lily at this age?"  

We both are kind of struggling remembering all the newborn stuff.  I know Lily now: she is predictable and I can calm her down and talk to her.  Learning a new person is hard and something I hadn't really thought about.  I don't know what will calm Emma down yet, and she obviously can't communicate with me, but we are getting there.   

Since I forgot in the last post, thank you everyone who wrote me messages on Facebook, text, called and stopped by when we had Emma!  I appreciate all your thoughts and prayers.  And I also forgot to mention- and have been asked several times- I labored and delivered with no pain medications again, like with Lily.  After the baby was born, I have to admit, I wanted every pain medicine they could give me!

Other than that..Emma has a doctor appointment on Friday, but I'm fairly positive that nursing is going well and she is getting plenty in her little belly.  

Am I forgetting things?  I feel like people have asked me a few questions I wanted to answer and cover in this post..and whatever it is, I can't think of it.  

So...pictures!  My girls look nothing alike. 

Lily- 17 days old

Emma- 10 days old