brett's first week

Our first week at home with Brett was magical.  It was an adjustment, but in so many ways, it felt as though he had always been there.

I would complain about having to wake up every two hours to feed him at night, but that was already better than almost every other night of Ellie's first year of life.  It honestly felt pretty good.  And he is already a champion eater, and has been basically since day one.

 Ah, yes.  The picture where it looks like I have a massive growth on my...body.  Don't worry, I'm just feeding him.

"Live long and prosper."

My mom spent the majority of her time working on projects around my house that somehow Tim and I never manage to get done.  She took down our ugly cabin-ish wallpaper downstairs, sanded and painted the molding around our windows and doors, sanded and painted our light fixture in the kitchen, removed the lime deposits from our bathtub (I didn't even know that's what they were, which is why I hadn't been successful in removing them), fixed the tub draining mechanism...thing, switched the hot and cold water in the bathroom sink, and altered some jeans for me.  And probably other things I can't remember.  All of that was on top of helping with dinner and the kids.  She's a pretty impressive lady.

 Ellie loooves doing tummy time with Brett.

One of our biggest struggles that week was the cold sores.  Oh, the cold sores.  First, Ellie got one right after we got home, then I got one, and then Tim.  The last thing the nurse warned us about before we left the hospital was about how dangerous cold sores are for newborns, so of course, we all had to get one within a week of bringing home our newborn.  I was a nervous wreck.  I couldn't even kiss my baby, and I was washing my hands obsessively.  Trying to get Ellie not to touch or kiss him was heartbreaking for her, the sweet little girl who just wants to love on her little brother all the time.  And now, naturally, Ellie has another one, so we have to go through the whole process all over again.

One day, my sweet mom watched Brett for me so that Ellie and I could have a mommy/daughter date to the park.  Even though I was still recovering, I could actually run around with Ellie a little bit.  I hadn't been able to do that for a month or two prior to Brett's birth.  She was in heaven!

 "Snow" Angels

I was so proud of myself for being able to take care of two kids by myself during the times when my mom was either working around the house or running errands.  It was such a confidence booster for me.  I even managed to get both of them to take naps at the same time a couple of times!  (Which meant that I got a couple of naps!)

And if it isn't obvious already, Tim loves being able to cuddle with his two kids.  The one area Ellie has struggled a little bit with jealousy is when her dad pays too much attention to Brett.  She has always tried to be patient, however, and she is getting used to it.  Occasionally, though, she just needs some one-on-one dad time.

 Before my mom left, I made sure to have her get a family picture with our brand new one-week-old:

It was a great first week, and we are already excited that we get to see my mom again at Christmas!