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My mom left this morning after having spent “six sleeps” taking care of us. She and my dad had been here before/during/after Meera’s birth. They left after we had been home from the hospital one day. We spent our first three weeks home just us as a family of five. It was both a joy-filled and very-tough three weeks… but it was precious time for us (the good parts) and we made it through it (the bad parts), and that is just exactly how we wanted it. My mom’s return though, for week 4, was a hugely welcome relief for all five of us! She became the expert at getting Meera to sleep, she was the boys’ entertainer extraordinaire, she did all the laundry (Braydon’s job) and all the cooking (my job), the cleaning, the moral support, the sit-and-chat-for-hours-on-end-with-the-nursing-mother, etc., etc., etc. This morning when she left we were all sad to see her go. She and my dad return though, in “five sleeps” for the 4th of July — so we were o.k. as we watched her drive off (plus she left us with Braydon’s favorite casserole in the fridge ready to pop in the oven tomorrow). I have had a life-long very (unusually) close relationship with my mother. She’s my best girlfriend and my mom (what could be better?). I don’t know what I’d do without her. As anyone who reads this blog knows, my parents are really supportive of us despite the fact that we live 9 hours apart. As far as long-distance relationships go, it doesn’t get much better than this. We don’t know how to thank them for what they do for us. The only way they really get repaid is with the knowledge that Braydon and I will be making sure that we’re paying it forward in the future— doing the same things they are now doing for us for K, O, and M someday.

…on the eve of turning 1 month old.

This past week Kyle and Owen have been in Soccer Camp at Lehigh (click here). This was a one-week mornings-only day-camp program for 4-5 year olds. The boys have loved it. It is kind of sad to see the week end. Given that this was a “sports camp” for such young kids, we weren’t quite sure what to expect. We were shocked by how much real soccer they actually learned/played! It was a great week for K & O. Kyle, especially did really really well. He loved learning a new sport, mastering the rules of the game, and gaining some real skills (this stuff is right up his ally!!!). Owen loved it too, and is obviously an incredibly naturally gifted athlete (anyone who’s ever witnessed the boy do anything physical can attest to this about Owen), but Kyle… Kyle really really really excels at the following-directions/practicing skills/participating in team-sports kinds of parts of sports. Kyle is quite athletically gifted/talented in his own right and he has the drive/determination/focus/attention-span to really take it one step further. Coach Larry, the head coach, had the boys pegged by day 2. Among other things, he told me that he’s “coached many boys throughout his years, and these two are all boy” (all I could do was nod in complete agreement with that one). He also told me that Kyle is really good at soccer and will “probably go real far” with athletics because he’s “so incredibly coachable.” These are things that we, of course, already knew about our boys. But it was interesting to hear the perspective of Coach Larry since this was K & O’s first real exposure to team sports.

Our family does not do well being housebound for long. We go a little stir crazy if we’re cooped up for even a day. We’re just not the sit-around types. But it is hard to get out with a newborn. Nonetheless, we’ve had a few outings so far in our short little (four week long) life as a family of five. We’ve gone out for dinner once, out to lunch twice, and run a couple errands. Our best outing, yet, though, was the Sunday before last. We went for ice cream (of course Kyle still chooses a milkshake and Owen still chooses the messiest ice cream cone possible), and then the boys ran in their favorite fountains. Meera was, as usual, quite unimpressed with the boys’ fountain jumping tricks (see her yawning in photo below).

There is something about this photo that takes my breath away. And right now this photo is so perfectly symbolic somehow. For the past four weeks, since their baby sister was born, these two have stuck together like the strongest glue. These guys have always been tight — and I mean, super cemented together tight. But in the past few weeks they’ve weathered quite the storm together; what a huge transition to add Baby Sister to our mix. Our dynamic has shifted; their center of gravity has tilted; our life as we knew it has been turned upside down. We’ve had our high’s and low’s these past few weeks, for sure. But these two boys have stuck it out and have done it together. Yes, they fight like cats and dogs. But they play for hours on end like the bestest of buds — no, not even the bestest of buds can compare… they’re twins of the very best variety. They are bonded like none other. If I weren’t so exhausted I’d go on and on and on about it. But instead I just have to let the photo do the talking. I didn’t think they could get any tighter, but my terrific twinados are tighter than ever.

I’ve been wanting to post this but haven’t because I was afraid people wouldn’t believe me. But yes, I do know the difference between an infant’s “real smile” and an infant’s “gas smile.” And I know for absolute sure that my girl is smiling real smiles. She first started smiling at me when she was 2 weeks old. Over the past two weeks I’ve had confirmation that I’m not crazy from several people who have come to visit. But now, with my mother’s affirmation (she’s visiting/helping this week), I have the guts to post this. My newborn Meera Grace is smiling up a storm… and she has been since Week 2.

As of today, Meera Grace is four weeks old. It seems cliche, but so true: in some ways it feels like the past four weeks have just flown by — as if a blur, as if not even real… and in other ways it feels as if Meera has always been here — hard to imagine we ever had life without her. Things we’ve learned about Meera Grace~~ she loves going for outings in the car/carseat; she likes to burp a lot; in the evenings she’ll only sleep when being held; she loves the Bjorn. Things we’ve learned about the Big Brothers~~ they still love holding her; they still love giving her ooey gooey open mouthed kisses; and they love dressing her (with accessories too… the other morning I left the baby on our bed for a minute while a ran to the bathroom and when I returned I found the boys carefully putting two of my watches onto her wrists). Here are some snapshots from the past week.

Braydon and I had been waiting for this moment for a long time! I’m not sure why, but there is something about the idea of giving a newborn her first bath that was just really really big for us. Maybe in part because we never had a newborn before. It just seems so… so special somehow. They are so tiny. So precious. The whole fitting right in the kitchen sink thing. The whole first time in water thing. Something about it. It was just a big thing for us. So we were waiting and waiting for Meera’s umbilical cord stump to fall off so that we could give her her first bath. Sunday afternoon her umbilical finally came off to reveal her cute little belly button. Sunday night after the boys were in bed we gave her that dreamy first bath. We wondered how she’d do with it. She loved it! By the end I was actually holding the faucet over her head just letting the water pour all over her head/face/body. She was cooing and content and calm and just loving it all. Our prediction: she’s ‘gonna be a water bug just like her big brothers. Perfect! She fits right in with our family!!!

Saturday Meera wore a dress for the first time. Turns out she loves dresses! She loves to have her legs and feet free to kick kick kick. From Day 1 she’s hated to be swaddled or tightly constrained. She’s a free and liberated young woman! So dresses are a good thing in her book! (Good thing since she has about 100 in her closet — all precious baby gifts received — just waiting to be worn!!!)

This past Tuesday Meera had her first bottle. We’re committed to pumping (even though I detest it!) so that the boys (all three of them, but Braydon especially) can feed the baby. Braydon was on cloud 9 feeding his girl the other night. Luckily she took to the bottle just great and was happy enough to go right back to nursing for her next feed a couple hours later. She’s had a couple of bottles since. At age 4 weeks, Meera is still eating every 2-3 hours round the clock. A bottle here and there is a welcome relief to all involved!!!!!!!!

This past weekend Braydon’s side of the family — Auntie Sabrina, Grandpa Robert, and G’amma — all came to visit (see G’amma’s Guest Blogger Post below). They met Meera for the first time, entertained the Big Brothers, and cooked/cleaned for Braydon and I. Here are the top three pics from what was a beautiful weekend.