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These photos are the first that — in my opinion — really capture our baby girl’s spirit. She’s not always this happy and contented, but she is like this much more of the time than I ever would have expected from a newborn. When I look at these photos I really see our Meera Grace — the beauty of a girl that I’m really coming to know these past couple weeks — shining through the images.

Owen and Kyle are loving life (and living their lives) at the pool, yet again, this summer. They’ve only been out of school for just over a week — and so far they’ve spent the vast majority of that time at the pool. This time of year Braydon and I ask ourselves daily what we’d do without the pool. We know what we’d do: we’d be wishing for a pool. For the sake of our boys (and for the sake of our sanity) we’re so grateful to have this pool, especially this year.

Well, believe it or not, today has been a great day so far. I’m still sick as a dog, but feeling a bit better than yesterday. Kyle and Owen have been –miraculously– absolutely perfect (well, as close to perfect as they’re ever gonna get)! Meera has –miraculously– been eating and sleeping beautifully! Once he got past the depression of leaving, Braydon got off to work just fine this morning. And Alex, our lifesaver Nanny, has ensured a fun summer day for K & O. After three days of misery it has been a wonderful surprise to have a really smooth and good day (so far). Sometimes (the past few days) life throws us punches. And sometimes (today) we get roses.

We’re here… barely. We’ve been completely off-line for the past few days. Sorry to our readers that we’ve been MIA in the blogosphere. I hate not blogging because I feel like I’m missing out on my own processing/journaling and also because I feel like I’m leaving all these important days somehow undocumented. But late Thursday night I started coming down with a yucky bad sick thing. Very feverish with high fever all day Friday. My OB put me immediately on an antibiotic. But it was not anything related to my c-section or breast-feeding. Saturday and today I’ve had a terrible bad flu bug– congested, achy all over, sore throat, headache, the whole nine yards. As if the whole newborn-nursing24x7-twinados-transition2PartyOf5-CsectionRecovery-thing wasn’t enough. So here we are: Blogless (and sleepless) in Pennsylvania. Braydon and I are surviving… but barely. The boys are hanging in there o.k. (I’ll put it this way: we have our high points and we have our low points), all things considered. Meera is eating like a champ (good for baby; rough for Mommy) — but is having some trouble sleeping (rough for all parties involved). Braydon goes back to work tomorrow… which is deeply depressing on every level. So, there you have it. I’m hoping that at some point soon I’ll figure out how to find time to blog. As they say, ‘this too shall pass.’ In the meantime… the truth is… we’re struggling.

Very hard to find time to write these past few days… but at least I can post some photos. It is hard to capture these moments of these days. These pics don’t do it justice. But they at least give a glimpse.

We’ve been home with Meera for one week now as a family of five (or, as my college roommate Jen called it — a “Party of Five” — Hi Jen! I love that— “Party of Five”). The week has gone better than I had expected, especially since having a c-section. But I wouldn’t go so far as to say the week has been entirely a “party” per se. ;0 Meera is an awesome baby. I had prayed and prayed for a mellow baby and I am giving thanks that — so far at least, knock on wood — I seem to have received what I prayed for. Meera and I are nursing well, which is what I’m most grateful for. I had read three breastfeeding books cover to cover during my pregnancy and talked to as many of my friends as possible about it. I was more worried about breastfeeding than I was about labor/delivery. I worked hard with Meera (and the breastfeeding specialists) those first few days in the hospital and I’ve got to say — it has all paid off. Still, being confined to a chair and nursing for hours on end (it often feels like that’s all I’m doing 24×7) is not exactly my style. It is hard for me to sit still, let alone for soooooo much of the day/night (I am not a sit-still person). But alas, that’s life with a nursing newborn. It is what it is. Meera sleeps well, and when she is awake Meera is calm, cool, and contented most of the time. The only exception seems to be when I eat potato chips. I’ve eaten them twice in the past week— with horrible results in Meera’s demeanor. This is a huge bummer, since I love potato chips. I had tried to not eat them much during my pregnancy (I worked so hard to eat healthy), and was so looking forward to indulging in them post-delivery. But eating them is definitely not worth the fussies/crankies/screaming fits that come as the consequence. So, no more chips for me… at least not for a good while. Meera is amazingly good at putting up with her brothers’ antics. They hug her too tight and hold her too much and slobber her with kisses too often and zerbert her belly with way too much gusto (not to mention cover her butt with layer upon layer of “bum bum cream” at diaper changes). They also bang their drums and blow their trumpets while marching circles around her (“Marching Band! For Baby Meera!!!!!”), and they yelp and scream and shout and sing and have tantrums without any respect for a newborn infant in the house. Meera takes it all in stride. Thank God. She can sleep through just about anything –including twin 4 year olds banging the piano within 2 feet of her downstair’s crib. It is quite something to see actually. Really. Anyway, she’s a dang good baby. Most of the time. I have my post-pregnancy-hormonal, deeply-sleep-deprived, c-section-recovering moments of watery blubbery slobbery meltdowns a couple times a day… sobbing and crying in Braydon’s arms in total despair (sometimes because I just can’t fathom how on earth we’re going to manage all of this… and sometimes because I am just overwrought with adoration for this precious new little being in my arms). Braydon is a rock and handles it perfectly. He also is really good at burping the baby (she needs to burp a lot). He also has been a MASTER at keeping K & O busy, happy, and pre-occupied so as to give the baby girl space to just be with her Mama for some chunks of time each day. I’d say that overall, it is all good. Delirious (both in the good sense and the bad sense), but overall… good.

Meera’s First Pool Day

Record high’s here today. Hot and humid, heat index over one hundred. The boys (all three of them) were in the pool for a good portion of the day. The girls (all two of us) were quite annoyed that we can’t join them yet. We did visit the pool though… for all of about 10 minutes until I couldn’t bear to watch anymore (green with envy) and Meera was hungry (as usual). K & O did what they consider to be some pretty impressive “pool tricks” for their sister. As you can see from the photo above (~~big yawn~~) Meera was pretty unimpressed. I think its ‘gonna take a lot to impress this girl.

Kisses

Kyle and Owen both love to hold Meera close and kiss her on the lips. She loves it. They kiss a lot. Their eyes are locked. Their kisses are wet and slippery and sooooo full of love. We know we shouldn’t let our 4 year olds give our 9 day old gooey slobbery mouth-to-mouth kisses. We know about germs. We know about saliva. Yada yada yada. But we can’t help it. It is just too much of a sweet and innocent and loving and intimate thing between them — we don’t have the heart to stand between them and cut it off. So, we run the risk of germ spread. We’re willing to take the risk. Ironically, we insist that K & O wash their hands each and every time before they hold her– LOL!

Well, I’m not sure what to say… either way you look at it, our first ever Johnson-McCormick Family Blog Contest was a total flop. Total flop. First of all, nobody — not one of y’all — guessed Baby Sister’s name correctly. There were 104 entries to this contest, many of which guessed multiple names. But not a single winner. Not even one. What’s up with that people????????! Secondly, K & O didn’t get to make a phone call. They are sorely disappointed. They love the phone. And they are very nondiscriminate about it (they’re more than happy to chat — even with the telemarketers when I have K & O answer those phone calls — so surely they would have thoroughly enjoyed congratulating a contest winner). But alas, not one call to make. What’s up with that people?????! What’s up with that?! Just for the record: it was an “M” on the wooden train with the “K” and the “O” — “M” for Meera Grace Johnson-McCormick. Better luck next time you all.

…to change a baby’s diaper????…

In her first week of life, I have changed Meera’s diaper exactly 3 times, and have dressed her precisely once. The males of the J-M house are all over those duties — round the clock. Important note regarding K & O on baby duty: by far their favorite part of baby care is the application of diaper-rash-cream during diaper changes… there surely has never been a baby in the history of human existence to have more diaper-rash-cream all over her bottom at any given time than Miss Meera Grace.