tHe FonduE faMily: August 2012

Dear Baby Jo,

So many hands awaited your arrival at home.

I actually got anxiety as I set the timer and monitored each person who held you.

And I felt much better when your siblings started coughing soon after we brought you home and we just banned everyone from touching you.

Of course then I worried you would get their coughs . . .

Quite funny how you struggled so badly to get the right latch for milk each time at first, especially when you were super hungry! And my milk must have been carbonated because you truly had to burp between sides and afterward, loud and hard!

Reactions when you nursed:

M: Asked lots of questions and then nodded like it made sense and and worked for him! He wanted to know what I was doing, if it hurt, what you were eating and why Daddys couldn’t do it (he assumed they were too hairy:)

C: Also asked lots of questions, wanted to help me pump (no thanks) and had her friend (apparently her wet nurse) nurse her baby doll. She also gets very defensive of me and my privacy and wants to know names of body parts as well as differences between hers and mine. She told me when she gets big she can have as many babies as she wants and nurse them. I found her baby bottle soaking in water like she often saw us doing to warm bottles. Once when you were fussy she said, “I think she just wants your nips!”

She had quite a shock to her system on the first night you were home when she told me to go ahead and finish feeding you and then she would change you and take you upstairs to bed. When I told her differently, she ran upstairs screaming and crying, slammed her door and did not come out for awhile. After that, she was just grateful for anyway I let her help with “her baby.”

E: Started crying and pushing you away and said “No, Don’t eat Mamma!” Then I told him you were drinking milk and he said “Oh. Eating?” Then he would push you away and say “Nuf!” Then one day he lifted up his shirt and said “Do me J, do me!” When he saw me using my handheld pump he said “Mom, Don’t shoot me!” I’ve also spied him nursing his teddy bears.

I was trying to show my sister that you were wearing her hat and booties from her.

But it was dark.

Picture quality, super bad.

You slept all day.

And partied all night.

We had 3 cute little visitors peek their heads into our room that first night.

Poor Dad had to get up and go to this sweet girl’s preschool graduation.

(I was not exactly feeling up to it).

Luckily Nana was there to help video.

This was our third consecutive year paying for preschool before we would get one year off!

(these garage pictures never quite turn out)

She’s a little nervous.

And her wonderful teachers, Miss Shaun

And Miss Lisa

See you guys in two years!!

That night you were up til 4:30!

It was brutal.

Nana kept getting frustrated that we didn’t wake her up to help, but I needed her to have her energy so she could deal with your brothers and sister.

I did deliver you to her a couple of mornings around 5 or 6 though.

Of course you just slept at that point.

The next day, we gave you your first sponge bath at home (with help from Rapunzel) while Nana took M to his school picnic.

(the photographer was under strict instruction not to include me in the pictures and he failed!))

Your eyelashes were multiplying and you had a sad rash on your chin we could not get rid of.

Uh this is E. Guess I better make sure these are all labeled!!

You did not love it.

A little cold!

The only binki you would take!!

Though your brother nearly caused a few breakdowns by trying to pick you up (instilling fear I’d jeopardized your life by bringing you home) he also kept us laughing.

As per usual, Nana was my in home nanny/cook/laundress/housekeeper/hair salon so I could just take care of you and recover.

On that note, I was super sore, though I had no stitches or tears.

It didn’t help that I slipped on some water left from D’s shower and tried to do the splits.

We joked that I had pulled my uterus.

(Does it seem that some things are just not kept sacred with us? I bet you wanted to know about that!)

On your way to your five day appointment.

You were not quite at your birth weight, which shocked me! All of my babies are at or past their birth weight by now!

The nurse in the hospital had tried to warn me when she weighed you there that you had probably lost weight and I told her “Not my babies.”

She came back and said “Wow! You were right! She hasn’t lost an ounce!”

So that’s why even though Dr. Sigg kept saying how wonderful your weight was, I sat puzzled.

We attempted a bottle and it was a big fat failure.

You got so worked up that you wouldn’t even nurse and then you finally just went to sleep.

All my babies have about the same length / color or hair! But I think E’s got ya!

J’s head

E’s head

Within those first few days, I rolled my tongue and you smiled at me!

I didn’t tell anyone about it since I assumed they wouldn’t believe me, but a day later, you smiled at Nana!

Nana provided BBQ (the one she was supposed to host) for us night one, and then we had a delicious meal brought the next day.

Friday we ordered in and then Saturday, Linds had us over for tacos.

Mom made us a roast for dinner on Sunday and then beef pot pie for Monday (Memorial Day) before she left.

(she tried to skip out a day early but I asked her what the purpose of going into labor Memorial Day weekend was if she left on Sunday!!)

I won!

I cried (as I always do) when my mommy left.

I feel so scared and helpless when she leaves after a new baby and I didn’t think I could do it, especially with the 3 beasts I already had, whom I was able to ignore for a week and just focus on my new precious miracle,

YOU.

D hugged me and promised to step in where she left off, so I hesitantly let her go.

Right after she left, you took your first bottle.

Yay!