wordy wednesday: it's tough

tomorrow maggie is 2 weeks old...it is hard to believe it has been two weeks already!

while things are going pretty darn good around our house. i would be lying if i were to say these last couple weeks were full of blissful moments of snuggling our few little one. that is part of it but not all of it.

last night as we were giving maggie her bath, tim and I were talking about how the first few weeks after bringing a baby home are full of joys but are also pretty tough.

it is a mix of physical exhaustion from carrying a baby for nine months and then giving birth, the lack of sleep, and physical demands of breastfeeding. being emotionally overwhelmed by the instant love you feel for your newborn and the hormonal rollercoaster. feeling happy one minute and crying about that happiness the next! as well as watching your older children grow up in an instant. and mentally trying to adjust to your new normal, worrying about the random red spot on your baby or the strange sound they just made. not being able to get anything accomplished in a day. it is all a bit overwhelming.

i struggle a bit at the start. i am a person who likes routine and when you bring home a new baby....your routine gets blow all apart. it has to. you have to make a place in that routine for a new little person. you have to adjust to your new normal. i typically hit my stride around three weeks and start to feel like we are settling in to our new normal around one month.

right now we starting to get an idea of what our new normal will be like. what it is like to go to the store with a newborn and a very helpful 4 year old. what bathtime with three little ladies is like. how dinnertime works with a hungry maggie and food in the oven. how to get ellie to the bus stop on time with tim already gone to work in the morning. we are getting there but are not there yet and that is ok. we are trying hard to relax and go with the flow and enjoy these moments. we know we will look back at these first days and not remember the frazzled mess that we felt we were, but the joys.

there are many things we will want to remember....how we watched The Lorax about ten times during maggie's first few weeks (great big sister gift idea maggie...you are brilliant!). how tim and i have watched about a gazillion episodes of American Pickers and Pawn Stars.....but tim still refuses to go to the flea market with me. how our friends and family brought us great meals and yummy treats. how on her second day home maggie pooped out of her diaper and went potty all over clothes and the changing table and how tim and i just laughed. watching your older children fall in love with their new little sister.

so that is where we are. we are looking forward to the days where we have settled into our new normal (if our days are really ever normal). while trying to enjoy these moments that we know pass much too quickly.