Well, it took me seven weeks but Benjamin Joseph Manuel, born November 16th at 11:31 am weighing 7lbs 7 ozs and measuring 20 inches, is now officially part of the blog!
Too much to catch up on...I'll start with the Benny birth recap and the next blog post can be about the holidays and visits :)
Benny's birth was much easier than Max's - C Section minus the labor - but the recovery not so easy. For the sake of historical remembrance, let's just say mom's system had a hard time kicking back into gear. I'll never forget my hero, Charlie, and how he took care of me, not to mention my parents and how they alleviated the "Max issue" entirely (he couldn't have had more fun)! Mom and Dad - a million THANK YOUs. And Jimbo, you really rose to the occasion doing it all on your own for a few days!
We were so lucky to have the whole family come to town for Thanksgiving so we could celebrate together. I don't remember much of it, but I'm so glad Uncle David, and Phoebs and Shaun made the visit (luckily Uncle E was already here)! Mom somehow managed to pull off an enormous feast almost entirely on her own and everything was delicious. I spent most of the time nursing in the bedroom - thanks for keeping me company, Phoebs :)
And of course, the following week, Julie took care of us all. I don't know how she does it, but somehow she cooked, cleaned, nursed me, and cared for/drove/ entertained Max. AMAZING.
Thus far, Ben has been such a wonderful baby - pretty much only cries when he is hungry and seems genuinely at peace with his place in this scary world. Charlie keeps commenting that I seem a to be getting a lot more joy out of it this time around. I would agree that I'm a lot less stressed (minus hormonal + exhaustion mood swings) - the little things don't bother me as much (crying, sleep habits, eating habits, etc) as I know they'll change fast. The LEVEL of joy is the same (no slights to Max), but its certainly present more often . And I know to enjoy this time with Benny and how much I get to cuddle and coo at him and just gaze into his eyes, because soon enough I'll go to kiss him and his hand will automatically raise in protest (Max's latest trick). So, yes, I kiss and nuzzle him basically 24-7 (for the most part, that's not an exaggeration). Charlie calls him my boyfriend...
Max has been so wonderful with Ben - loves to pet his head and kiss him and say "It's OK Benny, I'm here" (even when he isn't crying). In fact, he wants to touch him so much he runs in from playing outside and immediately shouts "I washed my hands!" (so he can touch Benny) when he quite obviously has not. Every night when I ask for my good night kiss from Max, he goes right to Benny first. He hasn't seemed to mind the new addition too much either, just has to tell us once in a while that he's a baby too and he really likes to steal Benny's blankets; even when he is using them.
So that's the first intro - much more to come when I can get on the computer again (which is tough, considering the whole 24-7 holding thing).
Some first Pics below...
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
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