Happy New Year!! I feel like I have been in a mommy cocoon since Samuel’s birth. Losing all track of time and days. We didn’t even celebrate the new year, except I was awoken from some much needed sleep by fireworks from our neighbors at the midnight hour. (In any other phase of my life I would have loved the fireworks!) I am by no means complaining however. I love spending these precious moments with our new sweet Samuel! It is quite evident that this time of infancy will pass all too quickly!! By this time next year, Samuel will be one year old and no longer a “baby”.

David and Emma spent a few days with my parents over the weekend. They had a blast with Papa and Nana. Emma is so smart. (Yes, I’m biased, but her vocabulary is unbelievable for a two year old. For example, we cross the I-40 bridge going from Arkansas to Memphis, TN regularly, and Emma will say “we’re crossing the Mississippi!” in her little two year old voice!) She says that she is Papa’s buddy and Nana’s baby!  David loves spending time outdoors with Papa helping him do “big” stuff too. I appreciated the extra time to spend with Samuel and the opportunity to take an extra nap or two, but I missed my other babies! I know, it’s probably the post-partum hormones making me feel all emotional, but I was glad to have David and Emma come back.

We are still adjusting to life with a new baby, and we try our best to keep David and Emma in their usual routines. This helps with overall adjustment, and I hope it will help with the lack of attention they feel they are getting from me currently. Andrew tries to help with this as much as he can, but Emma especially, just wants mommy! She will say, “Mommy play with me” while I’m nursing Samuel, and I have to tell her that I will play with her after I’m through feeding Samuel. This hurts!!!! I hate telling her I can’t, and she’s just wanting security that mommy still loves her too! This is the worst part about adjusting to this new normal!

I am finally able to reach my toes!! I know, this is laughable and gross, but I needed a pedicure badly! It felt so good to trim my toenails and paint them! 🙂 Emma saw me painting my toes, and she wanted to paint her toes too. I probably ordinarily would have told her no, that she was too little, but I saw it as an opportunity to make her feel special. So I trimmed and painted Emma’s toe nails. It was her first pedicure! 🙂 Her little toes and feet look way cuter than mine! She sat so still and let me paint them too!

Samuel has already had a few firsts this past week! He went to church on Sunday for the first time! I dressed him in a cute outfit that Andrew’s aunt sent.

Samuel also had his first bath last night! He did not like it one bit! He cried the whole time!! We are not yet able to immerse him in the water, so I hope once we can do that he will change his mind about bath time! We have a tradition that Dad gets to give the first bath! He has gotten better at it each time! 🙂

Love,

PK