The Thatcher Life: July After Baby

The rest of our July was (understandably) consumed by our newest addition. As a result, everyone's updates pretty much revolve around her.

Sawyer

Sawyer is really sweet with little Wren and asks if he can hold her quite often. He especially likes to snuggle up to her on mine and Dillon's bed while she's napping (which is a lot of the time right now). He'll ask me, "Where's baby sister?" and if she happens to be snoozing on the big bed he'll follow it up with, "Can I lay by her?" The first few times I peeked in to make sure things were going smoothly and each time he was quietly gazing at her while sharing a blanket and one time I heard him whisper, "I love you" in her tiny ear and I just about melted in a puddle on the floor. The only minor mishap we've had is when he covered her face with the blanket because he likes to cover his own sometimes so I quickly explained that she's not big enough for that and needs to have her face out to breathe. We've been good since.

Some other funny things he's said/done.. When he came home right after we got out of the hospital and he kept patting my belly and asking about another baby. So I explained to him that it took a long time for my belly to get big so that the baby could fit and it will probably take a long time for it to get small. So now he casually pats my stomach and double checks, "It takes a long time for your belly to get small?" Ha, kids. We've had a few questions when it's come to feeding her and Sawyer's funniest one was, "She eats out of your elbow?" After explaining how it works (again) he seems satisfied with the answer and hasn't asked anything about it since. And, lastly, he excitedly told me that his baby sister is "so beautiful and awful!" I asked if he meant awesome since awful usually means bad and he said, "Oh yeah, that's right. She's beautiful and awesome!"

Dawson

Dawson has been obsessed with Wren's umbilical cord. He saw it in the hospital when it was still pretty good sized and then when he saw it at home, he was alarmed and said, "They take her big cord!" I said it was still there, just tiny now. So now he asks to see her cord at least a dozen times a day. After trying to share food with her, we told him that she can't have food yet because she doesn't have any teeth. And he thinks that's just the most interesting and funny thing and will point to her mouth and ask, "She has no teeth?" He likes to pet her head and tell her, "It's okay, I'm here." And I really just hope that he continues in that vein as they grow older. He shares his wubbanub monkey and flamingo blanky with baby Wren which is a big deal since those are his big ticket comfort items. He loves her and is sweet with her little baby self and I'm just so glad and relieved.

On a separate note, the week we brought Wren home, Dawson figured out a way to climb out of his crib. This friends, is terrible news. Dawson is horrible to put to sleep 75% of the time and needs to be trapped in a toddler cage in order to go to sleep still. We plan on moving him in with Sawyer but, not yet. Thankfully, Dillon figured out that Dawson was using the rocker as a go between with the crib and the floor. So we moved it across the room and Dawson is back to staying in his crib (for now).

Wren

Wren has been pretty chill so far. She actually has me enjoying the newborn stage again. Sawyer was an easy going baby for the most part but Dawson was hard and really high maintenance and since he was freshest in my memory, I was nervous to have a tiny, needy person again. But Wren has been a really good sleeper and eats regularly but not the grueling every 2ish hours that Dawson did. She takes at least one long break (like 5 or 6 hours) and then generally eats around every 3 1/2 hours. It's such a doable system. Speaking of eating, she and I have had the smoothest nursing experience of the three. Not to get too graphic, but there has been zero damage to sensitive parts of my body and very minimal soreness as they get used to this feeding thing all over again. She's our first baby that has had good bilirubin levels so we didn't need lights and she didn't need to be poked a million days in a row to keep getting checked. She might hate me later in her life for sharing this but, she poops all.the.time (which probably contributed to her good bilirubin levels). And it seems like it's always during the night. Which is unfortunate because she sleeps so well during the night that I only have to feed her twice, but I'm still up what feels like a million times because I need to change her diaper. At least she stays sleepy for the most part during those changes. Her poor little cord had the nastiest smell. My boys' didn't have an odor that I remember but hers seriously smelled like death as it was drying up. Thankfully it fell off around day 9 and the smell eased up.

Dillon

Dillon actually got to take a some days off work with this baby and it made a world of difference. In the past, it just didn't work out that he was able to take days off aside from the actual delivery/hospital stay days. But this go around, he was with us almost a whole week and he took over the cleaning and cooking and was really just a star of a partner and it definitely saved my sanity. Plus the boys really loved having him home for that extra time. They love their dad.

DaNae

Even though delivery went pretty smoothly, I still was inevitably sore and was surprisingly stiff and sore in my lower back from the epidural. Zero regrets. It took a few days before I could maneuver without wide legs and shuffling steps. The after pains this time sucked hard and took about a week before tapering off and finally disappearing. But all in all, I felt pretty decent by the time Wren's actual due date rolled around. Still plenty of healing that needs to happen but my body is so miserable by the end of pregnancy that it's amazing how much better it feels just a week after delivery.

I've really been trying to soak up all of Wren's cuddling because I know that this newborn stage will just fly by so fast and she'll likely become a lot less snuggly because she would rather discover the world just like her big brothers did. I've also been trying to balance being there for Sawyer and Dawson. I feel bad when Sawyer will ask if I can have a sleepover with him or play a game with him and I have to tell him no in the moment because I need to nurse the baby. Slowly all those moments with him and Dawson will be worked back into a regular system. Mom guilt is hard and balancing kids needs is hard. I want them all to know that they matter to me.

New baby and mommy selfie. Both of us looking tired and puffy.

She's not super into the binky but we'll keep it around in case she changes her mind.

Just sweetly loving on his baby sister.

Having a turn.

Having a short awake moment.

So tiny in her car seat.

First (sponge) bath at home. She wasn't a big fan.

I always take a million pictures of my babies when they sleep. It never quite seems to capture the magical sweetness in the photo, but I'll still keep doing it.