Her big sisters are completely in love with her. And we have settled nicely into a family of five. Bryon is coming to terms with having 3 daughters, all with a little flair of the dramatic side.
During my pregnancy I thought I had faced all my fear that we would have another child with major medical problems like Abby. Yet as soon as Claire was here I found my first question, after being sure she really was a girl, to be is her breathing ok? What does her chest look like? Are we sure the rattly breathing is normal newborn breathing? I found myself back in the spot of just waiting for something bad to happen. Then Miss Claire wanted to prove her lungs were functioning with no problem and she screamed the second night in the hospital from 9pm-3am. And while I was so very happy that obviously her lungs were properly functioning (not sure the rest of the hospital was thrilled about the noise) I was nervous that I wasn't going to have a nice calm happy baby like Claire and I talked about for nine months. I thought maybe she was punishing me for calling her a gremlin that whole time. But I'm happy to report that since coming home she is a pretty laid back baby, I mean she puts up with Abby constantly kissing her and hugging her. And she sleeps through all the screaming and running around her. All in all Claire is the piece to the puzzle our family has been missing.
Sisterly Love!!!
So we are finally a happy family of five. And at night when I have spent 6 hours trying to negotiate with Claire that her crib is a comfortable place to sleep at night, or telling myself I need to enjoy the chaos of 3 girls being home with me on snow days, I try to remind myself that not everyone is lucky enough to have 3 gorgeous healthy children at their house. Some people don't get to bring their babies home from the hospital. Others have their sweet children stuck in the hospital going through chemo treatments while the rest of the family is at home. I feel like in the past year there has been so much heartbreak among my friends from childhood cancer to stillborn births. And even though I know we exhausted moms have the right to feel frustrated as we deal with our everyday chaos, I am trying to take the time to tell myself not everyone is getting to experience this. Some have to deal with issues on a much bigger scale. When I am up feeding Claire at 2am, I try to remind myself that when Abs was 4 weeks old she was in the hospital hooked up 12 different pumps of medicines and a ventilator keep her alive. So having all my kiddos at home and not sleeping is easier to handle. I'm truly trying to enjoy even the frustrating parts of having 3 crazy kids and sleep exhaustion because this is probably my last time getting to experience this stage of life.
So I guess I will stop ignoring my children while I write this and go make lunch and hope for some quiet time this afternoon.
Not impressed with winter so far,
