3 weeks

Hard to believe its already been 3 weeks since Avery was born! On one hand it feels like just yesterday she was born, and on the other hand it seems like she's been with us forever.

I think its obvious that i've been too busy to update the blog as frequently as I used to. I imagine after this newborn stage passes that that might change a little, but I wont make any promises. ;)

Things have been busy around here with a newborn and a busy toddler. Jadon is getting more comfortable around Avery, he gives her kisses alot. But at the same time, he can get a little aggressive with her, and I think that stems from frustration over me holding her all the time. Miss Avery likes to eat and sleep, and when she's not doing that she is usually crying (loudly!!) From about 5pm until about 10:30pm she eats almost constantly (cluster feeds), so I am pretty much confined to the rocker all evening long. She sleeps pretty well at night...knock on wood.

Shes also creating a lot of laundry for me. She only poops about 1-3 times a day, and so when she does go, she makes quite a mess all over her clothes. She has already stained almost all of her newborn clothing already.

I do miss Jadon alot since I dont get to "see" him as much as I used to. So doing the things that we used to do together are really special now when i'm able to do them... like reading before bed, and cuddling in the morning. On monday, my wonderful husband made Jadon and I get out of the house together while he stayed home with the baby. So, Jadon and I did some shopping at the mall, and then went to the library for awhile. It was good for both of us to get out of the house together. The first 2 weeks after Avery was born, I felt so horribly guilty that pretty much everything in Jadon's world had changed so quickly. There were several early mornings when i'd be up nursing Avery and Jadon would wake up and come to our bedroom, and Derek would take him back to his bed crying because he wanted to be in mommy's bed too. I'm sure he doesnt understand why he is the only one in the house who is not aloud to be in our bedroom at night. Anyways, there were several of those mornings where i'd just be sobbing in bed while I nursed Avery because I felt so guilty and I missed cuddling with him in the mornings so bad.

Derek has been amazing these last 3 weeks. I dont know what I would have done without him. He had to go back to work on thursday, and I was really worried how things would go with me alone with the two kids, but things have actually gone pretty smoothly so far. I've managed to get both the kids down for naps at the same time so I have some free time in the afternoon.

Thats pretty much how things have been for us in the last week... just getting to know Avery and her temperment, learning how to handle 2 kids instead of one, and helping Jadon adjust to the changes as painlessly as possible.

Overall, I feel pretty darn lucky and blessed though. I have a wonderful husband who is also a wonderful father, and two beautiful children. Its weird to think that last year at this time I was about to have my 4th miscarriage (november 1st.) I remember wondering if we'd ever have another baby, and I even started imaging that we might only have one child. Now, here we are a year later and we have a beautiful, 3 week old baby girl. Never in a million years did I imagine that this is where we'd be a year later. I am blessed!

Well its taken me 3 weeks to complete this 3 minutes slideshow, but hope you enjoy it!