Update

I want to blog about these early days.  These adjusting days.  These, welcome to our family, Evie, days.  But, there is a long list of things that need to be done each day, and I am somewhat baffled by how to get those things done, so the blog falls waaaay to the bottom of the list.

In one breath I could say that things are going surprisingly well, and I could also say that having three children is kicking my tail.  It just depends on the exact minute in the day which one I would claim.

Right now, Ada and John are watching a cartoon, which is fine because they have played all afternoon in their bedroom.  And Evie is snoozing in her room.  And Scott is even here working from home this week.  Dinner is in the crockpot.  We actually got phonics and math done today.  I even cleaned the bathroom (it was high time), and the laundry is caught up.  Well, there are a few piles that need to be put away, but it's in good shape for the most part.

But earlier?  Earlier, Evie was screaming, and I had already fed her, so I didn't even really know what she needed.  Ada and John both needed lunch, and we had not even begun to think about starting the school day even though it was noon.  The shower had been sprayed with cleaner, and then sat there soaking in the cleaner for over an hour because I couldn't get back to it.  The laundry was piled on the dining room table, and at one point I had tears rolling down my face as I stirred the oh-so-healthy lunch of boxed mac and cheese.  In that moment, I couldn't figure out how to even find the time to breathe with three kids much less do anything else on my list. 

In other words, it's just one step at a time.  And we are making it.  Sort of.

Let me do a quick summary of the past three weeks.  She's three weeks today!!

The day I got home from the hospital, I started getting sick.  I ended up with a bad case of bronchitis?  something in my lungs/deep cough/sore throat/completely lost my voice/ basically did not feel well, and that was completely separate from the recovering from the C-section, dealing with normal post-partum healing. 

My mom was here through Thanksgiving, and then because I was sick and Scott was working long hours at work, I went back to Alabama with her to get one more week done before I had to be on my own with all three.  During those weeks with my mom, Evie was basically unhappy unless nursing.  When I say she was nursing all the time, she was nursing ALL THE TIME.  If she was awake, she was nursing.  I was her pacifier, basically.  So, this past Friday at her two week doctor's appointment (she was older than two weeks), I said, "what do I do?!!!"  And he encouraged me to keep trying the pacie, let her "cry-it-out" for just about 3 minutes at a time, and try to stretch her feedings to every two hours.  And we have done it!!!  I am sure some of it is that she is now three weeks old, and the pacifier is easier for her, but we have managed to get her on a sort of schedule, and I am so relieved.  There was no way I could nurse her that much without my mom here, so I am so thankful that the nursing issue is resolved. 

Now that she will take a pacifier and is on a much more normal eating schedule, I might say that Evie is my easiest baby of all three of my children.  Once we got her eating schedule worked out, she immediately began sleeping longer stretches at night--five hours the past two nights!!!  She still fights sleep during the day, and usually doesn't settle into a good, long nap until the afternoon, but she really is an easy, predictable baby to be only three weeks old.  And, I should add that today she has nursed every hour and half, but I am okay with that compared to the every ten or fifteen minutes we were doing.  I'm not kidding.

Ada and John are adjusting so well.  I mean, there have been the normal behavior issues that come with life being disrupted, but I really thought John was going to have a strong reaction to Evie entering the family.  He's barely even noticed.  In fact, towards the end of the pregnancy, he became so clingy, and now that Evie is here, he is back to his normal self!!  Praise the Lord.

So, all in all, I would say that things are going as well as can be expected.  Or maybe even surprisingly well.  My emotions seem to be "in check" for the most part.  I don't feel too terribly exhausted thanks to the past two nights.  And life is continuing on, though at a slower pace than normal. 

I have lots of pictures, of course, but it was nearly impossible to get these words typed.  I don't think I can take the time right now to download pictures.  That will have to happen on another day.

Bottom line, we are so thankful for Evie, and I keep trusting that over time, we will figure this thing out.  God is gracious to meet me in my needs for this day!!