Back at the Ranch

I'll take a little break from re-living our incredible Journey to Lulu in order to give an update about life at home as a family of six.

We've been home one week now. As far as I can tell, Luci May is adjusting well. She is full of smiles, like this one...
She is very generous with her smiles for just about anyone. The first day we got back my sister said, "Look at how she is looking at you. It's like she knows you are her Mama." Then she said, "Oh wait, she just looked at me that way too." We love this about her, but think it might make it a little harder to figure out if she is bonding to us as her parents.

The older kids are smitten with her as well. They haven't dealt with any jealousy yet. It's like they recognize that Her Loveliness is worthy of our adoration as well as theirs. I was concerned about Jack being "dethroned" as the youngest not just in our family, but in our extended family as well. If you have read this blog much, you have probably picked up on the fact that our little guy enjoys the spotlight that has firmly been his for almost 7 years. But my fears were allayed the other night. As he was going to bed I was asking him how he felt about his baby sister. He said, "Mom, I think she is even cuter than me!" It's like, for Luci, he is voluntarily abdicating his throne to the baby sister.
Emmie has let her maternal instincts kick in. She loves preparing the bottles, carrying the diaper bag, and (best of all) picking out Lulu's outfits each day. She is loving finally having a sister.
It is hard for the kids that, for the sake of attachment, Bill and I need to be the only ones to feed her and console her. But they are enjoying their roles of entertaining her and making her laugh.
Each of the kids have been helpful. Many times I day I can be heard asking one of them to get me a diaper or a burp cloth or a paci. And they have been very willing so far. I anticipate that part could change as the novelty wears off. But I am very appreciative of extra hands around the house. They are all so loving with her. She just fits with us. See how well she fits into Saturday morning TV time?
We are really pleased with their adjustment to this big change in our lives so far. And it really is a big change to have a baby in the house again after 6 years. In many ways I totally feel like a rookie mom. For example, I went to Wal-mart the other day without a diaper bag. I was only picking up a few things or so I thought. We had a delightful time together until I got to the checkout line. She started to fuss. I can tend to fuss in the Walmart lines as well. This was when I realized that a pacifier would have really come in handy at a time like that. I then proceeded to put the cart in the corral, put the baby in the car, leave my purse in the cart and drive away. A fact I didn't realize until I got home. There's just so much to remember now! At least I didn't leave the baby in the cart, right? The good news is that my purse was safely recovered with my whopping $5 still securely in my wallet.

Another change is letting go of the formerly long, quiet nights of sleep we used to have. She really isn't doing too bad since she adjusted to the time change. The other night we put her down at 9:30pm. At 5:26am I awoke to her fussing a bit and Bill giving her the pacifier and trying to soothe her. I kind of reprimanded him saying, "Bill she hasn't eaten since 9pm, she needs a bottle." To which he informed me, "Miss, I was up with her at 2:30am giving her a bottle." Oops, thanks honey. He's really good at the night shift. Tate took a "day shift" during nap time...
And finally, you may be wondering how we are doing with her hair. She has great hair and I'd rather not be the one to mess that up. But there's a pretty big learning curve here. I felt a little silly buying "Pantene for Women of Color" for a 6 month old, but I haven't really had time yet to scour the blogs for the best product. I'm open to your suggestions. I walked in on Bill the other day brushing her hair with a barbie brush. I doubt I will find that suggestion in any blogs. In his defense, it doesn't really look like a barbie brush and happened to be by some other baby items. It actually worked pretty well though. Maybe we will start a new trend. Here she is demonstrating the versatility of this item: barbie brush, baby styling tool, and teething toy...
There is one "family member" who is not adjusting quite as well as the rest of us. She is fine, but feeling a bit insecure. Look at the look in Ruby's eyes...
Poor, pathetic Hairy Beast. Even though a baby has turned our hearts inside out and our lives upside down, we do still love you.