Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Coming Home

Our house is a whole new world after coming home from the hospital with Daniel than it was before we came. I think that I'm feeling it a whole bunch more this time because I am minus my mother this time. With each of my other children, my mama was there when I came home from the hospital, and maybe she buffered some of the hardships for me and my children. This time though, it's just my little family--my husband, me, and my three children. I have noticed that since we've been home, it seems like our life is all about relationships. I guess that I pictured that we would have to form a new relationship with the new baby, but at the same time, I am realizing how much it changes the relationships we have all formed.


I'm seeing that as Jackie and Ben form a relationship with the baby and as I take care of the baby, it also changes the relationship I have with them. They love the baby, but at the same time, it's hard for them because it's one more person to share my lap, and Daniel needs my lap more often than he doesn't. Daniel is a very happy baby, but he loves to be held all the time. I'm starting to get him to stay sleeping for short periods of time when I put him down, but there are more times than not that I can't. I am working to hold the other kids more when I don't have Daniel, and for Jackie, that is working out. My relationship with her has changed more though because I rely on her more. I know that she's only four, but being four, she can do so many things. She is so happy to go get me a diaper, and she's so happy to find the wipes. She's happy to go get Ben's hand and bring him back out of the bathroom while I'm feeding Daniel. She loves to help, and I find myself relying on her more and more to be helpful. I'm so grateful for her. Ben seems to be having the hardest time. He's much more clingy. Today, he needed to climb onto my lap and just watch TV, and then he really needed to be held while I was trying to pour him some milk for breakfast. He's having a hard time with Daniel, but Ben loves Daniel, and he is soft with him.


I love my little family, and I'm so grateful for the chance to have this peaceful spirit in my home. Here are a couple of pictures from when we came home from the hospital.




Getting ready to go home and waiting to be discharged.





Getting ready to come home from the hospital




On our way out of the hospital


Ben and Jackie building their relationships with baby Daniel, and how Daddy's relationships with all three of them are growing.

2 comments:

Melissa said...

What great pictures! You guys look great. :)

Robert said...

Doesn't she, though? :)