Emma is finally here! She came a couple of weeks ago, but I'm just getting around to writing a post. We started at about 9:00am, and she was born at 3:23 in the afternoon. She weighed 7lbs 14oz and was 19.5 inches long. She came very calmly, and she remains a calm baby at this point. She is beautiful, and we are so happy that she is here. Her sisters absolutely adore her. When we walked in the house with her, they both instantly crowed around her and wanted to hold her. They have not stopped loving on her since then. Hannah rubs her hair and says, "she's too coot." Hannah also reassures me regularly that Emma loves Hannah. She is so cute. Hannah has surprised me with how loving she is towards Emma. She gives her kisses and hugs and is generally very gentle with her. She carries her babies around the house and names them Emma Bababef (Elizabeth). Laura is a big help. She fetches things for me all the time. Her favorite thing is of course to hold Emma. She always wants to hold her after I feed her.
Naturally, there have been some adjustments since Emma has come home. Hannah struggles at bedtime. She only wants to be with me. Matt has attempted to put her down a couple of nights and she sobs for so long. Or she puts her head on my knee while I feed Emma until I am done, and I put her to bed, which of course is later. Then she is tired in the morning. We will eventually get past this stage, but in the meantime, it is grueling. I ask her to go to her bedroom with Daddy, and she says, "I not. I not."
Since I nurse Emma, Laura and Hannah are now nursing their babydolls. Laura even used my nursing pillow one day with her doll and asked my sister if she had some milk to feed her baby too. She's so innocent and funny! Yesterday they grabbed my pump pieces and pretended to pump. Matt just loves it!!
Some other interesting conversations we have had recently...
Laura asked me about my earrings and then proceeded to tell me that she didn't want to have earrings because she didn't want to get her ears "chopped." I told her that it was kind of like getting a shot. Her eyes got big, and that sealed the deal. I'm pretty sure she won't get her ears pierced until she's a teenager at least!
Laura also doesn't let Matt fast forward during commercials. We DVR most shows, and we usually watch one thing in the evening, kid-friendly of course. Well Matt attempts to fast forward when we get to the commercials, but Laura yells, "stop Daddy!" She wants to watch all the commercials. It's hilarious since Matt despises commercials.
Hannah had her two-year doctor appointment right before Emma was born. She didn't have to get shots, but they did have to prick her heel for a hemoglobin test. She did really well, but she yelled out for a minute when they pricked her. Then she told us all week, "doctor gave me boo boo." She was very serious about it. Hannah has made great strides in the last few weeks developmentally. She is talking a ton now. She asks Matt to tickle them about every night. She will go put pillows on the floor and say, "tickle, tickle?" She adores Laura too. She hates it when Laura plays her Leapster. She wants Laura to play with her all the time. She will give Laura a hug and say, "I wuv you Rara." It's so sweet. Laura is fairly patient with her and generally likes to play with her.
We really haven't made any progress on the potty training, and I haven't worked on it seriously since Emma has been home. Hannah still goes inconsistently on the potty, but alas, I still have two kids in diapers.
We are, however, making progress on the pacifier. She only has one left, and she is not using it very often. She pretty much uses it at bedtime, but there have been several nights that she didn't even use it at bedtime. So I think we are moving in the right direction. On a related note, at Emma's first doctor appointment, the doctor asked if I had given her a pacifier yet. I responded no I hadn't and that I wasn't sure if I was going to give her one. He said that it was the lesser of two evils. He said, "You can't cut off her thumb, but you can throw the paci away." This is true, but I'm still not sure. I guess we'll see how fussy she gets.
We got Laura a bigger bike for Easter. She loves it! And she is doing really well on it. Hannah has taken over the trike, but she doesn't peddle yet. She sits back, and we have to push her. We also had a small egg hunt for the girls on Easter. I think Hannah enjoyed it more than Laura. Laura wanted there to be more eggs! We had a very relaxing Easter.
Laura is also doing really well assuming her seat in the back of the van! She can't buckle herself yet, so we have to go through the back to buckle her. But she loves being the big girl in the back. She asked me one day if Hannah will be in the back with her when she gets big.
