Counting our blessings

We survived our first week as a family of four at home relatively unscathed, with much thanks to all of our fabulous friends who brought us lunches, dinners, wine and lots of shiny, preoccupying toys for the big sister. And because Luke followed in Taylor’s jaundiced-footsteps, he had to be attached to a phototherapy-blanket for four days to de-yellow and get his bilirubin levels back down to par.

But thank goodness our boy is a chill little newborn, because he was totally fine just relaxing on his tanning-blankie while Chris and I chased the Princess around the house, playing defense as she would go in to smother her little brother with hugs and kisses. And when the sun came out and the weather permitted, we had her exhaust that pent-up three year old energy while running through the sprinkler.

And let me just take one moment to share a mom-triumph. This past Friday, on Luke’s third post-hospital trip to our pediatrician’s to get his poor little heel pricked to check his bilirubin levels, Chris couldn’t get away so I took my kids on our first official solo double-kid-duty outing. And I survived. Barely. Because right after Luke got stuck, bled and bandaged, the doctor left to get the results, and Taylor looked at me and said, Mama, I hafta go potty. And because we’re in big girl undies now, I cradled a semi-naked, crying Luke, grabbed T and ran to the nearest bathroom, all while chirping, Hold it in like a big girl, Honey. Hold. It. In. And once we got to an available bathroom, I secured a calmed-down Luke with my left arm against my left shoulder, picked up Taylor with my right arm and squatted down while hovering her over the toilet, only to have her kick her legs into my chest and remark about how there are trains on the walls and that there was orange soap in the dispenser. And after three minutes of her not-peeing, Luke trying to nurse my shoulder and my quads screaming in pain, I finally threw in the towel, helped her wash her hands and we all made our way back to our room. And although she didn’t do her business and we almost flooded the bathroom while washing up, I still chalked it up to a successful doctor’s visit. Because even though I sweated through my shirt, I didn’t have a mental breakdown. And if I handled that situation with such calm and finesse, then I’m gonna be totally fine managing two kiddos outside our house.

So the Famous Amys Traveling Band endured week one solo, and we were super happy to have Chris’s parents come into town the following weekend to visit and meet their second-ever grandbaby. And the extra help was much needed, as I was busy all day Saturday preparing for that night’s Easter Vigil and getting confirmed. That’s right, Bloggers. I’m officially a Catholic. Yay God! It was a gorgeous, emotional service, and a great culmination of the past seven months of my RCIA classes. And throughout the ceremony, I would look at Chris and Luke in the pew, and Taylor with her grandparents in the cry room, and I kept thanking God for all of my blessings. Going through this process has helped me reexamine myself as a whole, and when you look at yourself in all your roles as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, you can’t help but feel an unconditional love for your entire support system. I am very lucky to have such wonderful people surrounding me, and I am ever grateful to God for putting them in my life.

And because we spent Saturday night giving our Easter-thanks to God, Sunday morning was filled with lots of chocolate bunnies, jelly beans and other treats from the Easter Bunny. It’s safe to say that by the time we busted out the bubble gun, Princess Taylor had enough sugar-fueled energy to run hot laps around the cul de sac.

We also treated Chris’s parents to a fabulous brunch at the Club. It was gluttony at its finest. Also served with mimosas. Oh, Champagne. I missed you.

And since we were all stuffed and fancified, we had to get some pictures.

Our first family-of-four photo:

Three generations of Amys men:

The proud grandparents:

Lots and lots of smiles at our house this past week. Some generated from massive amounts of candy, some a result from meeting the newest member of our family, some from completing a spiritual journey, and some from acknowledging how terrific we are all doing with our latest transition. Life is good. Life is really, really good.