The First Few Days...

Its Sunday night and Ken is snuggling Xander and Ariel is fast to sleep in her bed. We have survived almost 48 hours of being a family of four. Its been challenging and strange to find a new way of doing things, but I must say over all its been pretty positive, so yay!

Saturday morning Stella and Jack dropped Ariel off. She was a tad whiny and clingy, which was no big surprise, as she had been away from us for 3 days and was getting full attention elsewhere. She wasn't too keen on seeing Xander at first, until I decided that the best way to get him on her good side was to involve her as much as possible. When I asked if she wanted to hold him, she got excited and was really taken with him.


When Xander's nursing time came near, I pumped milk and got Ariel to feed him with a bottle. Well that was HUGE for her. She was so proud and Xander didn't disappoint her and slurped up the whole bottle.


Then came diaper duty! This is by far one of Ariel's favorite things... yeah, I don't get it either, but she loves it. The idea that he poops a lot seems to crack her up. She is very intrigued with his cord stump... no questions yet about the 'extra equipment' he has, haha.


My favorite by far was when Ken read the kids a book. His lap is full of love, and I was pretty much in love with the sight... sigh.


I am still no where near where I hoped to be at this point. I still am in pretty nasty pain, and walking and getting up is proving to be difficult and frustrating. Now with my milk fully in now, it adds the extra discomfort. Someone asked me what it feels like where the incision is, and the best way I can describe what I am experiencing is that the skin feels like it has nasty sunburn. Ouch.

Our transition home with a newborn has been really smooth, I guess it just comes back to you. As for Xander, he has taken to being our son well, haha. He is a really good baby, nurses well, starting to sleep in longer stretches (we got a 4 hour block last night, woot!) and is having more wake and alert time. We love his big eyes taking us in and his little looks that remind us so much of Ariel at this age.


Speaking of which, here is a good look at our babies side by side. Ariel on the left, Xander on the right. Both pictures had been taken in the first 24 hours at the hospital, the only difference, Ariel is 42 weeks and Xander is 39 weeks. Naw, I don't think they are related, haha. The little differences I have noticed, Ariel has Ken's chin while Xander has mine and he has Ken's ears while Ariel has mine. The big question that remains for me is if Xander will go blond like Ariel did. I was a dark haired baby and was blond by a year like Ariel was. I guess time will tell, but I must say I love his dark locks. Hee.


This morning I made the decision that I wanted to go to church. Being stuck inside has been very frustrating and I was eager to get out and see people. I figured I wouldn't be walking far and sitting most of the time, so we ventured out and were the big celebrities of the day. Ariel was proud to show off her brother and kept telling people she was the big sister. We got our rose presented to us, and Xander met the other family in our lives, an important one in his future as well in his spiritual walk. During the sermon I started feeling sore and realized I had forgotten my pills at home, oops. Sooo I paid the price and ended up sleeping for 2 hours in the afternoon till I could get the pain under control.


Ken picked up some dinner while he and Ariel were out for a walk, so that was nice. Then after dinner we got a call from Dad who had a fresh blackberry pie that needed eating. Um, yeah we don't turn down dessert, haha. So Dad, Rita and Katie came over for pie and a visit.

Shared with them some funny Ariel moments this weekend, one of our favs was her making up a line in the 'skip to my loo' song on her Raffi cd. While having a muffin snack, she just randomly started singing:

I've got a muffin how about you?
I've got a muffin how about you?
I've got a muffin how about you?
Skip to my loo my darling!

While chatting with Grammy on Skype, Ariel pretended she was taking pictures with her camera. When someone said, oh good job Ariel, she replied 'It was nothing.' Haha, such a personality, and goofball. I wonder what kind of personality Xander will have? I guess time will tell. Well its bedtime for me, Ken and X-man. The public health nurse stops by tomorrow so we should see what Xander weighs, and if he has gained since his loss at the hospital. Dianne and Hana also drop by tomorrow to return the things they borrowed and to say goodbye as they fly home. I leave you all with my new favorite picture... my kids! Hee.