Williamson: Party of FOUR

 Life at home has been great-- better than we ever could have hoped. It is much easier this time than last.  Part of that is being in the new house, there is room to spread out and have some quiet time.  A HUGE part of that is having Grandma Carol here with us!  She makes life ohhhhh so good. 

Cal visiting the hospital-- he started warming up to me!

 The day we headed home! Cal came in wearing his BIG brother shirt and was ready to get us out of there!  The day before, he came to visit and he took my hand when they were leaving.  When I couldn't leave the hallway with him, he dropped to the ground crying and said: "no, momma! come, momma!" and I about lost it....well, actually, I did lose it. I started crying immediately. ha!

 This time, he grabbed my hand and led me around the hallway and he had the tightest grip ever on my hand. I was fighting back tears-- he was just so sweet....

 Love the way he's looking at me here, like, are you really coming this time???

 We came home from the hospital on Friday afternoon.  By the time we got home, my medicine had worn off, we hadn't filled the prescription yet, and my milk was coming in in full force (for those of you who do not nurse, or have yet to attempt nursing, this can be VERY painful...).  Cal was screaming in the car, just because he can, but Andy was sound asleep-- he might be a good road tripper!

We got home around 4:00 and I had a bit of a melt down.  I was hurting all over and I think I was just a bit overwhelmed by it all.  Eddie left with Cal to get my meds (thank you!!!), and I sat down to get it together.  Andy started screaming at 5:00 and could not be calmed...for two hours.  Literally for two hours, he screamed and cried.  All three of us passed him around trying to calm him down, and he wouldn't stop crying.  I tried nursing him, but he didn't want that-- and, let me tell you what a screaming baby does to your milk supply... I thought my chest was going to pop.  I tried pumping, but was having issues with the suction cups (I won't go into detail here, but suffice it to say that Eddie had to go out to babies r us on Saturday morning to get bigger suction cups....), and ended up tearing and having some bleeding...


Finally at 7:00, Andy calmed down and passed out.  We have NO idea what upset him so much-- he has not cried like that since! I think it might have been my milk coming in and it just upset his tummy a little bit since he was used to the colostrum.

My mom got a little "baby" for Cal and he LOVES him!  He will grab a bottle and shove it in the baby's mouth and when I am holding Andy, Cal will go get his baby too-- it is adorable.  

 

I decided to sleep in the guest room downstairs with my mom and Andy so if he did scream like that again, he wouldn't wake up Cal.  We pulled the bassinet next to the bed and were ready for the night!


Andy likes to be held!  He will fall sound asleep in my arms while I am nursing and then I will try to put him down and he will wake up instantly.  I ended up holding him for most of the night, and he slept great.  The crazy thing is, in the morning, I could feed him and put him in the bassinet and he would crash instantly and sleep for 3 hours!  But he won't do it at night!


I found it easier to move to the couch, so I set up shop in the family room, with Andy sleeping pretty much on my chest.  That's where we are now, but I think I am going to move us to my bedroom upstairs tomorrow.  I am going to focus tonight on getting him in his bassinet.  Last night was our nest night yet-- he would wake up, eat on one side, fall back asleep for 3 or 4 hours and then wake up and eat on the other side-- pretty amazing for a newborn!


Cal is handling this whole thing MUCH better than anyone expected.  I think he's in heaven having his grandma here-- she has a hard time saying no to him (and he knows it!).  It's been hard on me because I am used to crawling around on the floor with him and having him crawl all over me, and we can't do that.  It makes me sad, but I know that this is so short-lived and I will be back to rolling on the ground in no time. 

Eddie has been super dad when it comes to playing with Cal.  They are doing everything together and I am really impressed with how much Eddie has stepped it up-- I knew he would, he's a great dad!  But I know of a lot of dad's whose worlds get rocked when the second baby arrives, and I am very thankful that Eddie has been such a great help. 

Saturday morning, Eddie and Cal went downtown to have breakfast together and then they decided to wash the cars.  I went outside to see this:

 Cal thought the hose was about the greatest thing ever!  He soon dumped out Eddie's bucket and thought he should do a belly flop in the middle of the suds!  He was SOOOO happy!  I came out and took a ton of pictures and videos.  This was the afternoon that Cal took a nap that was over 4 hours long!  He was worn out from so much fun with his daddah!

 Our sweet neighbors saw the episode above and offered a mini pool that they had for their grandchildren who never use it.  They brought it over to the backyard and Cal (and Hank!) had the best time splashing and playing in the cold water. 

 And, here is the sweet little Andy.  I love his little fingers holding my dad's pinky.  He is a really good baby so far.  He loves to sleep (especially when he's being held!) and loves to snuggle. 

 I love this one of him... very alert...very snuggly!