Hi friends! I wanted to say a proper hello and share some little life updates from the newborn bubble. 🙂 Rory will be one month old on Thursday and he is doing so well! He was born several weeks early so we have been extra focused on getting him back up above his birth weight, the biggest challenge of which has been keeping him awake long enough to nurse well or take a full bottle. This past week he started waking up much more and it has been so nice to see him awake and alert! He definitely has his days and nights backwards for the time being which means lots of cuddly contact naps during the day (my favorite!) and long nights for me and Will. But we both know how quickly this phase passes, and a whirlwind labor and delivery and Rory’s stay in the NICU have made us extra grateful that normal newborn exhaustion is our chief complaint at the moment!
Teddy, Peter, and Tucker are adjusting really well to the new addition! It’s definitely a different experience bringing a new baby home to kids who are 2.5, almost 4, and 5 vs. the last time we brought a new baby home to a 16-month-old and a not-quite-3-year-old. The latter felt more like juggling three babies, whereas this time Teddy and Peter at least have a much better understanding of what’s going on. Truthfully they are most interested in their baby brother as a (winning) stall tactic at bedtime, but it is refreshing to have kids old enough to help fetch a diaper or pacifier vs. still in diapers with pacifiers themselves!
Like so many families with little kids, we spent so much of this winter and my third trimester battling illness after illness, from run-of-the-mill colds to a seemingly never-ending flu quickly followed by a nasty stomach bug. Truly from November to February, I don’t think we went more than a few days with everyone in our house completely healthy, which was a huge concern of mine having a baby due in March who made an early arrival in February. By some miracle, we have all been healthy — and kept Rory healthy! — the last three weeks, and I’m eager to see more friends and get out and about more once Rory is closer to 6-8 weeks. I’m always pretty content to lay low around the house the first few weeks postpartum and that’s been even more necessary with a baby born prematurely, but I think it will be really nice that the 6-8 week mark will correspond with the start of spring and the desire to spend more time out of the house. We had unseasonably warm weather this past week and did lots of stroller walks around our neighborhood and it felt so good to be out in the sunshine!
I have purchased very few things for this fourth baby, but a few tried-and-true favorites continue to include this bouncer (a life-saver for a quick shower or to manage breakfast and the dinner hour with our older three), this infant bath seat, and these baby booties (which snap in place so they actually stay on for more than five seconds!). We are still using the previous version of this stroller that we’ve used with all four of our kids now and I continue to love it especially during the newborn phase with the bassinet attachment. I did buy Rory a few precious monogrammed pieces including this, this, and this as well as the cutest, tiniest, most perfect little swim trunks that I absolutely cannot wait to see him and his older brothers in on Nantucket this summer. 🙂 You can see more of my newborn essentials in this post if that’s of interest!
Thank you all for your kind emails and Instagram messages as I navigate these early days as a new mom of four! There is so much I want to do and share as spring and summer approach but I also really want to slow down and savor this little newborn bubble where life is simple and so, so sweet. Grateful for each of you reading and checking in! xx
