Newborn at home

On Sunday morning, Brian got Samantha and Spencer ready and took them to church (on time, amazingly!) I settled in with Natalie beside me in bed, and started thinking how special it is to have a newborn in our home. She just brings a sweet softness that somehow fills me with more patience, more love, more appreciation. I love it. I feel like I'm more calm and relaxed with Sam and Spence, and I just feel so grateful for the little (and big) things people are doing for me and for our family.

I laid in bed Sunday morning, just watching Natalie sleep beside me for the longest time, just reflecting on the change in our home, in our life, and mainly in me. I almost got up and blogged about it, but then decided to sleep instead.

Fast forward an hour or so... Brian brought the kids home from church and started getting them lunch. I woke up to the sounds of a full-on Samantha Tantrum, with blood-curdling screams, loud shouts of "NO! NO! NO!" and what could only be feet kicking the hard-wood kitchen floor. I just listened from my room, while poor Brian struggled to maintain control for several minutes. The innocent-looking culprit..

It sounded like the Tantrummer was put in time-out in the laundry room, and another screaming/crying fit immediately broke out from Spencer. It was milder, but still intense. Things calmed down for a minute, then I could hear Samantha again, then Spencer. Poor Brian. He later told me it was almost like WWIII was breaking out over what they were going to have for lunch. That's worth a battle, right??

I listened to the ruckus, then rolled over and looked at our peaceful little sleepy newborn next to me. Sweet little innocent baby girl... doesn't even hear the chaos, has no idea what's going on around here...

Life is definitely changing around here. Some of it positive, some of it we'll have to learn to deal with a little better, I guess. Everyone keeps asking how the Sammie and Spencer like the baby. Well, despite their increase in tantrums and whining, they really, really like Natalie, and have been very sweet with her. Spencer loves bringing me my water jug when I'm ready to feed Natalie. He also wants to hold her "by myself" -- which lasts about 3 seconds, just long enough to snap a fun picture like this...

Here he is, showing her his helicopter...

Sammie is such a sweet helper girl. When she holds Natalie, she really IS quite helpful. She loves to get things for me... a blanket, a diaper, the binky, etc. And she loves giving Natalie the softest little kisses on her cheeks and hands and head. It's so cute to watch her be the "little mommy."

And yet, there also seems to be some upheaval for both our older kids. They sense some of this "change" I've been speaking of, and they're not sure what to do with it. So, the littlest things become a battle -- even worse than before (which I thought was pretty bad, when I was 9 mos preggo). But I'm reassured by friends and family all the time, that it's just a phase and we'll just have to wait it out while trying to find new ways to maintain some structure around here. Right?? I'm sure that's all true... patience. patience.

Well, so, back to Sunday... Poor Brian got the worst of it from the "unsettled older siblings," while I laid there in the other room, just basking in the Newborn Bliss for awhile. But he eventually got his spell, too, thank goodness...