Wednesday, June 4, 2014

New Baby & Sibling Bags

Last Tuesday, May 27th, my youngest daughter was born.  We named her Margaret Noelle, but we all call her Maggie.  She was just over 9 pounds.  Both her and I are doing very well.  Spending a lot of time together (I am typing this with one hand, because I'm holding her with my left hand) and I am loving every second of it.  My husband has been able to take 2 weeks off of work to be home with all of us, which has been such a blessing.  

Garrett is a very hands-on Dad.  He is not one to stand back on the sidelines and watch my do everything.  I'm very fortunate that he is this way, as I know that isn't the case for everyone.  It's been so nice at night, nursing.  Garrett will wake up with me and grab me a fresh glass of ice water, change a diaper, take Maggie downstairs after I feed her so I can get a little bit of sleep.  It's been incredibly helpful.  Not to mention, he's been entertaining the older ones nonstop.  Next Monday will be my first day home alone with all 3 of them, so that should be very frightening interesting!

One of my biggest fears while preparing for a new baby was how I was going to make it special for my older two children.  Even while I was laboring, I was thinking about them nonstop.  With every painful contraction, their smiling faces appeared in my mind to help me get through it.  Even while pushing, I kept thinking how I needed to do this as fast as possible so that they could come to the hospital and meet their sister and see how much I loved all 3 of them.

One of the things I did for them was make them a special gift bag to receive once they got to the hospital.
There was a bag for each of them.  I took a photo of the contents of Eva's bag, which were virtually identical minus Abe's having Ninja Turtles and Car-Themed items as opposed to Hello Kitty and Disney Princess stuff.

1- Mini Dry-Erase Board 
2- Sticker, Crayon and Activity Book
3- Drawing Paper
4- Markers
5- T-Shirt that says "Big Sister" & "Big Brother" : I used iron-on's found at Hobby Lobby
6- Tin with some snacks and money for vending machines

The bags weren't anything too fancy, but the kids loved them and wore their shirts to the hospital the next day.  They have also been so great with Maggie.

I wasn't sure how Abram would do, not being quite 2 years old yet, and used to being the "baby."  But, he will ask to hold her and goes out of his way to check on her when she is crying and gives her lots of kisses.  Eva is just a natural, wanting to hold her and will pick her up out of her bassinet on her own. She's been a big help to me when I've needed an extra set of hands so I could go to the bathroom or something else.

Overall, Maggie's first week of life has been pretty easy and I'm very happy about it.  If you remember from my post SOMETHING ABOUT GIANT BEASTS, I had a condition called polyhydramnios during this pregnancy.  I was HUGE HUGE HUGE: full of so much fluid.  It was exhausting, and I was never comfortable.  Since the Maggie's birth I've felt so much better.  Here's a picture comparison of me 1 week postpartum and the picture I used in the aforementioned blog post:

I haven't stepped on a scale (we don't own one, thankfully.)  But, as you can see- there is probably a 30-40 pound difference just from all of that fluid loss.  Heck yes.  (Also, sorry about the messy laundry room in the  back of the current photo.)

Now that you know what I've been up to, I'd love to hear how you all are doing!

10 comments:

  1. That's amazing how the body just shrinks down after that! I bet you are feeling so much better. And I love the gifts you gave to the kids.. And that Eva is old enough to be helpful to you, that's wonderful! I'm just so happy for all of you I could cry! (extra emotional today!)

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    1. I don't know if Id say "shrink"-- definitely got the jelly belly going on haha Cannot wait until my 6 week check up so I can start T25! I'm glad you like the gift for the older kids- it was really important to me that they feel included.

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  2. Congrats on your new girl! What darling pictures!!!
    You're very blessed, my friend. :)

    You'll figure it out. What I hear from parents who have large families is that, once they adjust to #3, it doesn't really get any harder after that. At least you got to space yours. My #3 was #2 & 3... my twins were born when my daughter was 2 1/2.

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    1. Thank you :) I feel blessed! I do also have to say: anyone with twins is my hero. THAT IS NO EASY TASK. 2 newborns?! AT ONCE. You must have super powers!

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  3. Congratulations! I had a feeling that's why you had proofed away!

    You look great though! You look happy and healthy and like you're not in pain. When you were pregnant, it looked quite painful, to be honest. I'm just so happy for you all!

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    1. It was very very painful when I was pregnant. I feel like 500milliontrilliontimes better now!

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  4. CONGRATULATIONS!!!! So happy and excited for your family! Those gift bags for the kids are genius--what a great way to make them feel like a part of it all.

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  5. Congratulations on the birth of your daughter and for you puling thru with flying colors!

    Father Nature's Corner

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Love to read what you have to say! Keep the comments coming!