Tuesday

I don't know who was more excited: my sweet boys who had really missed their mom or me.  Admittedly, I'm not good at being separated from my favorite people for very long. We had used FaceTime the night before so they could see me and see Leah for the first time.  Morning rolled around and Luke in particular needed to see his mom.  Even another FaceTime call wasn't cutting it. Those boys of mine can hug like no one else, and I was antsy for some monster hugs.  I also just couldn't wait to introduce them to this baby sister we had talked so much about for months.

It was such a sweet reunion for all of us to be together. All FIVE of us. 

After some of those long-awaited hugs Luke asked, "Where's my baby sister?"  So we went over and looked at her.  He immediately climbed onto my bed where Leah was hanging out and gave her a kiss.  In the sweetest voice he said, "Hi baby sister.  I love you."

Melt my heart.  Just a few minutes later he moved over to the couch and held that baby sister for the first time.

 All of his sweetness was unprompted. 

 I just let him love on her how he wanted (within reason), and oh boy did he enjoy it.

 It hasn't really changed much since we brought Leah home either.  My Luke is just completely in love with Leah.  He especially loves it when her eyes are open so she can 'see' him.

Noah was happy to see me, reasonably happy to see Leah, but more excited that baby Leah had gifts for him and his brother.  So putting a new Lego set together was definitely a priority.

 Once restlessness started to settle in we hugged again and Nate took the boys down to the cafe for lunch and then back to Nana's for the afternoon.

Oh, I loved seeing them, but I was also excited for some alone time with my girl.  I knew that once we got home things would get busy quickly and these minutes that we had together, just her and me, were priceless and not to be taken for granted.

I couldn't get enough of just looking at her, snuggling with her, and she couldn't get enough of the eating thing.

 But that eating was being made just a little more difficult due to a slight tongue tie issue.  Nate had given me a blessing before my contractions got really bad the day before and mentioned that we would both have clarity when it came to making decisions about our baby.  After considering the information we had I had no hesitation about having this very minor procedure done.  After they brought her back to me she latched on much easier and ate like a champ instead of stopping a lot like she had.  Happy baby, happy mom!

Nate came back for the afternoon, but only stayed for a few hours.  It was obvious by then that the boys needed some normalcy so he got home in time to have dinner with them and do the bedtime routine.

 They happened to open the front door to collect a package and noticed a very large balloon tied down in our front yard.  Anonymous, but just so thoughtful.  I have the best friends in the world. 

After the boys were asleep and a little more FaceTime so Nate could check in on his girls, we tried to sleep. 

Even though Nate and I were together much less than we were with either of the boys' deliveries and hospital stays, our love and connection seemed stronger than ever.  We were both giving all of our energy and time to this family, him with the boys and me with this new baby girl.  It was just awesome.  I love being his partner and teammate.  

Wednesday would bring another visit from the boys, who would be bringing us home with them this time!