It Takes a Village

That saying, it takes a village to raise a child?  Oh yeah...  Since Evie's arrival, we have had in-person help from my parents, Seth's mom, my brother, and Seth's sister, not to mention phone calls to my aunts, cousin, grandmother, and especially my sister-in-law who has talked me back into sanity more times than I'd care to admit.  Evie is an absolute delight and she is a very good baby who rarely fusses, but care of a newborn, even an angel of a newborn, is difficult, taxing, and exhausting!

I'm doing my best to keep working on nursing Evie.  We got off to a bit of a tough start because of her sleepiness and her tiny mouth.  We've finally worked out a pretty good routine, thanks to many conversations with my sister-in-law who advised me to "just roll with it" and trust Evie that she will let me know when she's hungry.  Since embracing Dr. Aunt Aimee's philosophy, Seth, my brother (Uncle Ryan), Seth's mom (Grammy), and I all agree that Evie has grown.  I'm hoping to have this confirmed at her next pediatric appointment on Wednesday.

I've also had a setback in terms of my own healing, which I find extremely frustrating.  I would love to be able to scoop Evie up in my arms when she's in her bouncer, or roll over in the middle of the night and just pick her up, but I keep having to ask Seth to get her for me because I'm trying to give my wound a chance to heal.  My OB said it doesn't look like I have an infection, but I go back to her tomorrow and I'm afraid it looks like there hasn't been much improvement in the places I'm worried about along my incision site.  I just hate to be so dependent and I know it's causing Seth to get less sleep than he deserves.

But none of these difficulties make Evie any less of a joy.  She is truly a sweet baby who has already won our hearts with her smiles, her hiccups, her arm flails, her sweet face.  I think she looks quite a bit like Seth, though other people have said she looks like me.  Perhaps when I can make it up the stairs, I'll scan baby pictures of Seth and me and we'll have a poll.

Also, today is Father's Day, so here's a picture of Seth and Evie celebrating.  Seth is, in fact, awake.  He's looking down at her with love.