So, how are things?

Things are good.  Thanks for asking.

The transition to three has been pretty good so far.  We are, I believe, still in the honeymoon phase of it all.  Madeline sleeps all the time.  Today, she was awake for about 2-3 hours. total.  Not consecutively. Her naps come in 4-6 hour chunks most of the time.

We're not quite yet at the 2-week mark though.  I believe somewhere between 2-4 weeks, they're supposed to start waking up more.

But, for now, it has made things pretty manageable.

Abby is still head over heels in love with her new baby.  She dotes on her every chance she gets.  She talks to her in a baby voice and calls her "Miss Madeline" and "Little Chicka" amongst other nicknames.  She strokes her head, tickles her feet, and smothers her with kisses.

Elizabeth has been more reserved.  She acknowledges Madeline, but doesn't go out of her way to dote on her like Abby does. Elizabeth well give us the play by play "Oh.  She crying" or "She hungry"  Every time Madeline sneezes, Elizabeth enthusiastically says "Oh! Bless you Again!"  Don't get me wrong - Elizabeth hasn't shown any animosity towards Madeline yet.  There has been no hitting, etc.  But, Elizabeth is just not as sure about this whole thing yet.

Having said that - tonight, she was really excited to see that madeline was awake.  She and Abby both sat down with her and stared at her.  We compared their feet to her tiny feet, and they enjoyed that.  Elizabeth comments that she is "so tiny" and "so coot"

As I mentioned - Madeline sleeps most of the time, which means she's not crying much.  She cries, y'know, when she needs something.  Typically when she's hungry - or tired.  That's about all she needs.

Today, we gave her a "real" bath.  Her belly button stump finally fell off, so we put her in the tub with the girls this morning.  Abby thought it was great.  E kinda just stared at her.  Madeline liked the tub bath leaps and bounds more than the sponge bath she got last week.

What else?

Nursing is still up and down.  Because she sleeps so much, I'm pumping more often just to keep my supply up.  This is good because it's giving me a chance to heal my battle wounds, too.  Madeline is not a good latcher.  I'm going to blame our nursing difficulties on her since she's too young to say otherwise.  Although, I'm sure I'm not doing everything right either.  We're working through it - and I think things are getting better...but it's not easy yet.  Far from easy.

How am I doing you ask?  I'm doing pretty well.  This recovery has been the easiest so far.  Kyle has done a nice job taking care of me and helping me with the girls quite a bit.  He's going to be gone for a week soon - and that will probably be the real test.  My hormones seem to be mostly in check.  I haven't had any melt-downs or overly emotional outbursts yet.  I don't feel baby blue, I feel happy.  I feel, knock on wood, calm.

So far, the transition to three hasn't been as chaotic as I'd imagined.  But, I'm not so naive to think that it will stay this way.  On the contrary, I'm trying to soak up these sleepy days and store them in my memory to pull out on the days where I want to pull my hair out.

So.  Things are good.  We're happy.  And it already seems like little MJ has been here forever...she was totally meant to be here.  It just feels right.