I am a survivor

No, I am not a breast cancer survivor, and frankly I don't ever hope to be, but I have survived having a second child. The last 6 weeks have passed in a blur. Who thought having a second could be so much more difficult that having one? Not me, but fortunately we had wonderful help along the way with Mikes mother and my sister Angela coming out for a week each to help.

It seemed each week since Aubrey's birth has brought new changes and adjustments:

Week 1- a second child is born and Mike starts a new semester
Week 2- Mike gets a new job
Week 3- Mike gets called as executive secretary
Week 5 - Natalie gets calling and visiting teaching assignments (5 months after we moved into the ward...)

"Normal" is something we have lost touch of, assuming we ever new what it was... However, 6 weeks and 3 bouts of illness later, I feel a little normal. Not the showered, put together normal, but the not exhausted-wanting-to-crawl-into-a-hole normal. We have gotten out a bit here and there, such as the zoo (where some one stole my hooter hider- who would steal a hooter hider?). And today we are doing a play date. It is nice to be reminded that there are other people on this planet, and there is other scenery besides our boring white walls.

The cool part of the last 6 weeks is how much more I appreciate Mike as a father and husband, and how fun it is to have another person to love (Aubrey, of course). Unlike Elena, who I felt that deep motherly love after a few months, I could feel that same love for Aubrey instantly, because I already new what it was, I guess. Aubrey has a calmness to her that I need myself. Elena is definitely my personality (emotional, high strung), but I think Aubrey is more like Mike (chill). For the first few weeks it was feed her-set her down to sleep-feed her-set her down to sleep. Frankly, Elena still got tons of attention. Aubrey has started wanting to be held, which is a nice change. Holding a newborn is better than therapy, and dare I say a back rub.

Here are some things I love about Aubrey:
She gulps when she eats- you can hear her across the room. We dont burp her, we belch her.
She learned to nurse unlike Elena. There is something so sweet and cute about a nursing baby.
She has a major double chin. When she relaxes her jaw it is all wrinkles from collar bone to her mouth.
She has a huge cow lick on the right side of her fore head.
Her cry, which a stranger described as husky, is not that painful to listen to and she rarely uses it for reasons other than hunger.

Elena-ism's

I must admit, having an angelic second child has made it harder for me not to have favorites. I adore Elena, but when she is throwing a tantrum because we wont give her a tenth popsicle of the day and Aubrey peacefully sleeps... you get the picture. As I have been trying to be patient with her, today I was blessed with more reasons why I really do adore Elena.

1- When Elena "reads" to herself she begins by saying "and it came to pass..." Not only is this hilarious, but she really does hear us during scripture study!

2- Lately she has been saying "snake- kill me." A little weird, and scary but then she goes on to describe the huge anaconda we see at the Zoo frequently. We try to remind her that there is glass between her and the snake to she is safe.

3-She screams into her microphone "in excelsis deo"

4-She helped me with dishes today. I washed the bottles, she rinsed and racked them, and did a very respectable job. We only had one big spill as she went to rack a bottle she had rinsed.

5-She puts her hand on Aubrey's head and says, "bless baby." Anytime she sees Mom get a blessing she wants one too.

6- I can't do this with Aubrey-

We had a birthday-shout hooray!

For some reason that primary song has been in my head "we had a birthday shout hooray, we want to sing to you to day." Our baby was born, just a couple days after 37 weeks, on December 31st (yes, we got our tax return baby). From the onset of contractions to delivery was about 3 1/2 hours. It was a whirlwind. I didn't get my epidural until I was at an 8, I am just glad I got one though!She came out after 5-10 minutes of pushing, so she didn't even have the cone head. She was 6 # 4 oz. Baby is doing very well. She looks a lot like Elena. Things have been insane because Elena has been incredibly sick since Thursday- the day before Aubrey was born. I didn't get to see mike much while I was in the hospital because he had to watch Elena, and Elena could not come visit me in the hospital. We have spent many days and nights at doctors offices, urgent cares and even the ER between Aubrey and Elena. Fortunately Mikes mom came on Tuesday after I almost had a melt down Monday night. Here are some pictures, and we will try to write a more complete story later.