Reality

Adding a new baby into the mix has actually been so much easier than I could have imagined.  Of course, I'm pretty sure my perspective is a bit warped from having two sets of twins.  

Ameila is the easiest baby!  She's always happy and she loves to sleep.  I have never seen a baby sleep so much.  I've never had a baby that didn't nurse around the clock.  She's just very content.  I am so totally in love with her.

We have had "snow" twice this winter.  What counts for snow in southern Arizona is nothing compared to what New England is seeing right now.  But we'll take it.  As soon as the sun came up after I took this picture, the snow was gone.  Instant melting.

Breastfeeding was rough for the first 8 weeks because of Amelia's tongue tie.  (Working on a post about that!)  Since the laser surgery, things have been steadily improving.  I think we have finally turned the corner and she's nursing almost normally now.

We have also spent the last few months worrying about Matthew's arm.  He broke both bones in October, had surgery to reduce the fractures, and spent 6 weeks in a cast.  When the cast came off, his arm looked awful.  The x-rays showed that one of the bones had not healed properly.  At that point, the doctor here in town told us to wait a few more weeks and see if it straightened out.

Matthew spent another 6 weeks in a brace and his arm still looks bent.  That picture above is 3 months out from surgery.  The bump is where the bone is still sticking out.  We finally got a second opinion from a new doctor and the x-rays showed a 15 degree angulation.  He had a 65 degree angulation when he broke it.

When we returned to the second doctor for a follow-up visit, the x-ray showed that the bone is slowly straightening out so he won't need another surgery.  But he still favors his other arm and cries whenever he bumps the bad arm against something.  It's been no fun for him and I think his behavior has suffered as a result.  His ABA therapist thinks the arm bothering him is the source of some of his outbursts lately.  Meanwhile, it's Little League season and I'm terrified to let him play with his arm like that.

One amazing thing I've noticed lately is that Matthew has formed a very strong bond with Amelia.  He loves her and he actually expresses that toward her.  This is a big deal!  I was a little worried when Seven turned out to be a girl, but Matthew is great with her and he likes to hold her.  He really enjoys the fact that she has dark hair like him.  Seeing him with her makes my heart so happy.  I've never seen him like this before.

A few days after Amelia's birth, I received a package in the mail from my grandmother.  In it were two sweaters, a hat, and a pair of booties.  All pink.  I couldn't figure out how on earth my almost 87-year old grandmother was able to make them so quickly.  After all, we had just found out that Seven was a girl!  Then I saw the note from her explaining that the sweater set was mine when I was a baby.  She kept it for all these years and now Amelia is wearing it.

It also appears that we have our first thumb sucker.  You may remember that Leila and Sarah were both finger suckers and it was a tough habit to break.  None of the four boys sucked fingers and Matthew was the only one of my babies to take a pacifier but gave it up when he was a few months old.  I'm hoping this doesn't come back to bite me in the butt 4 years from now, but Amelia just loves that thumb.

(She always sucks the left thumb and covers her face or touches her hair with her right hand.)

We are in that rough time of the year with school right now.  It's almost spring and we are more than halfway through our school year, but it is a challenge to start planning for testing and our curriculum for the coming year.  We haven't been to our homeschool group meetings since before Amelia's birth because we can't fit all of the car seats in our van.  We're on a waiting list for our new van.  (Yes, a waiting list!)

My dad came to visit a couple of weeks ago and he brought my brother with him.  They are our first visitors since Amelia was born and it's the first time my dad has been to my house in years.  They only had two days with us, but it was great.  We went on a short hike in the canyon and Jason and I were able to take Amelia and sneak away for dinner by ourselves.  That never happens.  It was a lot of fun and also made me homesick.  We're more than halfway through our time here in Arizona and I'm excited to see where we go next.

For right now, this is reality in our house.  Same crazy, different day.  Always loud, always fun!