- Home, sweet HOME! -

Maybe it was because I delivered in the late afternoon this time around [versus 10am with Harper] and spent less hours on postpartum or maybe it was because we got discharged around noon this time [versus staying several hours later to take pictures in Shannon's delivery last time], but for someeee reason, it felt like the two nights we were admitted to the hospital were here and gone in the blink of an eye! All the sudden, Scarlett was three days old and we were hitting the road with two occupied car seats in the back of my car and driving away as one big happy family! Boom. This is a blessed life.  Wahhhhh! 

ALSO, I'm just gonna spell this out from the beginning: I'm not a panicked pyscho mom when it comes to germs and sharing my baby and such, but this year's flu outbreak has me a tiny bit paranoid... 

[Side note because it's on topic and I'm appalled by these numbers... I just read an article last night that reported the latest statistics:  "In Missouri, there have been 53,769 cases of the flu since October and 49 deaths. Last year at this time, there were 9,338 illnesses and two deaths. The virus has also hit hard this season in Illinois, where more than 1,000 people have been hospitalized in intensive care for the flu." Humph!!!]  So add the flu pandemic ^^ to the fun fact that three years ago I had a real jewel of a sleep-deprived/hormonal meltdown when the postpartum visitor train arrived at our doorstep [I do love our family and friends dearly but wowza, toooooo many visitors for too many days in a row when I/we were just trying to learn the new normal of nursing and sleeping and keeping a newborn alive!] and so...where was I going with that? Oh yeah, so, my mom skin is a lot tougher the second time around and so I stomped my foot down about shutting family and friends out for a week [or three] while we adjusted to our new family life.  #thenewnormal #thisisus

...Speakkkkkking of which, HOLY MOLY!!! Homegirl and I watched the latest episode of This Is Us last night and I can't even!  ...But that's another topic for another day...but the anticipation and anxiety of Jack's death approaching...but I'll stop now.

In light of two paragraphs up ^^, I thoroughlyyyyyy enjoyed this sweet time with just the four of us as we learned how to meet each others' needs and adjusted to all hands on deck in caring for our newest member!

Judge me real good that Scarlett was dressed like a boy for the first few days, but I only washed the few unisex sleepers we had stored away because I just knew she'd be a boy...

...but unisex or not, the love still runs deep!!! She was never hurting for attention!

"Mommy, tan I hold him?"...always a him. [We're working on pronoun usage.]

Harper and I either had our pajamas on or our boobs out [or most usually a combo of the two!] twentah-fo' seven for the first entire week:

^^ Extra milk in the background for backup!

We spent our days by listening to lots of stories read aloud by "'da tee-chur"...

...reviewing the newest house plans...

...busting out some yoga...

...and snuggling like crazy!!!  Napping: the obvious Fleming family favorite.

After a visit back to Mercy...

...^^ and Scarlett's first pediatrician visit on the freakin' coldest day of the year [where both she and Harper's baby checked out A-ok, by the way!], we changed back into our warmest pajamas and cozied in for the evening! 

Finally, we recognized that there was indeed other life outside our humble abode and the grandparents all re-surfaced... :)

...and the great grandparents, too!

Even Aunt Laura and Uncle Garett snuck in for a visit!  Everyone loves a little Scarlett snuggle!

All these visitors can wear a girl out! [I feel ya, sister!] 

^^ Harper has been revolting against nap time for the past several months, so we just recently started having "quiet time" instead where she goes in her bedroom with the door shut and plays/reads by herself until her night light turns green. [<-- I ordered this guy from Amazon and it's been a lifesaver!] One day before the alarm clock came, I went in to tell her quiet time was over and found her like this! Be still my heart! Ever since Scarlett's arrival, Harper has seemed like she's at least five years old [she even calls herself "an older girl" now] and so I adore moments like these where her sweet baby face and big chubby cheeks remind me that she's still my baby girl, too!  So sometimes she falls asleep during "quiet time" and sometimes she doesn't, but most importantly she always gets a little down time to rest and I get a little uninterrupted baby time without wondering if I'm making Big Sister jealous... :D #winwinwinning

Just when we were all starting to get a little stir crazy and maybe a tiny bit sick of each other, our old neighbors Danette and Nicolle called to see if they could come pick up Harper and take her out for shopping and dinner!  So thoughtful; I almost cried! She loves them so very much and was thrilled to get out of the house!!! 

She came home with a bag of clothes from Old Navy [a Minnie shirt she picked out for herself and a cute little outfit for Scarlett, too!] and some new toys from the toy store in town!  I love that they were able to give her this special one-on-one attention that she hasn't been able to get from me lately.  She was absolutely on cloud nine, and so were Brian and I to get a couple hours of toddler-free time!

Because toddler-free time + laziness + rest is necessary when you know a few hours later go' be like:

...and a few hours after that go' be like:

...!  Daddy and his babies; my heart just melted all over the floor when I woke up in bed by myself at 8am and came out into the living room to this sweet sight!!! Dad/husband of the year be scoring some major brownie points with wifey on his last day home before going back to work! 

And then .just.like.that., his two weeks of paternity leave came and went, and home alone with the girls was I...  Both girls and momma worked tirelessly on the valuable virtue of patience this week, because 2:1 is not near as fun for anybody as 1:1 was!  Harper and I did some crafts while Scarlett slept, then Scarlett and I nursed while Harper watched TV, etc., etc., etc. Give and take is the [nick]name of the game...

 ...and it turns out the game called "being a mom of two" is not so hard after all! 

In fact, it's pretty dang great! I love #thenewnormal because #thisisus !!!

Bring on the next nine weeks of maternity leave!!! :D