Myke & Me Plus ThreeFour

Ella's first bath at home (at 5 days old)

Ella is 12 days old today and so far, so good. She is such a good baby. Myke and I keep wondering when the ball will drop... She's just so predictable so far. Only cries when she is hungry and that is every 2-3 hours...usually closer to 3...sometimes 4. At night she'll eat one last time between 10 & 11pm and then sleeps until somewhere between 3 & 4am which is an AWESOME stretch for a newborn. Hey, it's an awesome stretch for me! Let's be honest! Then she's back to sleep for another 3 hours. So, for the most part, I'm only getting up one time at night to feed her. I'm loving that! The lack of sleep part was what I was fearing the most--having to care for 4 kids all day and all. So far, it's definitely not TOO bad at all. We'll see how long the luck lasts.

We had a busy weekend- Myke's sister came to visit us for a long weekend and brought her youngest, "Baby Trent", who is 8 months old. Myke had never met him so that made it even more special. She also has Declan, who is 6 years old, and Mira, who is 3. Hopefully, she'll be able to come out again for a visit and bring all of them next time. We do feel bad that the kids don't know their cousins very well...but it's hard to get together when we live across the country from each other.

So we had a full house this weekend: 11 people (5 kids, 6 adults). It was a fun time--but went by way too fast! It's definitely nice having all the extra sets of hands to help out. I'm not sure what I'll do when I'm on my own with all 4! Luckily, Myke works from home so I can have him help out if I run into desperate times, which I'm SURE will happen now and again! My main concern is how things will go when I'm feeding Ella...and the other 3 are on the loose! Chloë is fine, and the boys are USUALLY okay...but you never know. I had a little taste of it today while I was feeing Ella this morning. Myke was working, my mom was showering and getting dressed, and Myke's parents were taking his sister and Trent to the airport. Chloë was at school so I only had three kids on my own (3 under 2!). I was sitting in the recliner and feeding Ella, watching Owen & Eli play on the carpet in front of me. Then Eli decided he wanted me to read him a book so he climbs up on my lap. I situate him on one arm of the recliner so I can read to him but he isn't sitting on Ella. He was getting annoyed with her feet touching him and kept trying to push them away. We finally got him settled and comfortable when Owen decides he wants in on the story time. So he climbs up the other side of the recliner and tries to sit on Ella's head (more or less) so he can see the book. So I have Eli on one side, Owen on the other and poor Ella squished in the middle trying to eat (and at the same time trying to survive). It worked out okay in the end. Wanting a book read to them was easy while I'm stuck in the recliner feeding the baby. It's when they start wanting other things or start doing things they aren't supposed to (like throwing toys over the upstairs railing) while I'm confined to the chair....that's what I worry a little more about. We'll cross that bridge when we get there!

Some pics: