I’ve been quiet recently.

I’ve also been exhausted.

On August 17 I had a c-section. The c-section went well, despite the risks my funky body presented. Cora Elizabeth was born at 7:59am weighing 7 pounds and 6 ounces, 20 inches long. I had a three day hospital stay, which was just about as thrilling as you’d expect. Cora had a hard time keeping her body temperature high enough, so she spent a lot of time under warming lights, and she lost too much weight. We’re still trying to get her to gain it back. She is, but slowly. She also had jaundice, so she’s had a fun first week and a bit. Her jaundice has cleared up, but she only gained an ounce over the weekend so we are on a rigorous feeding schedule. All in all, things are looking up, but I’m tired. So very, very tired.

The thing about going from one kid to two is that you can’t nap whenever you want with two kids because kid number one is awake all the time and needs to be entertained. So you don’t get much sleep at night, and then you just kind of survive the day in zombie mode. I’m trying hard to fall into a routine, but some days are better than others. Combined with that is the fact that I am still recovering from surgery. It’s hard, but we’ll survive. The newborn phase is always varying degrees of fun, right?

The one saving grace is kid number one is four years old. I don’t know how parents do it when their kids are 18 months apart or something like that. Seriously. Hats off to you guys because, wow.

Anyway, Cora is tiny, but sweet. She barely ever cries, which I know will change someday so I plan on enjoying it while I can. She sleeps a lot and truly enjoys eating. Her big sister, Fiona, loves to be the big sister and wants to be in the middle of everything. It’s really fun to watch Cora absorb the world around her. Everything is so new and fresh. The weirdest things make her eyes grow so huge and intensely focuses her. Fiona is very protective, and loves to help out with everything. She’s adjusting well to not being an only child anymore.

Our family is adjusting. We’re all tired, a bit stressed due to that. My husband goes back to work tomorrow (eep!) and I kind of feel like we are all in survival mode right now, but at least it’s for a good reason. Our family is complete. Now if only we could get full night of sleep….