JKLM: Our New "Normal"

Who decides what normal is anyway? My friend Andrea once gave me a book of little funnies called "Normal Is A Setting On The Dryer". So true. I dry my clothes on normal all the time. Ha!

So, what does the new normal look like for the Battreals? Well, let me tell you that if it weren't for Mimi who came to visit and cooked us yummy casseroles for the freezer, for Nana who is a tremendous help, for my friend Emily who set up a meal train for our friends to bring us dinner and for Jim (aka best daddy ever) our normal would be complete chaos instead of just a little chaotic.

Maddie Kate is 3 weeks old already and of course she's not sleeping through the night yet - and I sure don't expect her too...but I'm sleepy! Aside from being nocturnally challenged, our girl is just about as perfect as they come. She does what all babies do - she eats, she sleeps...and we change a lot of a diapers. She's pretty much on a 3 hour schedule and after a few weeks of worrying about her weight gain - or lack thereof - we have pretty much totally switched to formula. The same thing happened with Landon. Nursing just doesn't work for me and no matter how many times I told myself and everyone else that I wouldn't be upset if it didn't work again I was upset...as in, I cried at the doctor's office when they told me she hadn't gained enough at her two week check-up. I'm over it now though and she's getting what she needs just like her equally perfect (if not ornery) big brother who is adjusting pretty well for a kid who's life has been totally changed. He hasn't really been phased by the whole baby sister thing. We've had a couple of minor threats of big brother breakdown but nothing major. One morning Jim got up extra early to give me a break and he was holding the baby. Landon got upset and said "NO Dada! You give that baby to mommy and you hold me!". He was serious! A couple days later I was holding MK and she was fussy. Landon said, " Her wants her mommy". I told him that I was here mommy and he said, "NO! You MY mommy, her wants her other mommy!" He was over it quickly though - and most of the time he loves on her and wants to hold her. It will be fun to watch them interact as they get older.

Here are a few pictures from our first few weeks at home.