First six weeks as a family of four

Well. Here's some tidbits of the past six weeks:

• Atticus is a total cuddle bug, surprise surprise. Mama's a fan. :)

• Newborns without tummy troubles are glorious. My goodness. What a relief. I told a friend in a text last night, I think my heart would break if another one of my babies was in pain constantly and I couldn't do a thing to help them. I'm so grateful he's so easy (I mean relatively--he's still human) to soothe. It gives me a false sense of competence. (I'll have to write a post devoted to mama's of colicky newborns one of these days because looking back, that was nuts. They're my heroes.)

• He HATES garlic. Found this out the hard way when he was two weeks old, when we went out to eat and I had something with garlic sauce on it. Now I just avoid it, unless its a little bit of powder which he can handle. 

• Jori is a total sweetheart. I knew this before, but I wasn't sure how she was going to react to being a big sister. But she has been an absolute champ! She's so sweet and gentle with the baby, and never violent at all with him. She does have a hard time sharing mom and dad sometimes, mainly when she's just woken up, but she still never takes it out on him. I'm so proud of her for handling the change so well. 

• I loved that the first week Atticus was home, frequently when the four of us were together Jori would say "We are a family!" It's like she knew it had changed and it was her way of voicing her acceptance of the change. 

• Jori also continues to learn and mature. I try really hard to say I'm sorry to her when I've lost my temper or done something else wrong, because I think the best way to teach is by example. So the other day we were having a tiff, and I lost my temper and so apologized. Then a minute later she came up to me, gently put her hand on my thigh and said "I'm so sorry, to you." I felt so proud of my little angel. She is so perfect. Just perfectly herself. 

 Jori loves the rain! There was this ridiculously intense bout of rain when Atticus was a week old, and Jori was outside when it hit, but rather than run inside she was just giggling like mad! We were at my parents at the time, and my dad was nice enough to take her out for about a minute more wrapped up in a blanket with the umbrella up. She was so happy. :)

• Atticus loves baths. It's awesome. :) He might squawk when first put in the water, but after about 2 seconds he's like "ooohhh...that's nice." This was his first bath in these pics, which was his hardest. But it wasn't hard! Man. It's awesome.

• Jori continues to prove herself a marvelous parrot. Some sayings of mamas she has picked up are "Oh my goodness!" or "Oh my goodness gracious!" Also "Holy cow!," "That's wonderful!," and "Thank Goodness!" She also says "Actually" and "Probably" a fair amount, sometimes not where they belong. And she's been saying "Just one" or "Just this once," also out of context more frequently than not. 

• Atticus is a night owl. But by now, at six weeks that only means he likes to stay up late, as in 11. Not late as in 3, thank heavens. We really only had a couple really bad nights, one in particular when he was about...3 weeks old, maybe? Where he was awake from about 12 to 5 with a titch of sleep in there. Thank goodness that's not the norm! So our current norm is Jori is in bed by 8, I go to bed anywhere between then and 10, and Sam is in charge of the babe (except feedings) until midnight, at which point I take over. Atticus will sleep-then-wake-up-when-placed-in-crib from...I don't know, 9:30 on? Until about 11, eating sometime between 8 and 9:30, and then he wakes up to eat again usually at like 2:30ish, then 5 again. Then he's back to needing to be held/helped with sleeping until about 8, when we currently start our day...but I'll take it! He's not usually full fledged awake so even getting to half-sleep while holding him is better than having to start our day at 5. 

• I stink at getting him on a schedule. Not that I've tried really, I just mean...he just sleeps on and off all day and night, and I basically just go with the flow. I should really be better about putting him in his crib whenever he falls asleep...meh. 

We got to go up to Idaho briefly, because our car needed a repair. Jori loved the horses. She was chomping on a cookie through most of one ride, which was hilarious to watch. Well, to me. And I'm her mom. So who knows.

• Atticus started social smiles at the beginning of last week (4 days before he hit 6 weeks), too! They were exclusively for daddy until Saturday night, when mama finally got one. Hurray! He's also kind of started cooing, but only kind of. 
• Did I ever mention that Sam got offered a full-time position with benefits at Multiling? It came at just the right time, because we were trying to figure out how he was going to do school and work and have time for homework and family and observation physical therapy hours, all at once. It was rather stressful. But then he got offered a full time position, so because he hadn't really been passionate about physical therapy anyway he went with that and decided to not worry about school for the time being. He can always go back if need be. But it's awesome to just be able to hang out together in the evenings! Well...for like an hour, before I go to bed. But still! 
• I'd thought before that the love I felt for my daughter was a gift, and I continue to think that with two kids. It's such an incredible, hard to understand thing. It's so beyond me. But it strengthens my testimony of the very existence of God, because I know this is not me. This is some of His love, which I am privileged to have come through me. For my kids. It's just so permanent. It's a miraculous feeling. 

Loving this life o' mine! More pics to come (probably), from Sam's phone. We're also looking for a new place to live again since with Sam's going full time, rent is so much here it's not really worth staying unless we really loved it, and it's an apartment. We'd rather rent a house if possible! Cross your fingers.