Life à la Moad: The New Normal | Our First Two Weeks with Charlie

Well... pregnancy does end. In case you are reading this and feeling like you are 1,000 years pregnant and worried that might be your plight forever. It ends. I promise! :)

I am pleased to announce that we welcomed our son, Charles Gregory Moad, into the world at 10:23 pm on Wednesday July 20th. Two days shy of his due date!

Charles is a family name on both sides. It is the name of my maternal Grandfather who I loved dearly and died this month 15 years ago. And it is also the name of Greg's paternal grandfather.

I'll leave the birth story to Greg. Feel free to stop by and hear all the juicy details. Greg truly tells it best... he was more aware the whole time so he has lots to say! :)

But if you do come by... can you bring peanut m&m's?
K thanks!

Suffice to say: It wasn't easy, it never is! But It was faster than Lucy and for that I am thankful!

HOWEVER... the sweet little cherub, who measured small through the majority of my pregnancy and who I expected to weigh somewhere in the 8 lb range.... came out at 9 lbs 11 oz and 22 inches long.

KERPLOP.

Lies. That fundal height can lie! And it's a cruel reality when you find out! :)

But, all of that aside we were thrilled to meet our little baby boy and started in on the cuddling right away! No time to lose! :)

Son, meet your father.

Oma made it in time to help in the delivery.

He had a few visitors in the hospital and one of the most important was the big sister! She was very excited to meet him and hold him and touch his face, nose, eyes, chin, fingers, toes, hair, nose again, cheeks, eyes, ears, and so on.

She was smitten...

until she saw that he had a sticker on, then she fell in love with the sticker and forgot that she has a little brother.

hashtag: toddlers
hashtag: stickerobsession

Unlike the first time around we were so wanting out of the hospital! With Lucy I felt very much the need to have professionals around me telling me what to do with this new thing I was entrusted with... but with Charlie we just wanted to be home, as a family, in a room bigger than a closet!

When they told us we could go we were already packed and ready! :)

Well... except we never adjusted the car seat from the last time Lucy used it... and we may have just put the base in the car that morning.

we just moved, so... it's been busy! ;)

Lucy's love and slightly crazy obsession with all things baby has only gotten stronger since we brought Charlie home from the hospital. She loves him. She wants to kiss him constantly and when he is otherwise engaged she is happy to commandeer all of his baby paraphernalia for her dolls.

I often go to put him in the car seat only to find a baby-doll buckled in already... same with his bouncer, crib, changing table and bassinet.

It's a struggle.
But it's cute.
She's such a good mommy!

These first few weeks home have been pretty low key. I felt GREAT the first day home from the hospital... so great that I decided to do all the laundry and unpack like 10 boxes.

Reminder... we moved into this house 5 days before I went into labor. There's boxes. Lots of them. And I'm a get-it-done kinda girl

Yes. Poor choice on my part. I was paying the price for days after. So my advice: when you come home from the hospital sit your butt on the couch with a water bottle and snack of your choice and baby near by and don't budge!

Got it?

But the adjustment is real. Going from zero to 1 was rough... going from 1 to 2 is also rough. I can't say that any part of it is necessarily easier, it's just a different kind of hard.

My coffee with a side of... a pacifier.

Serious moment...

Maybe it's the hormones pumping through my body... but I have found my self so emotional and sad and feeling like Lucy will feel neglected or overlooked or pushed aside. She really seems totally fine, beyond some minor behavior issues, so it's probably just me and my crazy emotions.

I just love these kiddos so much and want them to always know it.

ugly cry. very, very ugly cry!

I apologize for the choppy, mishmash of a blog post... I had like one hot second to sit and update before I need to get back to this new normal that is life. New home, new baby, and my sweet little Lucy is like pretty much grown up.

Seriously... I picked her up and hugged her the other day and it was like I was holding an adult in my arms. She is huge.

again with the ugly cry!

We are slowly finding our rhythm here though. Friends and family have been generous with their calls, visits, meals and encouragement! We love community. Ya just can't in life without community. Can I get an "AMEN"?

I'm gonna stop there - leave you with a few more photos and go feed the little man.
Sorry for the lame update... I'll try and find my writing groove again someday.
Maybe.
Maybe not.
:)