Elijah Comes Home

Elijah was my first baby with the midwife group and I LOVED them. I especially loved that the morning after he was born, the midwife walked in and said, "I assume you'll want to go home as soon as possible, correct? We'll have you out of here by 8 am tomorrow morning." Normally I'm battling to get out after 24 hours--this time I didn't have to battle anyone! It did end up being closer to 10 am, but still! 

Going home is my favorite. The only thing I really like about the hospital is getting food service. I hate that our hospital won't take the baby to the nursery so I can sleep. I'm also not allowed to sleep with the baby in the bed with me. Which means...I don't sleep. Thank heaven for cell phones! I would put Elijah in the bed with me to sleep, then quickly snatch up my phone and pretend to be using it whenever someone walked in. See? Totally not sleeping with the baby in my bed! 

Jon came Sunday morning to pick us up. I got to shower, which is always the best thing ever.  Another fun coincidence: another nurse noticed my BYU shirt, mentioned she was from Orem, and eventually got brave enough to assume we were LDS, too. She goes the the local YSA ward, which meant she knew Timmy (of course--everyone seems to know Timmy). "We LOVE Timmy!" This kind of stuff didn't happen with my other kids!

Tiny little dinosaur, all ready to go home.

He doesn't look nearly as big in this picture!

Thanks to a harsh and long-lasting flu season, no one under 18 was allowed to visit Elijah in the hospital. I was sad not to see my babies for those two days and sad to have them miss out on meeting their brother for so long. So they were extra excited to see him when we finally made it home! Poor kid didn't even make it into the house before he was attacked:

And then it was time for EVERYONE to hold him.

(This is a good foreshadowing of how their relationship is going. Enthusiasm and terror.)

I wasn't sure how Elise was going to handle the new baby. On the one hand, she LOVES babies. But on the other, she was being dethroned. Catherine was not a fan when Aaron was born, so I was nervous. But there was no need: she was THRILLED:

Big sister (again) Catherine:

And Seth with his little mini-me:

Me & five (?!!) kids:

Silly faces:

I'm not sure any baby has ever been as loved as poor Elijah:

Three boys:

Seth & Elise may have fought over laying next to Elijah during his first tummy time:

Aaron especially loves Elijah. So, so much. If Elijah is awake (or even NOT awake), Aaron is there, rubbing his hair, kissing his cheeks, touching his nose... Poor Elijah rarely gets a break. It's kind of sweet, but kind of obnoxious, too. I really need to get a recording of the insane bird cry Aaron makes whenever he sees Elijah. It was especially fun when I was trying to put Elijah down for a nap and Aaron would make that sound over the two-way baby monitor. Thankfully it died and we replaced it with one that DOESN'T have that lovely feature.

Five kids...crazy!