1 Week Old.

One week ago today, I was in the hospital in labor with my sweet baby girl, Adelaide. We didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl and though it was a painful and exhausting experience, it was also an amazing blessing and miracle to have my sweet baby girl placed in my arms. (Birth story to follow later).

I can't believe Adelaide has been with us for a week already. This time was different, of course, from when Caleb was born. We came straight home after he was born. We only had to stay at the birthing center for 4 hours. This time, we had to stay in the hospital for two days, so I didn't get to come home with baby girl until Wednesday. Caleb and Jeff spent a lot of time at the hospital with me and we had visitors (family, friends and my midwife all made it bearable) which was nice. Caleb did awesome! He is seriously going to be such a great big brother and I'm glad that he got to be there right after Adelaide was born (he was actually at the hospital the whole time). He was happy to see his mommy and happy to meet his baby sister.

Since being home, we are learning so much. It's almost like having a newborn for the first time. Adelaide is such a different baby than Caleb was. She's already an awesome nurser. She latched on pretty much, right away and continues to do so well. She also sleeps well and whereas Caleb often had troubles with reflux, even at a tiny age, we haven't noticed that with Adelaide. She loves to be held and I just love to hold her, so it's been interesting finding a balance between holding her and holding Caleb who also loves to be held and of course played with.

Caleb loves to wrestle and will sometimes try to "smother" Adelaide. We have to remind him to be gentle. When she's upset, he tries to comfort her and will give her kisses. He rubs her head and pats her belly- seriously, the cutest thing ever. Even before we introduced the pacifier to Adelaide, Caleb found one and tried giving it to her. He's such a thoughtful little guy.

It has been a little challenging for him though. He's had a hard time dealing when I've been nursing Adelaide and he wants to be held (usually first thing in the morning). He's been doing a bit more screaming and throwing things, which partly is because of his age and partly, I'm assuming, because of all of the adjusting he's having to do. Jeff and I have been trying to make sure we each give him some one-on-one time. It was a great help, too, because Jeff was off all of last week. But, Jeff is back to work today.

Caleb also likes to help out and so we've been asking him to help with tasks and he's been mostly happy to do it. His favorite thing to do is hold his baby sister.

Anyway, it's been a great joy having Adelaide join our family. It still seems a bit unreal that I am now the mother of these two beautiful, wonderful children. Seriously, how did I get so lucky?

With that, here's our newborn photo shoot with the little miss (there are a lot- I had a hard time narrowing them down more than I did, so brace yourself). At some point, I'd like to get both kiddos together.

I love this smile!

I love the expression on her face in this one.

I love those beautiful dark eyes.

My aunt got her this adorable dress- so naturally, I had to include it in our shoot. 

I just love baby feet.