How Did I Ever Do It?

I am finally home after 2 weeks in Madison, WI. I was there to help Rachel after the birth of Christopher on Dec. 18, 2009. Two weeks full of joy and activity!

Christopher's first photo shoot!

Let's just review...


Dec. 20, arrive in Madison. Meet Christopher, who is a joy. He looks very different than his brother, Daniel, did at birth. That is apparently not the only way he is different. Rachel had a smooth and easy delivery, also different than with Daniel. She was up and around in no time.




Dec. 22 and 23, TJ, Kelly and Katie arrive in Madison and things pick up. There was the gift wrapping, since we had all our gifts delivered to Rachel's house or brought them with us, un -wrapped. There was the baking to do, Rachel was busy having a baby remember? I flew in so no goodies in my suitcase. There are going to be 14 people in and out of this house on a regular basis, we need food!




Christmas Eve, 4:30 mass with 6 day old Christopher in tow. There is nothing more profound than attending Christmas mass with a newborn baby. It really brings the true meaning of Christmas to light. Then dinner at the house for 10 plus a toddler, provided by Matt's family. YUM! Time to get ready for Santa to arrive. So much fun to have Christmas with kids!



Daniel delighted in all of his new toys! His new favorite game is boomie. Grampy would build a house out of his wooden blocks and Daniel would "boomie" it. Over and over and over....The video is priceless.



The rest of the holidays were full keeping a 20 month old boy happy and out of trouble, cradling a new baby, cooking many meals, doing lots of laundry, washing thousands of dishes, walking the dog in the snow in the park, sledding with Daniel, enjoying time with my daughters, watching Sesame Street (the only time Daniel ever sits still), running errands and doing a little shopping (very little).



The Sunday after Christmas was the day Christopher was baptized. On the feast of the Holy Family. What a blessing, a perfect child.



One funny moment came when I looked at the indoor/outdoor thermometer and it said 30 degrees outside and I thought, "how can it be that hot, this thing must be broken." Have I really converted to Celsius? Like thinking in a different language. Of course the morning it said -5 I thought, yeah that seems right, really cold, Fahrenheit or Celsius!

In closing, after 2 weeks of taking care of a big family again, one with a toddler, I find myself wondering how I ever had 4 kids and raised them with relative sanity. My conclusion is that I am very glad I started young and did it all while I had youthful energy and naivety. I loved doing it, but it makes me appreciate my morning tea and oatmeal, and being able to read the newspaper without interruption too.



For some reason, I can't seem to move the pictures throughout the text today so I am posting all the pictures in the next post. Enjoy.