Baby Graham: Life with a new baby

Life for Evelyn as a newborn was quiet and simple. We rarely left the house except to see the doctor and to buy groceries. Emerson's life has been full of activity and outings from his first week on the planet. He's been carted around - in a car seat, a sling, an ergo carrier - to parties, to a farm (!), trick-or-treating...keeping up with an active 4 year old means there's never a dull moment!

Tag had elbow surgery shortly after Emerson's arrival, which has made things more complicated as well. He's been in a lot of pain, and his elbow is stuck in a cast, so he's a bit handicapped for now. We're doing our best to manage. It feels like a lot...

Emerson is the sweetest thing you can imagine. Very patient. Very calm. He seems very laid-back. And our dear, amazing Evelyn... Well, she is balancing things out by heightening her energy levels.

I wasn't sure how Ev would respond to having a real baby in the house. I think it's disconcerting for her on many levels. While she loves the fact that there is a baby (she floods him with kisses and wants to hug and squeeze the dickens out of him) she seems manic about everything and is likely nervous about how this impacts her role or position in the family. We're trying to be patient and inviting, but I'm still physically recovering from the delivery and trying to establish regular breastfeeding while getting up several times a night to feed/diaper an infant, and Tag is locked up in a painful cast...so I feel for her and can see that this will be a struggle for all of us. Thank goodness for Oma who is helping out and also devoting special attention to Evelyn (Ev loves sleep-overs at Oma and Opa's house, where she is almost literally the center of the universe - they really dote on her, which is super fabulous).