A Family of Three

We've been home with sweet Sylvia for a few days now, and I have to say, it's a wonderful feeling!  We finally have that little girl we've waited so (im)patiently for.  When we loaded her up in the car at the hospital I mentioned how different it was from our trip to the hospital.  On our way there it was dark, rainy and scary.  On the way home it was warm, sunny and beautiful!  This has been the perfect week for bringing home a baby.  The Dogwoods are blooming, the neighborhood kids are all outside all of the time, the sun has been shining and (call me crazy) but the neightborhood dogs have actually stopped barking all the time!

Mom stayed with us for a few days until we had a handle on the breastfeeding and how to take care of a seven pound child.  She was up with me every time I had to feed Sylvia on the first night, which was almost every two hours because my milk hadn't come in yet and the poor thing was starving!  She made chicken pot pie and two pans of lasagna for us to eat.  She swept the floors and did the dishes and the laundry and spoiled us all rotten for three days until it was time for her to go home.  Luckily, Sylvain took off the rest of this week so that we can practice doing all of those things together before I have to start doing all of them by myself!  As sad as I was to see Mom leave, our first night at home as a family of three was absolutely blissful. 

One thing that chokes me up time after time is watching Sylvain hold and play with our baby girl.  I have never seen him hold a baby before!  I wasn't worried about him being able to take care of our own baby, but I was curious to see what it would be like for him.  Let me tell you something - that little girl had him wrapped around her finger from the minute she entered this world!  When she's all swaddled up and sitting in the corner of his arm, against his big, safe, daddy chest, I absolutely melt.  He is so comfortable with her!  When he takes her from me, he knows exactly what to do with her.  He can change her diapers, change her clothes, put her to sleep - he can do it all (not that I ever thought he couldn't, I'm just so amazed at how naturally it all came to him)!  I could go on and on, but I'll end by saying what I've heard lots of other mothers say before: I never thought it was possible to love my husband more than I already did, but that's exactly what happened when I saw him turn into a father.  I see the two of them, my husband and my daughter, and I realize I'm the luckiest person on the planet.  It doesn't get any better than this.