Seven Days Later...I can wear my shoes again!

It has been seven days since our arrival home from the hospital. I feel truly blessed and lucky to have had the easiest transition home and recovery from the C-section. Christian has been home since the day before I was induced, and my mother has been here for 3 weeks now, taking great care of us all. In fact, this past week I felt good enough to venture to Lincoln Park for a picnic with the Herf grandparents, to parktake of High Tea on my mother's birthday, and to make several shopping trips to get out of the house. I feel nearly recovered, stronger with each passing day, and I've lost 26 pounds already! (Don't ask how much I gained...it makes my weight loss seem not so impressive.) And the most astounding thing is that I am not sleep deprived. Charlotte sleeps in 4 hour chunks at night, and Christian takes the last nighttime feed, which gives me at least 5 - 6 hours of sleep before she wakes up sometime around 3-4 am. In fact, this morning I had to wake HER up to feed! I know these days may be fleeting, so I'm taking advantage of the time and getting as much sleep as possible. Diego is smitten with his new sister. He loves kissing her head and rubbing her ear to help her "suck" when she is breastfeeding. He protects her from the cats and loves sitting next to her when she is crying in order to console her. Tonight, he said to her, "It's OK Charley, your big brother is right next to you." The other day he told me, "I think we should keep her." Whew!

Christian returns to work tomorrow (boo!) but he has all of June off, so we are just a few weeks away from being a whole family at home again. My sister Leslie will visit for the weekend (yay!), and then Christian's mom comes from Texas to take my mom's place next week. I won't have to face being alone with two children until July; hopefully by that time I'll figure out the routine.

In other news, Christian has taken on a big landscaping project. After one year of futile attempts to grow grass in our "front yard" we have abandoned that cause, and he has created a terraced area in the shady parts of the yard for herbs, shade plants and flowers. I am quite impressed with his landscaping abilities....I'll post a photo when it is complete. Also, Diego started preschool this past week. He loved his first day, but this morning announced that he was "done with school." I explained to him that he would be in school for a very long, long time to come, and that he certainly was not in any place to claim "preschool-itis" this soon in the school year. He returned from school this morning and has decided that he likes it again.

I hope you enjoy the new photos of our darling daughter!