Tyson has the week off, which, crazy as it might sound, makes me feel like I have the week off, too (uh...maternity leave, if you will). Without the physical stamina, not to mention the go-ahead to tackle such important life skills as being able to drive and use the stairs post c-section, Tyson is more or less in charge of the twins (whom we've already re-christened "the tornadoes"). This means I get a lot of rest and baby time. Seriously, I don't think I realized how wild Caden and Brooklyn were until we added Williams Baby 3.0 to our lives. Not excessively wild, just regular 2-year old we-have-boundless-amounts-of-energy-and-curiosity-with-no-off-or-lower-volume-button-wild.
My quiet rest time lately has been interspersed with wild bursts of energy - these toddlers who are very interested in this new little brother: "Baby, baby, baby!". Saying "Nolan" hasn't quite caught on yet, and so it's mostly "baby". Or "No-no", if we remind them to say Nolan. With Caden and Brooklyn calling each other "Nay-nay", we now have two Nay-nays and a No-no. I'll take it.
A little over a week in, and so far...
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It's been a lot of snuggles with this little guy.
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It's making chocolate chip M&M cookies because aunties, uncles, and grandmas are around.
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It's silly newborn faces during bath time.
And being so content and snuggly afterwards that we just lounged around in nothing but a towel for quite awhile.
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It's capturing spontaneous moments like this with my four favorite people,
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It's - despite a carefully designed nursery - everything baby taking over our master bedroom, anyway.
Bassinet, glider, footstool, burp cloths, hospital cup, stuffed animals, ever-present Boppy and all.
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Including that baby himself.
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It's sharing our Daniel Tiger toys with this new baby brother.
If that's not sibling love around here, then I don't know what is.
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It's showing baby brother "his" balloon ("Baby boon!"). Though since we've had several wild run-around-the-house sessions since bringing it home ("boon fly!"), I have the sneaking suspicion that the tornadoes picked it out more for themselves than for little bro.
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It's the sight of two older siblings peeking into the bassinet over and over and over again ("Hi baby!"), just to check that he's still there.
It's a total lack of older-sibling jealousy. Whenever they hear Nolan cry, Caden and Brooklyn drop whatever they are doing and immediately let me know with a "Mommy, baby sad!" or "Mommy, baby cry!" or even just, "Mommy...baby! Mommy...baby!" until I scoop Nolan into my arms. "Rock", Brooklyn always commands, demonstrating for me herself, hugging an imaginary baby and swaying from side to side.
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It's breaking all the rules for snacks and baby cuddles in mommy and daddy's bed.
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It's - in the absence of two-year old toddler duties - the quietest dishwasher unloading session I can remember in a looooooonnnngggg time.
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It's Brooklyn saying, "Bess ooo, bess ooo baby!" every single time Nolan sneezes, coughs, gurgles, or makes any of a hundred other miscellaneous newborn sounds.
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It's the first attempt at a "selfie" ("groupie"?) since becoming a family of five.
And the realization that while my arms are nearly always full...they just aren't quite long enough to fit all of us in the frame anymore. And that is fine by me.