Cernock Says: Bringing Joshua home: 2.5 weeks later

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Bringing Joshua home: 2.5 weeks later

The transition to a family of five has gone pretty smooth, so far. Riley loves her brother, instead of being jealous, like I feared. She gives him kisses and pats him aggressively. However, she seems to be happy with the addition.

Of course Hannah is in love. She keeps saying he's the most beautiful baby she's ever seen.

The most surprising change has occurred with David and I. We've both noticed a calming effect since bringing Joshua home. It's strange, because I'm not sure how to explain it other than by saying we feel more grounded. We spent David's entire time off at home, organizing. Instead of searching for excitement, we're searching maintenance.

David and I are embracing ways to make life more simple. For example, we've started using the dishwasher. It's the first time in our marriage we've used a dishwasher for something other than food storage. For those of you that have seen our teeny tiny kitchen, you can imagine the all day chore of finding a home for all the items in the dishwasher.

Joshua is wonderful. So far, he's a pretty easy going baby. He does eat a lot. Now, I know all infants eat a lot but Joshua truly does. Every day he was a "binge" period it seems. Most of the time it happens late in the day. During this period, he eats for an hour and a half to two hours straight.

The picture below is at Joshua's dedication last week. A dedication is like an introduction to the the church. The pastor and congregation say a prayer over the baby, as well. During the dedication, our Pastor said some very nice things to David and I, how we were the first people on board with the new location our church is trying to begin, and how much he loved us and appreciated the work we've put into the new church location.

One bit of interesting news: my first morning alone with all the kids, Riley slipped on a kitchen chair. She was sitting in it, and I was right beside her though I still can't figure out exactly how it happened. My guess is that she slipped on the chair and her knees went back in the seat, so her upper body went forward and she busted her mouth on the side of the kitchen table. Then she somehow managed to slip off the entire chair and face plant on the ground. For those of you that have never seen our kitchen table, it's bar height, so the chairs are taller than standard kitchen table chairs. I felt confident I was going to pick Riley up and her mouth and nose were going to be a bloody mess. As it was, her teeth bleed, for the entire day, but no other injuries were found. For my kid that rebounds so quick, it took me a full hour to calm her down. It was quite the fall, that gave us both a good scare. This was much later in the day.