Home from the hospital!

I'm sitting here at the breakfast bar in our new kitchen (completed like... erm... 4 days before Anders was due to arrive!) and Anders is sleeping peacefully post-nen nen.

He was born 12 June and we had anticipated going home two days later.  Unfortunately, Anders chose to be stubborn and stopped latching onto the boobie, resulting in a weight loss that took him past the 10% weight loss limit for newborns.  The hospital refused to let us leave until Anders got his weight up so Mummy worked very hard expressing milk (mooooo........) and cup-feeding our littlest man.  Suddenly one night, around 2am, Anders decided he would latch on again and his weight and temperament improved immediately.

We got the okay to go home on Sunday... it was Father's Day!  Happy Father's Day, Dear Hubby!  Dear Hubby had been wonderful.  He'd managed the house, the cooking and above all, managed our rather lively Connor all the time I was away.  I knew he'd been doing a good job because Connor did not seem to miss me much.

His faraway grandparents in Malaysia and Liverpool have met their latest grandchild via the miracle that is Skype.  I think Skype is just fantastic, you won't appreciate it until you have family living far away.  My parents were simply ecstatic to see him even if only on a screen but at least you know he's there with you in real time, not just a photograph.  And you can see him move his little arms or hear him make those cute baby sounds as he snoozes.  They do ask about me but 98% of the time, I keep the camera focused on our littlest arrival and they are happy to just gaze at him.  I tell you what... after those sleepless nights of expressing, cup-feeding and worrying about his weight loss, Anders looked a much better sight than Mummy!  You know what they say - I got a face made for radio...

Connor has been a wonderful big brother so far, asking to hold and kiss him.  Before Anders arrived, I'd bought him a book called "I'm a Big Brother Now!" and we read it together a lot of nights and I talked about the baby.   I think it also helped that the arrival of baby brother somehow coincided with the arrival of a shiny new red bicycle that he'd been asking for.  I'm sure he's thinking that if this is how things go, he wouldn't mind TEN baby brothers!  TEN bicycles! Wah liao!

So what's life like as a mum of two children?  Well, for starters... now I say, "My beautiful children!" instead of "My beautiful child!" as I have for the past 4 years or so.  I can't describe the joy I feel when I see our older son holding his younger brother, telling me, "Mummy, I am gentle with Anders."  I am just beginning to experience the chaos that comes with managing a newborn who's crying for milk at the same time I have to get a 4yo ready for nursery school in the morning and I'm bleary-eyed from lack of sleep.

I am so so happy and content.  I thought Connor's arrival completed us as a family.  But Anders' arrival has just made things even MORE complete if that were possible.

I'm steeling myself for an awful lot of work for years to come but you know what?  It's all going to be all right.