Ode to the New Addition

Its happening. The newest addition is bringing out all kinds of "I-haven't-caught-my-breath-in-a-year-and-this-should-work-fine" parenting tricks. With the first baby, we were ridiculously cautious. Never fed the baby a bottle that had been sitting out more than 45 minutes. Always held him with two hands. Always held the bottle, never propped it on the blanket to have a free arm. Always ran to him at the first cry. Bathed him nightly. Rocked every night for an hour. Read five hundred stories. Lullabies. Never fed him "don't-have-time-for-this-to-warm-up-more" milk. Had outfit changes daily, from a ridiculously extensive and adorable wardrobe, sometimes because he puked, but mostly just because he had great clothes. Spent maternity leave holding this one almost constantly (though not necessarily by choice). Took 500 pictures daily (so it seemed).
The second time around was a much different story. Of course, there were special circumstances which forced us to be more careful about some things. Had to mix vitamins with certain amount of milk. Had to mix this much milk with this much formula. Had to apply this cream here. Had to check temp daily, weight weekly. Changed outfits regularly - because she puked a ton but she had such an amazing wardrobe - girls are WAY too fun to shop for. Had to take a million pictures because her followers were antsy and everything was amazing. Spent months doing nothing but cuddling with her. Still had an extra arm.
Oh, but how I feel for our newest addition! Miss Delia, you have been brought into such chaos! We take your bottle out of your mouth so that with the other arm we can unbuckle the highchair straps and lift Eden down. We change your diaper one-handed so that the other arm can keep your siblings from crawling on top of you. We prop your bottle up almost always because there is never a chance for that blessed free arm and there is always something that other arm needs to be doing. We don't get to rock with you because by the time you are ready for bed, Eden is already sleeping. You don't care if we sing or not, though we still do. Instead of bedtime stories, you have heard Daddy read Harry Potter. (To be fair, Josiah got the Chronicles of Narnia during his middle-of-the-night wakings). We do take pictures of you, I swear! Somehow I just can't manage to take 'enough' while keeping your siblings off of you or off of the camera. Maybe you'll understand because I am saving you from imminent danger? Probably not. I remember how many times I got upset with my parents about how my sister, the lovely firstborn, had 10x more pictures in the albums. Oh, and some days you stay in your pajamas all day. At this point, you are still sleeping so much, so it isn't terribly crazy that you would be in pajamas, but still. And you are wearing all hand-me-downs- aside from a couple great things you received from others, your closet is courtesy of your big sister (luckily she had great stuff and its still in style!). Its not a bad thing - its saving a ton of money, and as your Daddy keeps reminding me, you don't care at all at this point. But, as a second child myself, I know how much I hated getting so much of my sister's stuff and not a ton of my own. Not nearly as much cuddle time as Mommy or Daddy would like, though you do get a good amount of being held, don't get me wrong. But maternity leave this time also included your big sister being home with us. Neither of you enjoyed sharing my arms.
Delia, the sweet baby of the family, you have a lot to deal with already. Your brother had 3 1/2 years all to himself and developed somewhat of an only child attitude. Your big sister came out of the womb feisty as all get-out and hasn't slowed down since. Its a lot to tackle, I know. I think you can hack it though ;) And do know this: even now, in the midst of juggling babies and the utter chaos of the big changes happening here, we love you more than anything in this world. You are a miracle no less amazing than those that joined our family before you. You shocked our socks off from the first (of five) pregnancy tests, and the denial stage that followed. How could this happen? A pregnancy with no doctors helping us out?!?! Clearly, you were God's plan, my dear. God chuckled a little bit the day we found out you were coming, I just know it "HA! - bet you didn't see this one coming, eh?!".

All of this to say, that its hard being the baby of the family - especially in this family, especially right now. But we will steal every cuddle, every kiss, every quiet moment that we can to enjoy you while you are still so new. We cherished every kick, every roll and punch because I knew it would be the last time I would feel that life inside of me. And likewise I will cherish every stage you go through now - the last one to have those baby coos, the 'hungry bird' face searching for your bottle, the last one to sleep on my chest. You might have to bonk your big siblings on the head so they hear you say it, but you are crazy special too.