This is our girl we've been getting to know the last few weeks.
Kai calls her Becky. Caleb calls her Rebekah. Joe calls her Buhkaw and it sounds like the noise a chicken makes and makes me laugh every time. Brandon and I call her Bekah, Bekahboo, and Bekahburrito.
Rebekah means "captivating". Jane is her great-grandmother's name. It means "God is gracious", as does my name and my mom's middle name.
Her three brothers are definitely captivated by her. Kai always wants to hold her and is constantly saying sweet things like....
"She's so cute."
"I think she loves me."
"I think she loves me."
"I don't want to run errands with you, Dad. I just want hold Bekah alllll day."
"I thought it wouldn't be fun to have a baby sister, but I i really like it."
"I love my little sister so much, I already kissed her 5 times today!"
Caleb loves her, but has kept his distance a bit. I think he realizes that he must be careful with her and he isn't sure how to be. He tells her that she's adorable and told her, "You're just so cute I want to wrestle you!"
Joe is in her face ALL the time. He's very gentle, but absolutely obsessed with her. I have to keep her locked away in a room or wrapped on me to give her a break from Joe's constant pampering and petting.
Apparently she likes the attention from Joe because he was the lucky recipient of her first smile at two weeks old. ;)
Miss Lady has been getting along well. She eats and poops like a champ. She sleeps like a champ in the afternoons and not so much at night. She will only sleep in our arms which is a big adjustment for me. Co sleeping is just not my thing, but we're making it work for now.
Maybe I'll start reading Babywise to her as her bedtime story until she gets the hint. Until then, I'm eternally grateful for the help that my mom and Brandon's mom have given us these last few weeks and also for the meals friends have brought. We have had so much help!
It's really made a difference in navigating through the postpartum roller coaster. There have been some tears and plenty of overwhelmed moments. There have been moments where Brandon may or may not have said to me...
"Woah! Our house smells like dirty diapers when you walk in the front door.."
"Yeah, I could tell you had a rough day when I walked in the door. You had that I-hate-my-life look going on..."
"Are you ok?? You look like a zombie..."
The zombie comment was speedily pardoned as it was followed by an offer to watch all four kids while I took a nap. Brandon could probably write the postpartum Father's guide by this point: "How to Win at Being A New Dad in 3 Simple Steps". He has the formula down pat.
Step 1: Offer to help with the baby at night.
Step 2: Assume responsibility of all the other kids on evenings and weekends while mom focuses on herself and baby.
Step 3: Tell your wife she's beautiful. She's the most beautiful zombie you've ever seen.
You get bonus husband points if you let her go to Target all by herself. Brandon let me leave the house on my own last night and it was heaven. Of course, there was that inevitable moment where someone asked me when my baby was due. This time it was priceless because the poor woman was so embarrassed that she couldn't recover. When I told her I had the baby 3 weeks ago she just turned red, fumbled an "Oh", and walked away. The woman who asked me today if I was expecting another baby WHILE we had Bekah with us recovered just fine by telling me what lovely children we had.
Anyways, I forget where I'm going with this post. Must be the sleep deprivation. I will leave you with some baby pictures because at the end of the night (or day? They're jumbled together.) all of the difficult moments are eclipsed by the sweetness of holding this new little person and getting to love and take care of her. I can't believe she'll be 4 weeks old on Friday. She's already growing out of the NB clothes. My heart!
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