reflections on home recovery

• After my last c-section I was up, hopping around, packing boxes (for our move to Houston a week later), cooking, etc. This time, I was much smarter and stayed in bed as much as possible. And surprise, surprise I have been recovering SO much better and quicker.
• We were pretty worried about me going up and down our stairs so I only went up and down them a couple times a day, the first couple days. Then I realized, the stairs were so much easier than when I was pregnant! I'm so much lighter now, it's nothing to climb the stairs! It's not much different than walking to me.
  
• After I'd been home a couple days I decided to brave the scale, just out of morbid curiosity. I'd lost 25 pounds! And the pounds have kept falling off. 12 days after she was born and I'm only about 8 pounds away from what I weighed before. And I've been ravenously stuffing myself this whole time I've been lying on the couch. I ate an entire bag of holiday mint m&ms! Just goes to show me how much extra water and fluid I had. No wonder I was hating life! I knew I hadn't been eating as much as I did with Elliott, despite the scale telling me otherwise.
  

My tummy displaying a gift for her the day before she was born.

My tummy 11 days later at the children's museum. (And look! My wedding ring goes on my finger now!)

• Much of my recovery time has looked like this: That's me in my bed reading Twilight. Yes I've finally given in to reading it for the 1st time. It's a fun read but I definitely roll my eyes from time to time. You're in love with a vampire for the love! He might eat you at any minute and you're fine with that! What's wrong with you? It's still fun to read and remember the high school hormones/high school crush days. Heck, I married my high school crush. All women, when reflecting on their high school days, can identify with hoping the guy you're "in like" with is as obsessed with you as you are with him. I think that's why it's so popular.
  

• Parenting 2: Yikes! Difficult! Elliott is a terror, testing all authority one second and a sweetheart the next. I know it's hard on him to share his parents but I think he's holding up pretty well and he loves Lily. He's only pulled her head off me while she was nursing once when he wanted me to stop and play with him. My mother in law told us the secret is telling the older child, "She loves you so much. Just look at the way your sister is looking at you! She loves you!"
  

Lily will be 2 weeks old tomorrow. The delicious dinners from our friends have come and gone. The grandparent help has come and gone. Brian's days off have come and gone. Now it's just us, figuring out how our family functions now that our sweet baby girl is here!