A Little Extra to be Thankful For This Year

It seems these posts are becoming further apart, despite having all of the intentions and want to post about all of the excitement going on in our lives. Between now being a family of four (plus Burke of course), and our new build coming down the home stretch (only a month and a half left!) - it seems there is less and less time for any form of creative writing.

BUT - here I am, and I will try and update this more often!

Before the newest addition arrived, we were on track for our October 11th due date (ironically, today). I started having some serious mom guilt about Leo not being our only baby any more, and I wanted us to do as much as we could with him as a family before his baby brother arrived. I wasn't sure how Leo would react to having another tiny human around, so I felt the need to spoil the crap out of him - with love and adventures of course. I was off work as of September 4th, so we spent the next couple of weekends touring around.

We did fun things like the Indian River Reptile Zoo where he saw turtles, crocodiles, and they have an electronic life-size dinosaur exhibit. We went hiking with Burke, and we went to the Lindsay Exhibition where Leo could have spent the whole day in the petting zoo with the goats, pigs, chickens, and ducks. We even ended up spending an evening at the hospital because Leo caught Hand, Foot and Mouth (we think from rides at the fair), and we couldn't break his fever. He was not a fan of the hospital, but he's always such an amazing sick kid. He was very content and just wanted to be snuggled, poor guy.

In this time, I also turned 30 - which I was pretty terrified of. The day came, and I felt better than I ever have. I guess my mentality before was that thirty was this terrifying number. It meant you're getting old, you can't have fun anymore, and you have to have everything 100% figured out. I definitely don't feel like I am getting old (other than the cracking of my joints every time i move), and I feel like I am right where I'm supposed to be. At the time, we only had Leo, but being a mama to him (and now his baby brother) and a partner to Mitch is what I was meant to be - as cheesy as that sounds. I feel so happy, lucky, grateful, and all of the wonderful feelings imaginable to be where I am today. I wouldn't change anything at all.

Now that my mom guilt was subsiding because we were having all of the fun with Leo, we were getting more excited and more ready for the new baby to come, and thank goodness for that because he came early! We had fished out the newborn clothes, the bassinet, and had our hospital bag packed (for the most part) in anticipation that he would be here early - the OB predicted a Thanksgiving baby!

We would LOVE for you all to meet our newest addition: Murphy Mitchell Cleary.

Murphy was born on Friday September 28th, 2018 at 4:13PM. He was 7lbs, 8oz, and 18.5 inches long. He was two weeks early, and the best surprise! I started noticing I was having contractions around midnight. I told Mitch around 2:30AM, and we finally gave in to going to the hospital at 4:30AM. I had an epidural which made things a lot easier on my end, and Murphy was born a healthy and happy little man!

We stayed in the hospital until Sunday the 30th, as per the paediatricians recommendation. Leo was still fighting off Hand, Foot and Mouth and he suggested we stay an extra night just to be safe. This also meant that Leo couldn't come meet his baby brother in the hospital - which was something I know I had been really looking forward to. I felt awful that we had left at 4:30AM, not said goodbye to Leo, and been gone for three days with him not understanding where we were or him being able to come see us. We really missed him, and I definitely found it hard being away from him.

Leo's reaction when we got home was amazing. I hugged that little man so long, I may have even shed a tear or two. He also looked like a teenage boy to us compared to Murphy. It really is crazy to see the difference 17 months of life makes in terms of size and development when they're so young. Leo reacted well to meeting Murphy. He kept saying 'baby' and wanting to snuggle and kiss Murphy's head. He truly is the sweetest.

I had done some light reading on how to introduce a new baby to a toddler without having an upset, and one of the things that was suggested was to give a gift from Murphy to Leo when they first met. We got a sit-on Mega Bloks excavator for him - he loves riding around, and he loves building with blocks so it was perfect. He was really excited about it, and he's still happy to have Murphy around - I am not sure if there is any correlation, but hey, as long as they're happy!

Leo is a huge help, and always wants to give Murphy his blankets, hat, and all the kisses when he's able. He gets upset and concerned if Murphy fusses about something, and runs over to make sure he's okay. He's already the best big brother he knows how to be and we're so fortunate to be able to watch the two of them grow together. I can't wait to see what the future holds for these two!

That's it for family updates for today. We've got a little man who needs some tummy time!

Thanks for reading, and we will be back soon!

B