Visiting in the hospital and homecomings.

[lollardfish]

Nico, grandma, and grandpa came to visit Lizzie (the current preferred nickname, along with my personal favorite, schmoopy) Friday in the afternoon, then we brought her home yesterday morning around mid-day. Nico is handling it well, though exhibits some signs of stress when too close to the baby. The hospital visit was fine - he snuggled with his mom for a few minutes, looked at the baby, then played with the tissue paper that came with Lizzie's godmother's gifts. Good times.

Coming home seemed more stressful, though partly it was right at mid-day and naptime for the boy. So he slept, long and hard (longer than usual). When he woke, he was a bit reluctant to leave his crib, and spent a full half an hour just laying snuggled on me on the couch, looking at mama and the new baby. I think it was a vital processing period. We're trying to alternate time around the baby and time spent with various parents in isolation.

Our first night home was fine for me, in that I can't feed Lizzie yet, so I rocked her when fussy but had to give her to mama when she was hungry. I'll get up with Nico each morning, though, and hope mama and the babe can snooze.

Pictures follow the cut. More new ones here.



In the hospital, Nico briefly considers the new kid.



Best picture of the whole family.



A particularly nice shot of Lizzie's face (in grandpa's hands)

Comments

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

The arrival of the new kid is definitely a tough time for the one who has been an "only." The first kid--even if they're older and can kind of understand--has no concept of sharing the parents, and suddenly they're relegated to half (at most) the parental time and attention they see as their rightful portion. It sounds as if you are doing good things to minimize the trauma.

Now, our second one arrived (at 15 months) with the ability to do things like grab her older brother's toys and generally interfere physically in his life. At least older sibs who get a newborn sib don't have to deal with that!