Settling In

After 2 weeks of having grandmothers at our house and then last week when we were in Greenville, it's finally me and the girls at our house...alone...scary! I was really nervous about how this week would go and if I would be absolutely exhausted and especially how Emmie would do...this whole new sister thing has been quite an adjustment for her. I'm pleased to report that we've made it half way through the week with flying colors! It's been so nice to be able to establish a routine based around our normal activities and the girls have both thrived with the return of a predictable routine. Sure, we still have our rough moments but they seem to be few and far between. So far this week we've managed to go for our walks (that's the easy part of our day!), go to My Gym and go to Publix and Bilo.
This week I've also been reminded what a sweet girl Emmie is...some days/weeks it's easier to remember! I felt like I spent the first 3 weeks of Ellie's life telling Emmie "no". No you can't sit in the bouncer or the swing, no you can't pick up the baby, no you can't kick, step on, pinch, sit on, etc the baby, no you can't wave the baby's hand every time you tell her hi (which is often...Emmie likes to tell Ellie hi and then wants to help Ellie wave hi...it would be really cute if it didn't involve her pinching Ellie's arm in the process). Anyway, while I spent 3 weeks telling Emmie no, she spent 3 weeks telling me no. No to EVERYTHING! Needless to say it was pretty rough but around the 3 week mark things really started to click and my sweet Emmie emerged once again (and it helped the whole situation that the meaning of the word gentle seems to have somewhat sunk in!). This week Emmie and I have had such a good week. She's been very obedient (obey is one of our new words, as is cooperate) and very helpful and has loved helping me take care of Ellie...she loves her sister so much and loves to hug and kiss her. Ellie absolutely adores Emmie. If Emmie is around Ellie watches everything she does...it's super cute. I was so excited when I found out Ellie was a girl because I wanted to watch them develop the sister relationship and develop a strong love for each other...I knew Emmie would probably be madly in love with her sister from day 1 but I had no idea that Ellie would be so responsive to Emmie...it makes this mama's heart so happy and I hope that they always love each other this much!

Now that you've read all my ramblings here are some adorable pictures of my girls together!

Emmie loves to share her toys with Ellie!

Emmie is telling Ellie how yummy broccoli is!  Emmie and Ellie spend a fair amount of time each day hanging out on the playmat together.

On a side note, today I learned something quite distressing while reading Anne's blog. Did you know that there's only supposed to be one space after a period? NOT two spaces. Do you know how hard it is to attempt to break this habit? Check out her blog post (click on the link above) where she has a link to an article that explains this earth shattering (or at least earth shattering to me) news!