HUT Meets Ellie

Man, I feel like this entire blog is dedicated to just my kids lately, and rightfully so as they consume just about every facet of my life at the moment.

I wish that we had some gushy, feel good story for when HUT met Ellie for the first time, but, truth be told, it was a bit nerve-wracking for all of us.

The day that Ellie was born was the longest that I've ever been apart from my HUT. We had never spent the night apart from him (in case you haven't noticed from the blog, we tend to just travel with him as opposed to leaving him with family/sitters). I was nervous that he'd feel abandoned by us, but since my mom has been living with us for quite a while now, I knew that having her with him would be really important. So, instead of having my mom in the room when I delivered, as I had with HUT, she stayed back to take care of him and then would bring him to the hospital once Ellie had arrived.

Once we were all settled in our room, I called my mom and told her to take HUT to eat and play for a bit before bringing him to the hospital. He'd already been at school that day, but he usually eats his "first" dinner around 4:30-5 (then he'll eat dinner with us later as well), so I thought it best to fill his tummy before he arrived.

Wrong. HUT wouldn't eat for my mom and just wanted to play.

So when he first arrived, we were met with tears as he was reunited with both of us and then a look of horror at the "thing" I was holding in bed with me. Everything we had planned - the gift for him from Ellie, quiet time with just us, pictures as a family, etc. - it all flew out the window. We left the gift in the car. All of the grandparents showed up at the same time, thus leaving us with no personal time with HUT. HUT's lack of food in his tummy made him quite irritable.

I asked him to get up on the bed with me, which seemed to calm him down. He was curious as to the baby I was holding for all of five seconds before he just wanted to eat my hospital food and flirt with everyone in the room. I was nervous that he'd hit Ellie, not because he's violent, but because he's a two-year-old boy that is rough. He's used to banging tools, racing cars, flying planes, etc. Not gently touching a newborn.

So, in the end, he finally calmed down and we managed to get these pics...

One with my head cut off. And one with only the three of us. NOT EVEN A FAMILY PHOTO!

This, my friends, is real life. Real, crazy, unorganized and hectic life. But we got our photo shoot eventually and things have calmed down... a bit.

The roughest part of his visit took place when the U walked him to my mom's car to head home. My mom said that she'd never heard him so sad - like his heart was breaking - as she drove him home. Makes me teary eyed even thinking about it now, although it's long forgotten in HUT's book at this point.

So there you have it - our notsotwonderful, but very real, meeting of the siblings.