It's not that I didn't love our boys as babies... it's just that this time everything has been such a dream.
When walking a bundled-up, soundly-sleeping little Helen back to her room one night I thought "she truly is a bundle of joy".
She is such a sweet, happy infant, but I don't think that is the only factor. Her arrival and the entire process of settling her into our lives and our family has been a joyful experience.
My two older boys are at such independent, fun stages too. They play constantly with each other, and other than breaking up fights (and trust me, I do a lot of it!) they entertain themselves. They are easy to take places right now (so long as there is nothing breakable and noise is welcome). They dote on Helen and don't react negatively to the time it takes to care for her. They love to help by bringing diapers and finding the swaddling blankets for me when it's naptime. The fact that Helen is so low maintenance so far certainly helps them enjoy her too because it requires so little effort to make her content and satisfied, so we just get to enjoy her the rest of the time she's awake.
I cannot believe what a complete 180 this experience has been from bringing Joseph home. No offense to Joseph intended -- he was a beautiful newborn, and it was not his fault that I had a horrible recovery and that his acid reflux made him scream all the time, or that Ian was a holy terror and resented being a big brother. I am just so thankful that every one of those factors was different this time around.
I think it also helps that this time around Scott and I have learned from our mistakes and we -- let's face it, I -- am not as high strung as when Ian and Joseph were tiny.
I guess the point of this post is just to record that raising Helen has been a joyful experience. That adding her to our family has been a joyful process. And this whole experience has made me believe that we could actually have more children. I love being Ian, Joseph and Helen's mom!
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