February 9

It's done! Today we sold my old car. It's funny - I've had that thing since it was brand-new in 2007, when our lives were completely different. When we bought it, I was working as a teacher and we were still a year away from even thinking about having babies. Still, Chris and I were planning long-term, and we bought the Camry hoping it would be our "Babymobile". It definitely served its purpose, and I am thankful to see that it went to a family who will appreciate it like we did.

We spent most of our morning handling the sale, and I even got to drive my new van for the first time! After everything was done, Chris and I took the little ones out for a celebratory brunch. It was Eli's first trip to a restaurant, and he slept the whole time. What a good baby.

Eli also slept through the whole car-sale thing, and most of the afternoon. Still, he is slowly starting to have more alert phases. It seems like he is only awake an hour or two total each day, which is part of the preemie thing, so I'm trying to take advantage of the extended sleepiness!

I am finally starting to feel better; I realized last night that I may have finally turned a corner. My swelling and pain are down significantly, even if Eli still can't nurse on the affected side. I'm just happy to finally see some improvement! When Caleb came home from school, I was up and doing things, which hasn't been the case for the past week. 

A friend from MOPS brought dinner, and Chris worked to put that together while I wrote thank-you notes and helped Caleb with his homework.

Math practice. Caleb rocks.

Daisy watched Caleb, Eli slept in his swing, and Lily... well, she had the best spot in the house! 

It's amazing the difference it makes to have Chris home when Caleb gets home from school. Our evenings are calm, unrushed, and pleasant. I suppose the whole "friends bringing dinner" thing also helps the dynamic, but still. If only we were independently wealthy and Chris didn't have to work! Or, if only Chris could leave work at 4:00 every day. Sadly, that's not the case, and real life resumes on Thursday. 

Chris has been able to take two weeks vacation after the birth of each of our children, and with the first three we really only needed a week of that. After a week, I felt confident enough to send Chris back for half-days, then short days... This time, it's a whole new story. I wish I could keep him home just a few more days, because I'm so afraid I won't be fully functional by then. But then, maybe I will be. I'm improving rapidly, so I'll keep praying to be back at 100% by Thursday. Feel free to join me in that prayer!