Today

This is officially a miracle to be blogging in real time. I am currently in another reality as I sit at home with just one little baby who is very sleepy. I'm home until 3 o'clock in this quiet house while Matt is at work, the big girls are at school and the little girls are on an extended vacation with Mop and Pop. I really don't know what to do with myself!

These three little girls were beyond excited to travel to Arnold with Mop and Pop just two days after Luke came home. They'll be gone for a week, and they are showing no signs of homesickness in this picture, or in the Skype sessions we've had since they left. Even Mary barely looked our direction as the car pulled away from the curb!

They're soaking up extra attention and we're enjoying a quieter, less chaotic house this week while Luke (and I) get used to being home. It's such a luxury to be able to make this transition so peacefully. The running around with this little guy will begin soon enough, but I'm really trying to enjoy these first days as much as possible. Luke is such a lucky sixth baby to still have some semblance of peace in his first few days home. Today reminds me of the days after bringing Megan home from the hospital, and to experience that again is just amazing!! There's nothing better than being able to relive those first time mom feelings, and to appreciate it all that much more knowing how fleeting this time is. Now excuse me while I behave exactly like a first time mom and post a bunch of pictures that are all extremely similar!

Adding to my new mom nostalgia is the fact that little Luke looks a lot like Megan as a newborn!

Enough already with the pictures!

I am just in love with this sweet little guy. He's incredibly mellow during the day, and does okay at night despite wanting to nurse pretty frequently. He also seems to prefer our arms over his bed, which makes for an exhausted daddy who has been walking around the house with him in the wee hours of the morning to keep him asleep. I think Luke might need those sisters of his to come back to town and remind him that he really is the sixth baby in our family ;) He's getting a little spoiled right now!

In other news, there's nothing quite like dealing with a backed up sewage line when you have a four-day-old baby in the house. We experienced our first plumbing issue two nights ago when I pulled back our shower curtain to take a desperately needed shower and found two inches of standing water! Needless to say, I did not get my shower for another 24 hours while we called a plumber, paid for a root rat and learned far more than we wanted to know about our pipes and the tree roots that have invaded them. But, we're thankful to have it fixed for now and to pretend like we don't know there are more problems lurking beneath our garage and driveway for us to deal with at a later date. Life is never dull here!

Little Luke is stirring now, and this first time sixth-time mom is off to forget about plumbing problems, dishes or laundry and just snuggle my itty-bitty baby boy!