Homecoming for Anders

It was 3 whole days before Linus and Magnus could meet their lillebror for the first time, due to the ban on children in the hospital.  They had seen pictures of Anders throughout our hospital stay, but we were pretty sure they would be ridiculously excited to finally see him in the flesh. It seems like only yesterday when that we had Linus, and  brought Magnus home from the hospital.

As soon as they entered the house both boys were jumping and yelling "Baby! Baby! Baby!" out of pure joy.  Linus again was thrilled about our family growing, and was so tender in all his interactions with  both me and Anders.  Magnus asked a lot of questions like "Tiny baby came out now?" then moved on to playing with a new toy car he got from Anders.  

By dinnertime, things were the same as they ever were, and it felt like Anders had been with us all along.  Both of the boys get really interested when Anders cries, say during a diaper change.  Linus tells him "It's OK." and Magnus even starts singing him a song, like they taught him in the hospital siblings class.

The following day first thing, Linus asked if he could hold Anders.  He told Anders "Oh baby, you're so cute." repeatedly.  

That evening we baked Anders a birthday cake-- Linus chose chocolate raspberry layer cake.  I highly recommend the recipe to my mom friends who like to bake with the munchkins.  We made it without the ganache frosting, and topped it with a dallop of fresh whipped cream instead.  Linus sifted the dry ingredients, Magnus stirred the wet ingredients, and Linus combined everything together with minimal assistance.  I happened to have a zero candle in the cupboard so we even got to sing "Happy Birthday" and blow out the candle, before digging in.

 

Our lives have been fairly "normal" dotted with episodes of total chaos.  A few days ago Anders had a poop/pee fest that resulted in 3 diaper and 2 outfit changes, and a lot of yelling from Mattias.  I've had one good postpartum meltdown that involved wheeping, you don't need any more details than that.  But overall, I am a lot more active/useful/present than I was just a week ago.

We have a good share of quiet moments alone with Anders when Linus is at school and Magnus is with farmor.  I have to admit that I was worried that I wouldn't love Anders as much as the other two, I didn't see it possible.  But day by day, and even in the middle of the night, I find myself falling for this new man in my life.