Baby Ruth's BIRTHday - Part 3: The Meeting

As a reminder, you can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

I should be napping...but seeing how Ruth is almost a month old, seems like I should wrap this up. :-)

The kids went to school that day.  It was a difficult choice to make, because I think William's parents wanted to keep them home.  There were a lot of factors involved and I won't get into them all.  Ultimately, we made the choice to send them.  After Ruth was born, we gave William's parents a call to let them to know to go get the kids and come on up.

We actually didn't tell them on the phone any further details.  We just know William's parents.  They get super excited and eager...and (selfish or not) we wanted to be the ones to give the kids the news.  When the kids walked in, William still hadn't told them anything, other than Baby Bean had been born.

There are a few things that cracked me up.  First, the kids didn't ask whether Baby Bean was a boy or girl.  In their minds, they already knew she was a she.  (Rebekah had been saying so for the last couple months and Peter followed suit.)  So their comments went straight to "Oh she's so cute!"  Secondly, they had been in the room for about 15 minutes already when we realized they never asked what her name was.  Again, in their minds the baby's name was Baby Bean...or Sally.  That was a name Rebekah had chosen and was pretty staunchly in favor of. 

Rebekah was giddy with excitement to hold little Baby Bean...errr, I mean Ruth.  I love the look on Peter's face.  He's all "Just hand  her over."  

They ooooo and awwwed over her for quite some time and have been smitten with Ruth ever since.  They still ask to hold her daily.  When Peter wakes up the first thing he does is run in and give her a good morning kiss.  When he gets home from school, he runs over to wherever she is at and give her a hug and a kiss (skipping me altogether).  Rebekah loves sitting by herself and holding Ruth (which we do allow...she is calm enough for that).  She has been irritated we won't let her pick up Ruth by herself!  :-P  AND if I ask her to entertain Ruth or keep an eye on  her, she does so diligently.

One time William took Peter to the store with him.  I hadn't anticipated Rebekah wanting to go, but she decided she wanted too.  William wasn't keen on the idea, as it would make the trip that much slower.  So I told Rebekah I had an important job for her...she needed to watch Ruth while I took a shower.  My showers take about 20 min. :-)  Rebekah sat the entire time by the swing and never took her eyes off of her.  I hadn't expected that.  It was so sweet!

Anyway...back to the big birthday.  So the kids have been in love with her from the beginning.  They could not get enough of their new baby sister.  We finally had to pry her out of their hands so that Ruth could have her first bath and we could get moved to the next room.  (Nurse Teresa suggested we do this before the rest of the family came, mostly so that she didn't have the difficult task of prying the baby away from more eager family members.  LOL)

And at some point in here somewhere, William did run out and tell his folks the details so they weren't left wondering.  We didn't want to be cruel. :-)

Here you can see Nurse Teresa, Ruth, Rebekah, William and Peter.

 

Nurse Teresa was so patient with the kids.  I was again glad I had a nurse who had 5 of them herself.  (Really, anyone who has 5 has to generally be a patient person...right?)  Ruth of course was crying and the kids wanted to know why.  Nurse Teresa told them Ruth was talking to them.  So then there were about 500 questions of "What is she saying NOW?"  I bet she regretted saying that, at least a little bit?  But she came up with all kinds of things.  "She is saying she doesn't want a bath."  "She is saying she is so happy to meet you guys!"  "She is saying she loves you!"  "She is saying HI!"  "She is saying..." it went on and on.  

Rebekah kept comment on all of Ruth's tiny body parts.  "Look at her ears!  They are so small and adorable!"  or "Look at her nose!  It is so small and cute!"  And at one point, Rebekah said "Why does Ruth have a BOY hair cut?"  

Peter talked a bunch too, but mostly repeated what Rebekah said.

After everyone cleaned up (including myself), we moved to the new room.  Even after the move, the kids did NOT want to put Ruth down or leave her alone.  I think the grandparents all had a bit of green eyed envy because the kids got so much time with Ruth.  But it was important to William and I to foster this relationship so early and get it off to a good start.  Family is important, but siblings will be there for each other much longer than the grandparents or even William and I.  It has always been a dream of mine to have kids who were more than just related...and actually enjoy one another's company and genuinely love each other.

We had a few picture snafu's in the hospital.  Below is the only picture I have of me and Ruth...as well as me, Ruth, Rebekah and Peter.  We also do not have any pictures of all 5 of us.  Whoops.  Normally I think of these things, but this time around I simply was enjoying the moment SO MUCH I didn't have a thought towards pictures.  (This is highly unusual for me.)  That is Uncle Thomas (William's brother) in the background there.

 And some more random pictures of Rebekah and Peter.

This was later after everyone left...William claimed he was tired.  I'm sure he was, but it seems that the person who just gave birth might have a bit more of a claim on "most tired".  Just sayin'.  (I love to tease him.  His response would simply be "When am I NOT tired?" lol)

 

The grandparents and uncle finally got to hold Ruth, of course.  And of course she has won the hearts of everyone who gazes upon her sweet little face.  How could it NOT?  

When we got home from the hospital (again, no pics...I was seriously deficient! LOL) we did a gift exchange.  Ruth bought some gifts for Rebekah and Peter.  Rebekah and Peter actually also bought a gift each for Ruth.  Rebekah chose to get Ruth some "PJs" (a sleeper).  Peter chose a stuffed animal.  So we had actually gone to build-a-bear and let them make Ruth (or Baby Bean...as was so named at the time haha) something.  They chose a black bear with a pink baby outfit.  Good thing Ruth was a girl...haha.  

Ruth got Peter a watch and a piggie bank.  She got Rebekah a watch and a book of puzzles.  Rebekah was pretty excited that Ruth had picked those things out for her.  She asked me if Ruth did it all by herself...I told her yes.  She said she was so proud Ruth used her hands. LOL 

When I talk about the relationship between my kids, the automatic response I nearly always get is "You just wait!  Wait until [insert time frame here], they'll be fighting like cats and dogs!"  This amuses me.

As I said earlier, my one wish for my kids has always been that they have a great relationship among one another.  I was petrified when Peter was born that the two would hate each other.  When I was pg with Peter, I really wanted a girl.  In my mind, if I had a girl they had a better chance of getting along.  One day on my drive home from work, God began talking about this to me.  He said He was the perfect family builder.  I really couldn't argue with that, because everything God does is perfect.  I won't get into why some families are rather dysfunctional, other than we all have choices.  God also gave us free will after all.  And in this moment, He was really asking me to trust Him on building my family. 

When Peter was born and Rebekah adored him...it was a confirmation.  Romans 8:5 says "Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires."  And I think we can all agree that God does care about families.  He did design them after all!

So this time around I really didn't give it another thought about whether the kids would get along.  I wondered if Peter might get jealous, as he is still very much a mamma's boy.  BUT - I knew it would work out.  And it has.  I think Ruth has Peter wrapped around her tiny little pinky finger.  He would do anything for her now.  And I love it.  Watching Peter move into this new role of Big Brother has been such a sweet experience.  He has done it with typical Peter gusto (meaning full throttle, no holding back and with absolute dedication).  Shoot, he gets mad when we don't let him help change her diapers.  He'd do it himself we would let him.

And I need to get some video of him talking to her.  It is so adorable watching this almost-3-yo talk in a high pitched voice (for him) to his baby sister.  ;-)  Yesterday I heard him singing to her in the swing when she was starting to get a little fussy.  And the few times he has hurt her (and made her cry), it has absolutely heart broken him.  He kicked her with his beloved boots accidentally and then refused to wear them for quite some time (at least a week, but I don't recall exactly how long).

Rebekah has been herself.  She is very motherly towards Ruth, informing me of Ruth's needs.  "Hey mom, I think she is mad b/c she is hungry.  Feed her."  She watches over Ruth in a similar fashion as she watches over Peter.  She also enjoys showing off her baby sister to everyone she possibly can.  And she loves to simply sit and hold Ruth and stare at her.

I look forward to watching their relationships blossom over the years.  Rebekah and Peter do not always get along, but they DO love each other deeply.  Everyone squabbles (hello - married people squabble!).  But I'm so grateful God has put the perfect people in my family to create the perfect family. :-)  Ruth fits in just perfectly.