Our sweet Phoebe Jane is now two weeks old. She’s doing really well and we’re all (slowly) adjusting to our new life of FOUR. Four piles of clean–but wrinkled–clothes. Four mouths to feed. Four people to keep happy, healthy, rested and entertained. But other parts of life are more exponential: there are a lot more than four “beautiful” messes around the house, sets of dirty dishes, leaves left to rake and rotting pumpkins to do something with, phone calls and e-mails to return and thank-you notes to write (sorry!). Like a friend and I were discussing today, it’s not that things really get that much easier as you adjust to life with a new baby, but you eventually adjust to a new version of “normal.” Eventually…

In this transition time, we’ve been blessed with lots of wonderful meals. Really, this is a huge help because the witching hour of 6 rolls around and just when you think you’ve got everything under control, the baby spits up all over you and her, your two year old is melting down because her blood sugar is low and you won’t let her watch another minute of Dora (is it just me, or is Dora incredibly annoying?) and she wants to nurse TOO and just then, your tired and hungry husband walks in from a long day of work to this scene. Oof. Thank goodness there is a meal in the oven that a thoughtful friend made or else the wheels really would fly off! All FOUR.

But looking at that sweet baby puts it all into perspective, one mountain of clothes at a time. And lots of deep breathing and strong coffee…