Completeness

So, last Sunday, Henry was freed from his bili-blanket. He ended up having a combination of physiological jaundice along with breastmilk jaundice, and while breastmilk jaundice is not dangerous, it would not allow his bilirubin count to come down, so the doctors would not allow him to come off "treatment." We ended up supplementing every other feeding with formula for 48 hours and his levels plummeted! So thankfully, life has returned to our "unchained" normalness.

We have taken full advantage of being free this week. On Tuesday, we all went hiking at Wirth Park in Minneapolis. They have a Quaking Bog and a wildflower sanctuary that we all had fun exploring...and the weather was gorgeous. Today, we hung out at home and walked to the park and then played in the sprinkler this afternoon. The kids were excited to get the sprinkler out for the first time this year!

(I had to add some photos of the kids drinking from the water fountain at Wirth for Jill...We did not allow the kids to actually lick the metal part, but they did try to come close!)

I would say the picture of Henry sleeping and smiling pretty much sums up how we are all feeling these days. There is a great sense of being complete in our house now. Not that we were missing something before, but we definitely feel like a whole now. As crazy as our house is MOST of the time, and as crazy as we all drive each other, I think that if any one of us (or the animals) were missing, we just wouldn't function the same. It makes me happy numerous times each day that for the rest of my life, my little family will all have the same memories. We will all be included in making them happen. Henry has for lack of a better way of putting it completed us! (So Jerry McGuire)

There is also something amazing this time around. Maybe it is because the "big" kids are a little bigger than Belli was when Logan came along. All the fears of how a day would look, or if we would make it through, or if everyone would get what they need, don't exist this time. Everyone has fallen seamlessly into place. We never even missed a beat. This week has been our first week "alone" (visitors are gone, Jonah is back at work) and we have done just fine. It really has been great. (Henry has also been sleeping 6 hour stretches at night, so that doesn't hurt!)

Hope all is well with everyone in Illinois. We miss you all a lot. Then I went to the DMV today to get my Minnesota drivers license and everyone holds doors for me and asks about the baby and tells me how perfect he is and lets me rush through lines because I have him....And I think Minnesota isn't really all that bad.