Where has the time gone!?

Hard to believe it has been more than a week since we brought Milayla home from the hospital. She has been a wonderful blessing and great addition to our family. We have tried our best to soak in every moment and to capture plenty of pictures.

As Jason already shared, the birth was a great experience. When we got home we introduced Atticus to Milayla, but since it was way past his bedtime he was not too keen on meeting his new baby sister. Their meeting in the morning went much better. Atticus climbed into our bed next to her and couldn't wait to give hugs and kisses. We all spent most of the morning in our pyjamas with bedhead and trying to get some rest.

In the afternoon the boys went to the store to get a surprise for Mommy and Milayla. They came home with Birthday cake for Milayla and flowers for Mom; what a lovely treat. Then they decorated the house and we celebrated the birth day of our newest addition: Milayla Rose Hochstein.

In addition to the flowers and birthday decorations we have a gorgeous diaper cake that the Young Women in our church made for us, our neighbor helped Jason put up a baby banner and a stork crashed into the window of our apartment building. The experience of having a baby in Holland would not be complete without beschuit met muisjes ("biscuits with little mice"), which we find quite tasty.  We also had daily visits from our Kraam.

beschuit met muisjes; biscuits with sugar-coated anise

Our Kraam weighing Milayla

We have had a lot of people ask how Atticus is adjusting to Milayla and we are happy to report that he has been doing fairly well. He wants to help with everything and comes running as soon as he hears Milayla crying. There are certainly moments where he wants attention and cannot get it right away, but he is handling it all quite well. And we are impressed at how well Milayla sleeps through all of the things going on around her.

Atticus trying to take Milayla's temperature.

Atticus going to give Milayla a kiss to try to help her feel better.

Trying to pick up Milayla; not something we really want to encourage at this point.

To be honest, the first week went by far too quickly. Milayla loves to be held and sleeps incredibly well during the day but we are still working on the night time routine. We are very grateful for the friends and family who have helped out in so many ways. Milayla's arrival has been such a positive and incredibly joyful event for our family.