So, 6 days after Cruz was born, I did what any post-partum woman would do when her husband was going out of town...I went to my sister's house. That's right folks, another edition of Desperate Housewives: Grand Rapids. Dana & Matt graciously hosted us for nearly a week while Dave was out of town with a client for 4 days. It was supposed to be a glorious stay-cation so that I could recover from my C-section and have someone to help me (and play with Isla). Well, it wasn't exactly what I had thought, but we had a great time anyway.
The first night we thought we might try to have Brooke and Isla sleep in the same room. BAD IDEA. Brooke and Isla ended up screaming and crying and I had a small breakdown myself. After moving Isla to Dana and Matt's closet all seemed to calm down. At about 1:00 a.m. Dana came into my quarters holding a crying little girl. Once I came to my senses, I realized it was Isla and not one of her girls. So I had Isla lay on my chest while I was holding Cruz in my other arm (let me tell you how good that felt on the incision.) After about a half hour, she calmed down and I tried to go put her back in the crib in the closet. BAD IDEA. She was running around the crib like a caged animal screaming "Dis is mine!" and throwing her binky and blanket. Uncle Matt tried to talk some sense into her ("isla, this is Unlce Matt, and you are being very naughty") to no avail. After over an hour of this nonsense, I took the inconsolable child back into bed with me. She did not fall asleep until about 7:00 a.m. the next morning. At 7:30 a.m., she fell out of bed, ran around the room once screaming "Dis is my Binky! Dis is my Banky!" she got back into bed with me and passed out until around 9:30 a.m. She woke up because she fell out of bed, again. I don't know who cried more that night, me or her.
The next day we moved her to the closet in my room and the nap and bedtime seemed much better. At 6:30 the next morning she woke up crying. I retrieved her from the closet to find her burning up. While I took her temperature, she threw up. I started crying while watching the thermometer climb to 103. Not exactly ideal to have with a 7 day old newborn :( We headed to the hospital just to make sure all was well. I cried pretty much the whole time while all the doctors and nurses reminded me that Cruz would have to be hospitalized if he got a fever. Sick child + sleep deprivation + newborn + hormones = a real emotional mama. After 2 popsicles and a double dose of Tylenol and Motrin, Isla was feeling just fine. The Doctor gave me a hug and a pep talk and sent us on our way. Dana and I sanitized the entire house, every toy, every surface, every piece of laundry to ensure minimal germ spread. Call me neurotic, you wouldn't be the first. The fever came and went over the next several days which really put a knot in my social calendar. We didn't get to see many of our friends we came to see and those we did see were certainly brief visits.
Uncle Matt with his little nephew
This was their first bath of the day after Isla got home from the ER.
Cruz won the award for best behaved.
First runner up was this little butterball of sunshine.
Jenna couldn't stay out of all the baby stuff
(which led to lots more sanitizing, but totally worth it to see this little face)
Our gracious hostess
My dear friend Heidi got to meet Cruz for the first time.
She flew up to Michigan alone with her 3 girls ages 3 and under just to see us ;)
We got to see the sweet Reibel family.
Cruz and Joey share a birthday!
Big cousin Brooke taking care of the baby as usual
Reunited with her buddy
