She’s finally here! Our new little addition finally made her appearance one week ago on September 24th, 1:53am (at 41 weeks and 6 days)! She was 7 pounds 7 ounces at birth, 20 inches long and is perfectly wonderful.

Her name is Kaya . . .

three days old

We had a planned home birth and it was actually quite a looooong long labor. I had been going through waves of regular and irregular contractions for days – some mild, some really intense and by day 6 or so I was exhausted and discouraged and really considering heading to the hospital to be induced. Hideko and my awesome midwife kept me hopeful though, and I’m so glad they did because we were able to have the home birth that I had imagined and in the end all that hard work was totally worth it, of course.

six days old

I can’t get enough of all her little baby parts, her soft skin and yummy smell. I’m trying to spend as much time snuggling up with her as I recover and we get to know each other and bond and redefine our family to include one more.

But to be honest, this whole 2 kid thing is kinda kicking my butt. On one hand, I want to just get lost in goo-goo-ga-ga land with Kaya all day long, but I also want to be there for Yuki especially during this huge transition. Physically I just can’t keep up with a 3 year old right now, and she is also so emotionally needy. Poor Hideko is running around trying to take care of everybody – it’s going to take awhile for us to find our new family groove I guess.

But Yuki is super sweet to her baby sister. The first time she met Kaya, she was scared – she told us so. She likes to gently touch her face and give her little kisses. But when Kaya starts crying, Yuki says, “can you put her back to sleep?” Haha!!

Kaya is very lucky to have such a fun, spunky and loving big sister. I can’t wait to see how they grow up together.

I’ll be blogging here and there, though not quite as often, I’m sure. I’ve got so many projects I want to sew and share, but we’ll have to see how that all fits in with family and life. Until next time . . . take care and happy sewing! And be well!