Siblings

I am enjoying my kids so much these days. It is not just the way they behave/interact with me but with each other. What an amazing thing it is to bring another child into the world and to watch how it changes the course of so many different people's lives. With the arrival of little Emily, relationships have changed, the house is a little more crowded, but life is oh so much more wonderful.

Damien and I have watched four of our beautiful babies grow. We know what to expect, we see how they have developed and grown but the younger three cannot believe how Emily is developing. "She is miracle, Mom!" "Emily is so huge, Mom!" "She smiled at me, Mom!" I hear these observations on a daily basis. Michael, Claire, and Matthew cannot get over their ever-changing baby sister. When a baby is born, the rate of growth is just unbelievable. Just when you get used to a baby being a certain size, they change into something different. Well, Emily is off to the races in her development and like a beautiful flower, she blooms and grows with each passing hour. Lately, the big hit with the kids is her smile. She is very good at smiling these days and just completely floors the kids when they get a smile from her. She makes them all so happy and they spend hours with her making her delightfully happy. Matthew's biggest obsession with Emily is proclaiming how cute she is. Seriously- he must say this twenty times a day. "Em-i-yee is koot." "Em-i-yee is super koot." The other day I got him from his crib in the early morning and after I said good morning to him- he told me how 'koot' Emily was. They were the first words out of his mouth!!! He really loves her. Not because he has too, but he seems to appreciate the delicate little creature that she is. It touches my heart so much to see him genuinely love her like that.

Michael and Claire have been so wonderful with Emily and Matthew these days. They ask me if they can 'babysit' her and I happily give them that honor! They will take care of her while I do random tasks around the house and are able to pick her up if she is fussing. The only rule is that they can't walk with her. But picking her up and bouncing her to keep her happy are within their 'babysitting' privileges! Claire is my Little Mommy and helps me so incredibly much. She likes to assist me with Emily's baths and helps Matthew out a ton. The cutest thing is seeing Matthew find Claire after he has gotten in trouble. If I scold him or have put him on a time out- he will find Claire and want her to hold him. He really seeks Claire out for comfort and I bet they will have a really special relationship as they grow older. Michael is really good with Emily. For some reason, she is a smiling machine when he is with her! She loves his voice and he knows how to make her calm and happy. For a while- Michael and Matthew were agitating one another but they seem to be more on the same page these days. They love to play Star Wars together which is really cute. Since school started, Michael and Claire are getting along better, too so things are pretty harmonious here in the Swendsen household. After introducing a new sibling into the mix- we seem to have found solid ground.