Sweet Retreat

So last month we had the opportunity to watch a two week old baby girl for a mom who had to go to the ER for some severe abdominal pain.  We picked her up early morning Wednesday and had her until Thursday afternoon so her Dad could be with the mom at the hospital (while she underwent surgery).

I was pretty nervous as she had only ever breastfed and I don't know a thing about bottles (and I wasn't about to become a wet nurse!  Ha ha, Jonas just weaned weeks before that so that wasn't even a possibility).  Anyhow, I didn't even know what her temperament would be or anything so after a 10 minute bottle tutorial and supply stop at a friend's house we had a newborn in our family for about 36 hours and what a sweet experience it was!

It was rather nice to be at full energy and health levels with a newborn as usually I am exhausted after labor and delivery and trying to heal, nurse, recover emotionally, etc.  I was actually hoping she would be a difficult baby so that I could just say "phew...we can't do that for a while!" but she was such a sweet thing who ate well, slept well, cuddled well, and you get the picture.  The girls and I were in baby heaven.  I can't say the same about Jonas.  He definitely showed some jealousy, although he did sign "baby" and even sighed "aah" while pointing at her. 

Since then, Lillian has not let it drop and repeatedly tells me: "I just loved when we were taking care of that sweet little baby. It was so fun to have her at our house, you'll have to tell her mom and Dad that we want her to come over again. I even loved her little cry!"   I'm sure she could just feel the special spirit that was in our home as a consequence of having the baby here.

There were times when the baby needed me and Jonas needed/wanted me at the same time, and I would just say a quick prayer and one or the other would just calm down, or fall asleep so I could adequately meet both of their needs and wants just that simply.  There were numerous tender mercies like that throughout the entire experience.  Even holding her was such a sweet experience knowing she was so fresh from Heaven and that she was being watched over by her Heavenly Father. 

I went upstairs with the baby after a presidency meeting and Jared had our room all set up with the changing pad in the bathroom, rocking chair in the room, and bassinet at the foot of our bed and it was so cute of him.  He is really thoughtful like that and even though he rolls his eyes at me I know he likes babies more than he lets on and he appreciates that I like them too!!