First few days as a Family of Four

Welcome to the world, my precious little son!
Witten Allen Du Toit hit the scene at 8:14 on Sunday morning. For all the hoopla he made in my tummy, he has been a near identical baby to my firstborn. In character, at least. Although very often, he does look a lot like Noah did.
  After a long night/morning of laboring, I pushed nine times, and Witten debuted with a small cry. Then, much to my surprise and delight, he settled right down and only cried when the mean old nurses pricked, poked, pulled, and pried at him. Just as with Noah, Stephan and I fell instantly in love with this tiny baby boy. He's so small! Even though he weighed in a full pound heavier than his big brother did at birth, he looks so tiny! And then my mom and dad got there with Noah and he looked even smaller! Or maybe it was that his tiny-ness makes Noah look massive! Either way, the size difference is astonishing, and since Noah started out even smaller than Witten did, Witten has very good chances of being a beast like his brother.
  As if the birth of our son wasn't enough excitement for Stephan and I, the hospital informed us that Witten was the first baby of the new year. Thanks to his order of birth, Witten landed us on three different news stations and in the Tyler Morning Telegraph. Needless to say, I am framing that front page article and hanging that in Witten's nursery.

Noah loves to hug and kiss Witten. Notice Stephan having to restrain his enthusiasm a bit.

  As for how big brother Noah is handling all this craziness, at first, he wasn't to sure of anything. He was even miffed at me for a while there. Then, after much encouragement from mommy and daddy, Noah warmed up to his baby brother. (We're trying to make sure Noah feels protective/possessive of his little sibling by emphasizing their brotherly relationship.) More than once has Noah hopped up to where Daddy was holding Witten and tried to snatch his baby brother into his own arms. He's so big, though, that we have to keep a very close eye on him to make sure that he is being gentle.

First slumber party! (They didn't actually sleep that way, but it was a cute photo op)

  As for how the parents are coping, I have noticed that life continues on much as it used to, only with a noticeable change. All my worries about not knowing what to do or being overwhelmed have thus far fallen flat. The way I see it, I do what I've always done with Noah throughout the day while at the same time, repeating what I did with baby Noah with Witten. So far, since being home, this system has worked very well. (Thank You, God! Praise You forever!) I don't want to sound overly self-confident and assume that life from here on out will be a cake-walk because I'm some super awesome parent. I know there will be trying times (and days) in the near future.  For now, I plan on taking each day one hour at a time and treasuring every moment I spend with my amazing husband, my crazy toddler, and my snuggly baby.
    Sorry, friends, but there may be a decrease in updates from now on. Come to find out, there is little down time when you are the mother of two. Take now, for example: my baby calls.

    Thank You, God, for Your astounding goodness to me!