It's been nearly two weeks since little Lucy was officially discharged from the hospital after her bout with RSV, and I think we're finally settling into our "newborn routine." As any parent knows, it's not as much a routine as a plan. Or maybe just a plan of a plan. A framework, if you will, for how you hope your day-to-day operations will procede, with the final approval firmly in the hands of our newest family member. And really, things have gone pretty smoothly. She has her days when she just wants to fuss and cry anytime a bottle isn't in her mouth, but most night's she's letting us get a decent amount of sleep, limiting her overnight interruptions to a 1am, 4am, and 7am room service call.

When the room service call does come, we've found that we have approximately 3.5 seconds to comply before she gets FURIOUS!! This has prompted us to really think ahead when bedtime is approaching so we can make the overnight feedings as efficient as possible -- or as efficient as she will allow, at least. We're finding that one of the best shower gifts we received was a bottle storage / warming device that we keep in the nursery. When we're heading to bed, we can prepare two bottles that can be kept cold in the cooler section of the warmer. When the call comes in, the bottle is placed in the warming slot and about a minute later it's ready for consumption. That minute, however, is just about the longest minute of your life as you sit there trying to explain to a three week old that, yes, the food is coming. It's coming very quickly. It will be here in just a few more seconds please stop crying it's almost ready please stop crying I promise it's almost ready please stop crying please please PLEASE!

This is the face. The one that lets you know you have about 0.5 seconds before she has reached the end of her patience with you, oh keeper of the bottle.

The other thing that has been great to have during the late-night feedings has been our iPad. Sometimes the feeding takes just twenty minutes, and sometimes it can take an hour. It's nice to have an easy-to-handle device to either read web sites on during the short ones, or watch Netflix movies on during the longer ones.

Really, though, I think we've done a pretty good job getting into a routine where we're each able to take some "sanity time" while the other is in charge of keeping Ms. Lucy fed, changed, and happy. I've been fortunate enough to be able to meet up with friends for breakfast the past two Saturdays, and yesterday January took the bold step of leaving the house without her daughter for the first time. Then there was this past Thursday night, where we successfully threw January a birthday cocktail party with several friends, all with a three week old strapped to our chests. She got fussy occasionally, but in general we were able to enjoy the evening.

We're so thankful to have our little girl back at home, safe and sound and RSV-free. The late night feedings can be frustrating at times, especially when she decides that she shouldn't have to go back to bed afterwards, but after the first two weeks of dealing with her sickness and focusing on getting her better we couldn't be happier about where we're at. Everyone tells you to take the time to enjoy them while they're this little, and so we're trying to do just that.