Thinking Allowed: New parents again

Levana's three weeks old, and doing exactly what you hope newborns will do: she breastfeeds avidly, grows by leaps and bounds, looks increasingly like a respectable human being. She's using her pudgy little hands to grab hair with surprising strength, makes her way from back to side with kicks and grunts, and her poor swollen, bloodshot, rolling eyes are now clear and blue, and she looks around with much more curiosity and less discomfort. Even her cries, which started out as those hoarse, scratchy squalls that infants do, have gotten more expressive and glimmers of her personality come through when she goes 'Gah!' in a particular tone of voice.

These three weeks have been mellow for the most part. Tamar is quickly returning to her usual shape, weight and energy level which looks liberating. She is a captive to the baby much of the time, but every day has its strolls with a wrap or pram, and she's reading a lot. Sophia spent a week at gymnastics camp, where she seemed to get most of her coaching and spotting from her 12-year old friend Olivia. Although (maybe because) it was almost totally unstructured, she made lots of progress including her first back handspring, front flip, and lots of kips. Tova went to surfing camp and is getting pretty good on the board; Aurora took some surf classes too and seems to really enjoy it. Zadie's had a chiller time of it, staying home with her parents and playing on the beach whenever she gets the chance. The girls have continued to rock-climb quite a lot too.

Life with Levi is different but nice. Aurora carries her around for at least an hour a day; Levi's very content in her arms. There's Bach playing in the background most of the time again. We can go to cafes or the beach if Tamar bounces around to placate her, and the morning outings to surf camp have become a nice hour-long walk to start our day. I stressed my way through getting her passport and hassling the Canadian embassy daily, and it's now thankfully on its way to us (though I will still be a bit nervous until it's actually in our hands). And life goes on with our newest companion!