Still Not Dead!

I'm back from the dead, people. My mind is so cluttered from not being able to sort my thoughts out in this space, but I really had no choice. I have had so much craziness that there is not a moment to spare. Not a moment!

I shall lay out the series of events in bullet form, not only to get you your news in a timely and organized fashion, but so I can have a little list to remind myself of the things I would like to elaborate on. Here we go:

• I was living with my parents for more than a week before the baby came to be close to the hospital (this meant NOWHERE TO NEST! NOWHERE TO NEST! DANGER! DANGER!)
• My dog, who is naturally anxious, was so worked up about being in a strange house and living with my sister's cat, that she was licking bald spots into her fur and acting straight-up pathetic (and I had to keep saying "NO LICKING!" all night)
• I was in early labor for more than three weeks (SERIOUSLY, they LET THAT SHIT HAPPEN)
• I had the baby early (duh, like there was any other way she was coming)
• I had the baby on Josephine's birthday (I swear, I told her that was the ONLY day she couldn't come, and she CAME)
• I had a rather traumatic birth experience (especially compared to the easy-peazy Josephine experience)
• I had to take my baby back to NOT MY HOUSE, and LIVE OUT OF SUITCASES (we were incredibly lucky my parents took us in and helped so much, and we had lots of extra help frommy sisters, but still, LIVING OUT OF SUITCASES WITH A NEWBORN AND TWO-YEAR-OLD AND JACKED-UP HORMONES AND MORE ISSUES WITH GETTING INTO THE HOUSE. OH MY GOD)
• I had either a raging case of post-partum hormone dips and dives or post-partum depression (either way, it was B-A-D, and I'm still a bit weepy)
• Genevieve had some health issues, and I found myself in the hospital and doctor's office an awful lot (we think we're out of the woods)
• One week after giving birth, we moved into our new house (and on the same day I had to go to two doctor appointments and make a trip to the hospital for G to get a test done, with Josephine in tow, NO BIGGIE)
• Genevieve, still recovering, had some serious breastfeeding issues and required me (and my boobs) to attend to her around the clock (not that I have a two-year-old, or stuff to unpack, or rooms to paint, or NEED SLEEP)

Long story short (too late -- especially since I fully intend to discuss all of the above AT LENGTH), I am just pulling my head above water. This is the first time I am opening my computer in two weeks, I believe, because I literally didn't have an ounce of time or energy. How do people with more on their plate do it? I'll never know.

As a reward for making it through that litany of whining, here are some lovely pictures to get you up to speed. Thanks, friends. I hope you didn't all abandon me and assume I was dead or lame (although I was a little of both ... and still am, I guess). Anyway, here are the happy highlights of life lately with my girls: