The Fourth Trimester

Have you heard of this term? It's the 3 months it takes for a newborn to adjust to outside life and the 3 months it takes the mom to "recover" from pregnancy.

The growing pains of the fourth trimester have been eased by the live-in help of four people: My folks and Aunt Autumn and Leslie. My parents are a whirlwind of productivity. Grandma takes over household duties:and my dad takes over fix-it jobs. After they left, Talmage said he wanted to be a "Tool Man" like grandpa. We decided it doesn't take a village to raise a family - it just takes four adults. One to manage the house, one to fix stuff and chauffeur, one to earn the living, and one to nurse the babies. Among other things, Grandpa fixed the fence that got blown over in the wind, finished installing a sideyard gate, built a shelf in the closet, re-wired the electricity for a new light fixture, and five minutes before they had to leave, both he and grandma each started and finished just one more project. Grandma was equally productive and furiously busy: cooking, cleaning, driving kids around, playing therapist. In fact, it was during one of our sessions where I was reveling in post-partum depression, that she taught me a new word: mamaracha. It's Quechuan for DOWDY. And it's okay to be mamaracha for awhile.

Now that they are gone, Aunt Autumn and Leslie have taken over the reigns. They are entertaining Talmage and Sydney all day long so I can recuperate in quiet, run errands, blog ....

These are pics Autumn took of their Monday and Tuesday activities.

From one mamaracha mama: I thank you; I love you.