Delovely Details is expanding in so many ways recently. The biggest expansion is probably that we added another employee and sister to Evelyn, with Hazel Marie!
Hazel was born in the middle of a global pandemic on June 7, 2020 at 9:01pm in very dramatic fashion.
While her entrance was dramatic, I’ll save that for another post, her existence has been mostly dramatic-free. Thankfully. Except for today while I try to write this post, typical.
Going from a family of 3 (+2 pooches) to a family of 4 (+2 pooches) has been fairly easy given that Drew is working from home due to said pandemic and business has been much slower with the restrictions we’ve seen on weddings and large scale events. Then again, I feel that taking care of a newborn is easier than being pregnant. At least for me anyways.
Hazel has been a very sleepy baby. At first we had to wake her up for her most of her feedings. This was the complete opposite problem we had with Evelyn who woke up for every single feeding SCREAMING. It was really hard to bring myself to wake a sleeping newborn at 4am but once she got back up to her birth weight, we started allowing her to take longer stretches. Now she wakes up on her own, we just have to work on keeping her awake long enough to take a full feeding so we aren’t up again an hour later.
Evelyn has made this transition beautifully. It helps having Drew around more so she’s still getting most of the attention she is used to. We are able to trade off with Hazel so that Evelyn hasn’t really had to “share” us too much yet. She is learning to be quiet around the baby, how to be gentle, help with diapers, and what burp cloths and pacifiers are for. Her favorite is wearing her “baby” in her Solly wrap just like mum wears Hazel.
This whole experience has been pretty crazy, being in the middle of a pandemic and all. However it’s had it’s silver linings. We aren’t feeling pressured to just jump back into a go-go-go lifestyle again, we are able to establish a good routine with both girls that seems manageable, and we are soaking all this family time up. There are definitely some challenging parts, something I will discuss in another blog post.
If I had to choose my favorite part of becoming a family of four, it has to be seeing Hazel and Evelyn develop their relationship. I have a little sister whom I’m very close with. I already see that relationship within my girls. Evelyn will burst into tears if I don’t let her come wake Hazel up with me. The first thing that we noticed Hazel tracking was the voice of her sister. Drew and I have to work at getting smiles from Hazel, where all Evelyn has to do is ask Hazel if she had a good nap and Hazel just grins ear to ear. They’ve definitely already started on that road to becoming good friends, and while I’m sure there will be fights and disagreements, I hope and know that they will learn to appreciate each other and share a love for each other.
If you know Drew personally, you know he’s into cars, racing cars, flying RC things, sports, typical “boy stuff”. When we told all our friends and family we were expecting another girl, most of the responses were, “Drew is the perfect girl dad”. (Just a suggestion, responding with…”aw, are you gonna try again for a boy” is a horrible response to a gender announcement.) They were all completely right. Drew was put on this Earth to be a girl dad. He would’ve been an amazing father to a son, but I think deep down he knows he was meant to be a girl dad. He is the best girl dad and his girls adore him. I love watching him love our kids, it just all feels so right and complete now.
I am adjusting pretty well I think for being a new mom again in the middle of a pandemic. Yes I am a new mom. I know I’ve been a mom before, but that was a mom to Evelyn. Being a mom to Hazel is completely new to me. She is a totally different person and her needs are a lot more different than Evelyn’s were. I was a bit naive feeling like I had this gig down already, but I quickly learned that each of my children are different and I have to be different for them. I am soaking up all these newborn moments that I didn’t with Evelyn. I would never say never, but Hazel is most likely our last and I am also excited to put the baby making stage behind me and start the next phase of my life as a mom: raising these girls and showing them the world. Being a new mom during a pandemic has raised a lot of questions, nerves, and insecurities in me. But I’m ready to take on those challenges as well to show my girls how to be resilient.
I feel incredibly blessed with my family. We were deeply touched by all the well wishes we’ve received over the last few months with Hazel, the meals sent to us, and gifts we got. Thank you so much to all our friends and family for the outpouring of love and support for our sweet Hazel.
All photos are courtesy of our cousin and talented photographer - Danielle Mancino Photography
