As we got ready for the great Tess unveiling with my siblings (finally!), I remembered to finally update the rules. If you’re coming over, please take a minute to look them over and help keep Tess safe. Also, we so appreciate how respectful everyone has been! We worried about coming home and having to turn people we love away left and right, and everyone here has been incredibly supportive and understanding. It took such a huge load off our minds.

Tess had a cranky morning, which is unusual. This is not a morning person, folks. She’s normally pretty unconscious until later in the day unless she’s eating. Today though, we got hollering and spit up and twisting and screeching…it was a doozy. This could’ve been awful, but I’ve put in a lot of extra hours so I’m totally off today – so she chose well. We cuddled and talked and she ate a ton before spitting up on me (favorite Tess game: wait for daddy to leave and erupt), then she got a bath and snuggled into her blankets for a long, deep sleep. The ferocity of my love when I tuck her in like that – when she can hardly keep her eyes open and just wants to stay with mom – is immeasurable. So I took the opportunity to clean, catch up on email, do laundry and dishes and pretty much lay claim to the parts of the house we can use. No workmen were here, so it was almost eerily quiet.

Dinner with the sibs was spectacularly awesome. Mom has become the great preemie protector, and set us up for dinner with adult children only at the river lane, a fave resto we all worked at and love. Fran the hostess set us up on the patio so Tess got a corner to herself. Then she told a bunch of people we knew that happened to be there that we were outside, but schooled them all in the rules before they came near. It was so fun to safely share her with some of our fun Milwaukee people who’ve been cheering us on from afar! So Tess had her first real public outing and we didn’t have to yell at anyone – mom and Fran warned them for us! So. Much. Fun. And the sibs? So, so fabulous to have all of them around a table. We had a blast! I love my family.