Yep, that's my girl! She is snoring almost as bad as I did in my 3rd trimester! I've never heard her snore like this before... but I must say, it is sooo cute! (Again, if anyone knows why youtube is cutting off the right side of my video, I would be very appreciative if you would share!)
Yesterday after I got off work Caroline and I took our first real stroll outside. Here are some pictures I took on my cell phone as we were walking. Steps to a successful walk: 1. look cute 2. fuss 3. drool
On to American Idol. Who's watching it? Oh my goodness... can I tell you how much I don't like Siobhan? PLEASE do not scream at me again! I didn't like it when Adam Lambert did it last year, and I don't like it when you do it either. Also, I know this is mean, but your mouth really annoys me for some reason.
I just love Michael Lynche. He seems like such a happy person and he is easy on the ears. =) Casey James has his moments, so I kinda like him too. I didn't love Crystal Bowersox at first because she does come off as somewhat arrogant, but I have to admit-- she was amazing last night and is pretty much better than everyone else. My money is on her (no surprise there).
I CAN'T WAIT!!!!! We're going towards the end of May with my Gommy, mom & step dad! This trip wouldn't have been possible on such a tight budget, but Gommy is very generously covering the cost of the condo to celebrate my mom's big birthday coming up in July! I'll be polite and let you wonder which birthday it is. =D
Anyway, I can't wait to go and to see little miss Caroline in a bathing suit! I realize she is too young to be out on the beach for extended periods of time if it is really hot... but how cute is this?!
Hopefully it will be warm enough... last May Dan and I went and it was cold the whole week (and we had a terrible hotel/room). It should be a lot of fun and the first of many family vacations as a family of 3!
This weekend was really good. Saturday was a day of recuperating after a long week. I pretty much sat on the couch with Caroline all day. It's funny how sleeping in until 9ish feels like sleeping in now, when a year ago 9:00 was relatively early! Saturday night Dan and I ate somewhere new (to us): The Magic Tomato. I ordered the Chicago Deep Dish pepperoni pizza and it was pretty fantastic. Afterwards, Caroline and I went to Target while Dan looked around Books a Million.
Sunday we got up and went to Temple Baptist. We still haven't found the best fit for us as far as church is concerned, so we're visiting a few places. It seems like the music portion is either a rock concert or super traditional. I'd love it if we could find something somewhere in the middle. After church we went to Cracker Barrel and then home. I had hoped to go buy some paint to redo my great-grandmother's mirror for Caroline's room, but it was just plain COLD outside so I asked Dan to take us home. For the rest of the afternoon I did laundry and straightened up the house. By 10:00 I was SICK AND TIRED of folding clothes! All in all, it was a good, balanced weekend of laziness and work.
Next weekend (yes it's Monday and I'm already wishing for next weekend) should be fun too! Saturday is Hubfest and it's supposed to be in the mid 70's so that should be a lot of fun! I also plan on visiting Duds for Doodlebugs sometime this week and maybe again on Saturday for their half priced sale. Hopefully I can find some good deals for Caroline!
Lauren from 'the little things we do' is hosting fill in the blank Friday. I thought it was kinda cute and interesting so I decided to participate!
1. Today I am wearing black pants with a cute black & white polka dot top I recently got from Maurices with black wedge heels that I wear almost every day. (Side note: I just discovered Maurices a few weeks ago and I love it! They've got a lot of cute stuff!)
2. My favorite childhood food was nutty bars and my favorite food now depends on my mood. I love pizza and chocolate... and especially Japanese food! (I'm so thrilled that Hattiesburg has a good Japanese place to eat! I could not find a good place in Nashville... so strange!)
3. A day that I am too busy to cuddle, love on, and smell my sweet baby is a day that I am too busy.
4. The last movie I saw was Love Happens and the next movie I want to see is Dear John.
6. A weird little quirk I have is I can't stand to see foot prints on my wood floor (especially after I've recently cleaned it) so I walk around on the sides of my feet to try to avoid leaving prints. I'm not sure why walking around in clean socks leaves prints on our floors, I guess maybe because the floors are so dark? When we first moved in I swept and mopped almost every day. Ah, the life of a woman before she has kids!
7. When I take personality quizzes they always say I'm extroverted and that's pretty much as true as it gets! I have had this really strong desire lately to have close friends. I hate that my best friends are scattered around so much and I wish I could create some strong links in Hattiesburg.
Well, I guess that's about it for today! 5 minutes until quitting time. WHOO!!!!!!
Doesn't this just make your heart ache? Read the whole thing. Then, go hug your husband.
It really makes all those petty arguments disappear instantly, doesn't it? For me, it opens up a wound so intense and deep that it hurts to read this woman's words. It's like the time Dan and I were sitting in the movie "Stop Loss" and I was sobbing... uncontrollably... out loud. I was definitely doing the ugly cry.
Anyway, all this is to say, please pray for this momma & her family.
I think I might just be going insane. I was just sitting here at my desk, reading blogs about new babies (what else?) and I was struck by the irresistable urge to have ANOTHER baby! Y'all, Caroline is 9 weeks old and I'm already feeling this way! How crazy is that? I don't have this urge all the time, just when I read about or talk to pregnant women. It is such a blessing to be able to have babies! I just pray that God helps to shape us into the kind of parents that Caroline deserves.
My "plan" all along has been to wait until Caroline was old enough to go to school so that we wouldn't have to pay 2 daycare tuitions, but I really don't see how I'm going to hold off another 4 years! Dan makes jokes about us having irish twins all the time. Seriously though, we have to wait at least a year or two minimum. We don't wanna end up like the Duggars, do we? I absolutely love them, but I really don't want 19 kids! I think it's so funny to look back at my strong opinions or plans and see how much they've changed. You never know how you're going to handle something until you're actually going through it.
This post is starting to go all over the place, but oh well. We went to church Sunday for the first time since Caroline was born. Here is our little sweetie all dressed up!
We also purchased a fence for our backyard in the last week. Now we can let Shelby out and not have to worry about her running off or getting eaten by another dog. I'm not so sure she likes being left out there unsupervised...
And finally, here are some random pictures Dan took of Caroline and I tonight:
This weekend Dan and I are headed to Jackson to keep our niece and nephew while their parents take an anniversary trip out of town. I'm so excited and can't wait to take pictures of Kate, Bryce & Caroline! Maybe that will change my desire for another baby so soon! Ha!
Monday was little bit's first day of "school" as Dan calls it. I'm really glad my mom & his mom took care of Caroline for a week and a half before we had to take her to daycare. I think it has made this experience quite a bit easier on me because I was already (somewhat) adjusted to not being around her during the day. It has been a little easier doing this in stages like that. The daycare we use has a webcam that you can watch for 20 bucks more a month. The picture isn't nearly as clear as I had hoped... I can't even tell if she is crying because it's so fuzzy. Really, the only way I can tell which one is mine is the color of the outfit I put on her that morning. This is what I spend much of my day at work looking at:
No, that isn't the dirt on your screen or your bad contact lenses... the picture is really that fuzzy. Oh well, it is better than nothing. At least I can see when she is being fed or held. She had a little bit of a diaper rash on Monday when I got her home. It could be just a coincidence, but that was her first time to have it so I made sure to take some cream for them to use and I also mentioned it (very politely) to them. It drives me crazy to see her scheduled feeding time come and go without her being fed... but I know when they have so many babies it is impossible to keep them all on the right schedule. I don't know how more controlling mom's handle it-- I'm pretty laid back and it really irks me! I know it probably sounds like I'm just full of complaints, but I really am happy with the daycare so far. I guess I should say, as happy as possible.
This morning the ladies who keep the nursery commented how much she sleeps. This girl can sleep. I mean, A LOT! I'm definitely not complaining, but yesterday she had to have slept 20 out of 24 hours of the day. I just hope nothing is wrong with her... I'm sure she is fine, but I'm definitely going to ask our pediatrician about it.
That's all for now! I'm off to go pick up my little snuggle bunny!
As of 3:10 this morning, Caroline was 7 weeks old! She was 10 1/2 lbs at her 6 week check up last week (50th percentile for weight & 90th percentile for height!) She is drinking about 4 1/2 oz every 4 hours and sleeps over 7 hours a night (most nights).
I love watching her kick her little legs out one at a time. She started smiling at around 5 weeks and if you can get her to focus on your face, you're pretty much guaranteed a precious smile!
The rest of this week has been much, much better than the beginning of it and I'm so thankful for that. I am sad when I really think about it though, because really, how can she know me and remember me if I'm gone from her 11 hours out of every day? If only I would have known how I feel now, I would have been saving for this a long time ago so that I could stay home with my little rose bud. My Gommy has called her rose bud a few times and I think it's so sweet.
That's all for now! The weekend is almost here!!! (Insert 'finally friday' song here!)
The weekend before last we visited our good friends, Nick & Julie in Nashville. Julie is about half way through her first pregnancy and I'm SUPER excited for her! She was always there for me to celebrate my milestones while I was pregnant, and it is fun to do the same for her. Last week she found out she is having a boy! Watch out Baby Butcher, I'm already planning Caroline's wedding! Ha!
Soon to be Daddy... He's a natural!
Julie & Caroline:
I made a stop by Dave Ramsey's office to see some of my old co-workers. I miss them SOOOO much!
Stephanie and Caroline:
Amanda (aka MiMi) & Caroline:
I really wish I would have taken a picture of all the girls. I felt so loved when I walked in the door and about 10 of them were all gathered around to see Caroline and I. I got to eat at two of my favorite places while I was there... Jersey Mike's & Pei Wei! De-lish! We're thinking about taking another trip in the spring and I'll definitely be making a trip up there in July or August to see Julie & Nick's newest addition!
Well yesterday and today have been better than Friday and Monday. I've been able to keep it together at work, which is nice. I still think/worry about it constantly, but at least I've got my emotions under control. C has been sleeping from 10:30 pm to 6 am every night for the last 3 weeks or so, but the last two nights in a row she has woken up at 4:30. It really throws the whole schedule off! Last night I cooked delicious poppy seed chicken for the first time! It was pretty easy, except I wanted the chicken shredded instead of cubed and that took some time. I don't know how working moms do it! I got off early so I got an early start cooking, but I still wasn't done until 7 and I was exhuasted after cleaning up the kichen and all.
I'll leave y'all with a couple of cute pictures of my sweetie! awwwwee....
Yes, that was me this morning... at work, mind you. How embarrassing. It's crazy how fast the tears come-- they seem to come out of no where! For example, I emailed my friend Julie (after I had calmed down) to tell her about my tough morning, and she emailed me back "Oh honey! I'm so sorry!!" Who would have thought her response would make me start all over again!? I definitely didn't expect this. I knew it would be tough, but I feel so hormonal and I've been absolutely fine for the last 4 weeks (no hormonal outbursts).
Anyway, I just have to hang on a few more months. I hope to go part time in June once we have a chance to recover from me not getting a paycheck for 6 weeks and when Dan gets his annual raise. There are definitely some kinks to work out, but I have faith things will work out. In the mean time, I need to stock up on some kleenex!
By the way, for those of you with kids: When did you move the baby into his or her own room? I think now is the time I should be doing it, but I just can't imagine her being all the way across the house!! I'm away from her all day and now I'm supposed to be away from her at night too? This Mommy stuff is hard work!
So here I am to share Caroline's birth story! She is a month old today and I just cannot believe it!!
Here is a picture I took of her & daddy this afternoon (on his new chair!)
Okay... so on to the details of Caroline's birthday. Tuesday night (Jan 5th) we went to a fabulous Japanese steakhouse here in town called Oishi. It was our last outing as a childless couple!! I slept about an hour and a half that night... just so much to think about! Here is my last belly picture that Dan took before we left for the hospital Wednesday morning.
Here we are pulling out of the drive way (running late as usual!) We were at the hospital Wednesday by 5:30 am to be induced. by 7 am I had had an enema (it was my first... boy was that fun) and was started on a pitocin drip. My doctor said we should meet baby by sun down. Caroline had other plans! (A princess already... making us wait so long!)
If anyone can tell me how to make the blog show the whole video and not cut off my head, that would be great...
At 7:45 my doctor broke my water and I was dilated to 1 (I had been half a centimeter for weeks). I was shocked at how hot the water was and how much of it there was! It's not just one gush like I thought! Disclaimer: Please excuse my crazy husband's comments in this video... but I wanted to post this one because its the only one with him in it!
By 9 am I was having about 4 contractions every 10 minutes... the contractions were lasting about 45 seconds and were painful but bearable because they would peak and go away. I would just breathe through them and watch the clock and squeeze two of Dan's fingers. My tail bone killing was me- those hospital beds are NOT comfortable!
It was soon after this point that the contractions got a little worse and I thought, "What could a little Stadol hurt??"... and so I decided to take it and it made me kinda crazy! No really... we have proof:
...and it only got worse from there... (I didn't know he was taping me here)
Seriously... the stadol really didn't do much good except for making me talk crazy! PS... a little advice to those who have to go through this in the future... get your IVs on the hand that is on the SAME SIDE as the IV pole... it was SOOO annoying to be draped across me the whole time because it kept pulling. As you can see in the videos, I'm crunching ice because I had TERRIBLE acid reflux (or up chuck as I call it in one video) ha!
By 12pm I was dilated to 3cm and got epidural at about 12:30. That REALLY slowed things down! I can't believe people get so nervous about the epidural! The IV's in my hand definitely hurt worse than the epidural.
I don't remember if I started throwing up before or after the epidural but that continued pretty much all day. It was so unexpected but the doctor said some people just respond to labor by throwing up. Around 2:30 I was 4cm and by 6:30 I was dilated to 5... The nurses were starting to mention c section if the baby didn't come down anymore. I was pretty determined to wait it out- after all, I wasn't in any real "pain" because the epidural was working wonderfully!
Here is my niece Kate waiting with the rest of our family on Wednesday night!
I'd never heard that you forget the details of your labor soon afterwards, but you really do! Our families decided to go back to our house to get some sleep around 11 (I think?). Around midnight I started feeling real pressure down south and I was dilated to 9! Whoo!!!
I started pushing at around 1am and I was exhausted from push number 1. They turn all the lights in the room off except for these two big spot lights on the ceiling. I could not believe how hard pushing was! Right away I was like "uh... I don't think I can do this..." We had a great nurse who just kept encouraging me and stayed positive the whole time. I guess they're just used to women saying they can't do it! I didn't feel like I was doing effective pushing... I was holding my breath and turning red in the face- it's like I was pushing up top and not down low like you're supposed to. She kept saying "push down low like you're having a bowel movement" but I just couldn't figure out how for some reason. They give you a big mirror if you want to see everything (which I did). I originally thought this would encourage me and help me see the progress I was making, but I was so wrong! The nurse kept saying "look it's the baby's head!" I couldn't believe how positive she sounded... all I could see was a portion of the baby's head about the size of a quarter. It was extremely discouraging! But I kept the mirror and only looked every now and then. Thankfully, throughout all the pushing I didn't scream like a crazy lady or say anything like "am I dying??" but I was definitely a wimp! Poor Dan... I know he must have been very worried!
In the last hour of pushing I started having some sharp pains and they said that was because she was turned the wrong way. The doctor tried to turn her with his hands, but I don't remember how well that worked. I can't put into words how tired I was... not sleepy, but exhausted. I've never been so close to insanity in my life. I cried a little, but never for very long. At one point I wanted to take a break but as soon as they took my legs out of the stirrups I was like "Oh there is NO way I can rest like this! Back to pushing!" Another odd thing, the nurse and Dan were the only ones with me while I was pushing. The doctor didn't come in until the last 15 or 20 minutes. They said it was normal for the doctor to only be present once the baby is crowning. When he finally did come in it was obvious he had been sleeping because he was telling me what was about to happen but he kept yawning over and over again in the middle of his sentence. This made me LIVID! Here I am.... basically on my death bed (: and you're YAWNING at me?!?? Sheesh! I really wanted to give up and have them do a C section and I kept thinking "WHY did I WANT a vaginal delivery!??!" The doctor said "Ten more minutes and you'll have baby!" and my response was "I don't believe you!" Dan said everyone smiled and giggled when I said that, but I was too out of it to notice. I was right though! It was at least thirty minutes longer. At the very end my doctor said "I think you're going to need some help" and I said "YES! PLEASE!!" (hadn't I been telling them that for hours?) so I ended up with a 2nd degree episiotomy. When they put her on my chest I couldn't believe how beautiful and perfect she was! I don't remember if she was crying right away and I don't remember Dan cutting the cord. So strange! Once they took her and put her under the warming lamp to measure her and clean her off she was definitely crying. I remember just looking at Dan looking at her. So sweet! :)
I immediately started apologizing to the nurse and doctor for my craziness, but they said I wasn't too bad. My doctor said one time a woman in labor got upset because she wanted a C section and she was like 8 cm dilated and she got up naked and went down the hall like she was going to leave! He said his nurse said "what do we do?" and he said "she'll be back... trust me!" Crazy story!
Here is Dan handing her to me after she was all cleaned up. I can't believe I'm posting a picture of myself looking like this!
The recovery wasn't too bad... I finally feel like I'm back to "normal" now and I only have about 5 pounds of baby weight to lose before I'm at my pre-pregnancy weight! (I'd like to lose about 15 though!) The first few days after she was born my arms were SO sore from pushing/pulling on the bars they give you. It was so crazy! I felt like I had been in a car wreck! I never could figure out why those workout videos for pregnant women have you work your arms... now I know! All in all, I didn't expect labor to be so much work (that is a crazy statement) but Caroline was SO worth it!
Well if I have any readers left I'm amazed! Sorry for the lengthy post, but I want to be able to remember these things 10 years from now.
Caroline is two weeks old today! Can you believe it?!
She apparently wanted to celebrate because she was up until about 12:30 last night! :) See?!
We started the day by going to her two week check up and I'm proud to report that we still have a healthy baby! She was 8 lbs 3 oz at birth and has gained 2 oz since then. Here we are waiting for our Doctor. (They made me strip her naked so that's why she is all bundled up... and it was cold in there!)
After our appointment we came home and took a much needed nap! Then I gave Caroline her first real bath... and she LOVED it! I could just tell she really enjoyed the warm water all around her! She only cried after I pulled her from the water and was drying her off. I think it is about impossible to keep them warm enough while you're drying them off... poor baby!
Can I just say that blogging is a whole lot easier when you have a million pictures of a baby to post?!
Last week Dan's mom came to keep me company and help out with baby Caroline. Dan had Wednesday off so she and I escaped to Walmart for some groceries (who would have ever thought I would consider Walmart an escape?!).
This week my mom was here for two days.
Today we went out to eat for lunch and I don't think Caroline was too impressed with her first visit to a Mexican restaurant!
I'm so glad they were able to come! That's all for now! Just thought I'd share pics of some sweet grandmas! :)
My SIL Amy came to Hattiesburg today to shoot Caroline's newborn pictures and they turned out SO good! I'm extremely thankful to have her in my life for many reasons (not just because she gives me all her baby things and takes amazing pictures!!)
I'm saving two of my favorites for her birth announcement, but here are the rest of my favs!
If you're looking for someone to take some amazing pictures for you, check out her website: www.amyhenryphoto.com!
Y'all have to be patient with me! I know I'm seriously neglecting my blog and its MANY readers, but this lady (who normally gets 9 to 10 hours of sleep) has been going through a little bit of an adjustment phase! I'm almost done writing up Caroline's birth story, but it includes lots of videos taken with our new flip and it just takes a little time to get the videos to upload to youtube. I can't seem to get the videos to upload directly to the blog, so I think youtube is my fastest option (and it still isn't fast).
Caroline is really a good baby! The first week she slept basically around the clock. Now we're noticing more awake time and trying to make that during the day instead of at 10 pm or 5:30 am (like we had this morning). We're trying to finish reading Baby Wise so we can get her on some sort of a schedule! She pretty much is on a schedule, (eats 3 oz every 4 hours) but poor baby hasn't had enough dirty diapers lately so we're going to try decreasing the amount of formula and increasing how often we feed her (more like 2 oz every 3 hours). Her umbilical cord fell off 2 days ago... I can't believe she is already a week old!
It's ironic how at one moment I feel like I'm neglecting her for letting her cry for 5 minutes... and the next I feel like I'm spoiling her rotten for holding her to let her fall asleep. It's such a fine line!!! But really, who could resist this face?!
We've got a crying baby right now, so all I have time to do is post a few pics! I'm sure most of you have already seen these pictures, but I'm posting them for my friends and family without facebook access. My sister in law took these and they are PRICELESS to me!!!!
I'll be sure to share more about her birth and her cute little self later!
I'm a 20-something girl living in south Mississippi. I'm very happily married to my husband, Dan! We said our vows one very hot evening in June, 2007. We're originally from the Jackson area, where both of our families live. We have one child, Caroline, who was born in January 2010. She is the most precious gift I have ever received and we love her dearly! I am head over heels about my little girl. We also have 2 fur-children, Shelby and Retta.
I'm a huge animal lover. I hate cold weather and I'm a junk food junkie. I pinch pennies whenever I can. I absolutely love board games! This blog is entirely devoted to my daily life, which consists mainly of taking care of Caroline.
I am so undeserving of all the blessings God has given me. Without a doubt, He has been good to us! Each day, I'm trying to learn more about Him and grasp a little more of His perfect love and grace.
