Walking!

Today was the big day that Caroline officially took steps! I got a text from her daycare provider that she took 3 steps this morning. I have to say that I felt kinda sad that I missed the first time, but I know she will be running before long! I was happy that she also took several steps tonight too! It's like something literally changed overnight with her, she is a moving maniac! She didn't take just one or two steps, she took like 4 or 5 and she did it 2 or 3 different times. Oh, life is really going to change now!

She also has gotten her 4th tooth-the 2nd one on top. It's been coming in for a few weeks and it's almost fully there now, but she has had this cute little grin with 3 1/2 teeth for what seems like a long time. She is so darn cute! Her hair is also curling up in the back. It also seems to be quite a bit lighter in color than Meredith's was. I definitely wouldn't say she's blonde, but it is a very light brown.

She is talking up a storm these days too. There is very little that actually sounds like a word other than Mama, Dada & Baba (usually for her bottle). Mama & Dada also seem to be a bit interchangeable, but she clearly seems to understand that those words have meaning. She just jibber jabbers away, but she is still fairly quiet overall. Even her chatter is a bit reserved. Now, she can definitely get going when she wants to and generally it is during church or sometime when she really should be quiet!

Caroline and I are also officially done with nursing. We made it to almost 13 months and she had frozen milk for the full 13 months! I have to say that this accomplishment is something I am really proud of. It has been a bittersweet ending since I know this is officially the end of babies for me, but nice to feel like I officially have my body back too. I never imagined I would make it so long, but I ended up really enjoying it so much more than I did the first time around.I loved our morning snuggle time and felt like we really have a great bond because of it, not to mention she got the best nutritional start possible!

A quick Meredith update- she officially has her first loose tooth! Actually, I think she has 2 loose ones now- the bottom two. It's so crazy that Caroline is just getting her teeth and now Meredith is losing those same teeth! I bought her a cute little tooth pillow and look forward to playing tooth fairy, but it is also making me incredibly sad at the same time. Just like when I got teary eyed today when Caroline walked for the first time, these loose teeth are an official sign that my first baby is really growing up. She always assures me that she'll always be my baby, but I know those days are numbered. I love my girls SO much!

Happy birthday to my girls!

Meredith turned 6 last month and Caroline just had her first birthday yesterday!

We kept it pretty simple for both girls this year. We sent in some treats to her class and then just had family over for a small get together. We had been on the fence about having a big party for her and unfortunately, she had a few more issues at school, so part of the consequence was no party. I will say that she has really turned things around at school and has done an amazing job of making better choices in how she behaves. So, even though we had a rough couple of months, I am really hopeful that it is behind us now. She is really starting to pick up on more words and seems to really enjoy math. She is still taking ballet, but isn't quite as taken with it this year. So, she'll do her recital in June and then she may take a year off from dance or try a different type- I think she'd love something like hip-hop! As part of her birthday, she received money from a few people to take gymnastics. She had gone to several birthday parties at the gym and really loved it, so she took her first class last week and was thrilled! She seems to have hit yet another growth spurt. She is one of the tallest kids in her class and has really lost any baby face. She is a beautiful young lady and I get glimpses of her as a 'big kid' all the time. I still can't believe she's 6!!

Miss Caroline is now 1! How in the world did this year go by so quickly? Judy & Joe came into town to help celebrate & Mom, Papa & Allison (she had just gotten off the plane from China!). Of course, Caroline could have cared less. I also came down with some sort of stomach bug, which kinda wiped me out. I was really sad that I was sick on her big day :( We let her dig into a little cake and it took a bit for her to really dig in and then ended up enjoying feeding it to Meredith instead of eating it herself. It was really cute! Allison brought both girls beautiful dresses from China, she got some bath toys & clothes from both Nana & Mimi. Honestly, we didn't get her anything- she's one, she doesn't care! She has still been off and on with her sleeping at night. She will sleep for a couple nights, then be up for a night or two. I made it for the full year nursing, so I really hope she starts sleeping since I am basically stopping now. It is really convenient at night, but I'd much rather she just sleeps! She is really active now, which would make you think she'd sleep better. She started crawling at 10 months and 1 day! Almost immediately after that she was pulling up and cruising all over the place. No signs of walking yet, but I bet it won't be too much longer. She is most definitely a Mama's girl, which makes me feel good, but can be challenging to get much done when she is always wanting me to pick her up! She has one more tooth on top that finally cut through about 2 weeks ago. It seemed to cause her quite a bit of pain- it was this giant bulge on her gum for the longest time. So, right now she has 3 teeth and I wonder if her 1 year molars are pushing too. She is so sweet, but seems to get grumpy so easily lately. She pretty much refuses baby food these days, she has major food envy and always wants what is on your plate. Since she only has 3 teeth, I'm still a bit tentative about what I give her, but she thinks she's ready! Now that she's hit the year mark, I don't have to send food to daycare anymore, which will really make the evening bag packing easier! I'll use up the frozen milk, which should hopefully last another couple weeks and then move her right to whole milk. She has her 1 year checkup on Wednesday, so we'll see where she falls on the charts, but I have a feeling she isn't quite as big as Meredith was at the same age.

Meredith Grace

Since I dedicated an entire post to our sweet Caroline, I thought Meredith deserved an entire post too since she is blossoming into a lovely young girl!

Meredith will be 6 in less than a month, yes, you read it right, 6 years old! That number scares me a little. I guess anything 5 and under still sounds like a little girl, but 6 is the entrance into big kid stuff! She started Kindergarten in August at The Franciscan School, AKA Daddy's school. Chris teaches her PE and it seems to be going pretty well so far. He takes her every morning and I love that they get to share some special time that most parents and children don't get to have. I just turn her over to school every day and don't get to see the little things he does, but it does make me feel better to know that he's there, one parent is better than none! My mom is also just down the hall from her, which makes me feel even more reassured! Meredith is learning so much and is incredibly eager to learn how to read, but that is definitely taking some time. I know she'll get it, but she does seem to be taking a shine to numbers! A child of mine that likes numbers, yes! I think I will take the route of fostering that preference even though it isn't a particular favorite of mine. I told her the other day that Mommy uses math at work all the time and that totally confused her. By her response, I could tell she thought I was counting things and doing worksheets like she does. I guess in a way, that is exactly what I do! Ha!

She has had a bit of a rough time with a few behavioral things. Around Thanksgiving, she started getting frowny faces for being a bit to aggressive with her friends- pushing, hitting etc. We had a couple of rough weeks, even visited the principal's office and had to bring her home one day. Mommy had lots of tears that day :( She tends to be a kid 'herder' in the sense that she wants to bring kids along with her to do whatever the activity she wants to do- sometimes literally pushing or pulling people. She is also one of the tallest kids in her class (boys or girls) and I think it works to her disadvantage sometimes since she is just so much bigger than the other kids and she can 'get her way' more easily. It is never anything malicious or ugly, but I've decided that it's really her leadership coming out, but we definitely have to nurture it in a way that isn't so physical. She really is such a good girl and it makes me sad that we've had to go through some of this stuff, but it's all a learning experience and we're just doing the best we can! Fortunately, she hasn't had any issues since she's been back from Christmas break- it's only been a few days, so hopefully she can keep it up.

She was on a soccer team with the Saint Francis parish league in late summer/early fall. This was her first soccer experience and let's say it may not have been her best performance ever! No really, she has just never played and I'm not sure that the coaches really spent a lot of time on teaching the game. Of course, Chris was overly critical of that and he tried to spend some extra time with her, but that extra time is hard to come by sometimes. It also didn't help that the weather was bad and a lot of games and practices ended up being cancelled, so there wasn't a lot of consistency. She wavers every time you ask her if she wants to play again next season, so we'll see!

She is in ballet this year instead of her tap/ballet combo she has done the past 2 years. We gave her the choice and she picked just ballet. I think she had this vision of being an instant ballerina (hello, I was exactly the same way!), but has been a little underwhelmed with all of the basics you have to learn with ballet. She is such a free spirit, I'm not so sure that ballet is the exact right fit for her, but glad she made the choice and we'll see if she sticks with it again next year. She was ultra excited this week when she found out she'll be a fairy in this year's recital (Sleeping Beauty). Chris takes her after school, so I haven't gotten to peak in the studio to see how she's doing, but she enjoys it and is getting some exercise at the same time, so it's all good!

Now that a lot of her friends are starting to lose teeth, she is dying to have a loose tooth and has me check them on a regular basis to see if they are wiggly yet. I guess that's another right of passage I am not looking forward to. It just changes a kid's appearance so much and that baby face is gone for good when those scraggly big teeth come in.

Meredith is such a good big sister. We have only had very brief, if any evidence of her being jealous of Caroline. If anything, she wants to be in her face ALL the time. She always wants to hold her or play with her or do something with her. It is really very sweet, but at times, it can be difficult since Caroline seems to cry a lot when said things are going on! My new mantra for all of this is that I hope she always loves her this much. I worry sometimes about their age difference since I hear of a lot of people who have siblings that they barely interact with because they are far apart in age. Having such a close relationship with my sisters makes me want the same thing for my girls and I really hope they do always love each other and have a good relationship :)

So, that's my big girl. I'm sure I've missed something, but I'm going to try in this new year to be better about posting! I'll post another time about the holidays and try to get some pictures up too.

9 months and other fun stuff

I'm almost embarrassed about how long it's been since I have posted. My sweet Caroline is getting jipped! Really, she is such a sweet thing, I feel bad that I haven't posted in her last several months. My work schedule has made it so that I don't get home until much later than I had been, so the minute I walk in the door, it's go time and I don't have any free time until both girls are in bed and by that time, I'm ready for bed :)

Well, what has happened in 4 months?! Caroline started daycare in August with the same lady who kept Meredith when she was little. She was the only baby for a brief period, which made me happy, but then another little baby started. I'm not sure that we'll keep her at this daycare as long as we kept Meredith there, but it works for now. It is also a big part of why my work schedule is messed up. I can't get her there until 8:30 am, so I don't get to work until close to 9am, which clearly pushes the end of my day much later. Caroline is doing well though, at that's what matters.

Caroline has been such a different baby than Meredith was. I try not to compare, but that's my only other experience, so it's going to happen. Caroline didn't really sleep consistently through the night until she was about 8 months old...that was rough. She would go for a few days or even a week and then she'd be up in the middle of the night again for several days/week. Another difference is that I'm still nursing Caroline. It has gotten so much easier now that she is older because she only nurses about 4 times a day and sometimes she doesn't even want it then. I now regret that I quit at 5 months with Meredith-mother guilt for sure, but it was also a different time for me since I was in school at night etc. Ok, can't dwell on that. Anyway, I'm not sure if that contributed to Caroline's sleep habits, but I'm happy I've been able to make it this far and at this point she is over 9 months old, so I think I can make it another month or so and I have so much frozen milk that she should make it to a year without formula! Woohoo! I honestly never thought I'd be able to say that!

Caroline has also taken her time with things like rolling over and crawling. She has been able to roll over for awhile, but never did it with much frequency until the past month or so. That is how she can really get around- that or her cute little butt scoot! She is very close to crawling now. I feel like she has just gotten the upper body strength to give it a whirl. She gets up on all fours and just rocks back and forth- super cute!

She popped her first two teeth at 7 1/2 months and I think she's working on her top ones now. I won't be surprised if they pop through in the next few weeks. She has been putting those teeth to good use with food! She loves to eat. I introduced cereal a little before she turned 6 months old and just gave her that for a while, then gradually introduced baby food at 6 months. She has really loved it. I think since I waited longer to give her the baby food, she was ready sooner for soft finger foods. She gobbles up bananas and sweet potatoes- tries to jam it all in at once sometimes. They have these new rice cracker things called mum-mums that she just loves. She grabs that thing and just crunches right into it.

Her other favorite thing to do is to blow raspberries...all the time, especially with a mouth full of food. She thinks it is hilarious! It really is her 'happy sound'. Poor baby had the croup last week (really her first real illness other than a couple runny noses) and she just looked at my crying because she felt so bad and sounded horrible (first sick visit to the pediatrician too), but when she finally started making her raspberries, I knew my girl was back :)

By the way, at her 9 month checkup she weighed a little over 21 lbs, which was 80th percentile and her length was 70th and her head was 95th! Meredith weighed the exact same, but was a little longer and her head was a little smaller :) I'll have to dig up her 6 month stats- I do remember she was more in the 90th with her weight, so her growth has slowed down a bit.

She has started babbling a lot more recently. For the longest time, she has just been a rather quiet baby. Her first real sound was Ba, which has moved to Da and now she is getting Ma more now. It was sad, but it actually really touched me the night she was really sick last week, at 3am she cried out 'Maaaa, Maaaa' in that sick raspy voice. I really believe she was calling for me :) She has also gotten the high pitch squeal down pat- she loves making noise, especially in church or reacting to her sister's silly antics!

I think this post has gotten long enough for now- lots to cover! I will post more about Meredith's comings and goings too!

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5 months and a few days

Somehow, the last month has flown away. Caroline is a precious little thing right now. She is smiley and sweet 90% of the time. It seems like her teeth are really bothering her sometimes now though. She constantly chews on anything and everything and drools galore! She officially rolled over for the first time today from tummy to back, but she really isn't in a hurry to do it again though! We still haven't started cereal yet. To be honest, I think a big reason is because our schedule has been crazy mad lately and it's something I don't want to rush. She is sleeping fairly well, but still has the occasional night of waking up at 2am, but generally she is sleeping 9-5. I wish it was a little longer, but it's not too bad. She adores playing with her feet lately too. She can even get those toes into her mouth! It is so cute to see those chunky little legs curled up over her while she plays with those kissable toes :)
A few weeks ago, we met Judy, Joe, Kaci & Evan up at Tweetsie Railroad in Boone. Meredith had an absolute blast riding the rides and would have ridden the big ones if she had been tall enough. She was dying to ride the one that just drops straight down, but alas, she wasn't tall enough! Next year, we might be in trouble! She went to Tennessee for the week and then we went up the next weekend to get her. The week was a little easier just having Caroline, but it definitely wasn't like in years past when Meredith was gone for the week when we'd go to dinner and movies and celebrate a week of freedom!
I hosted a big bridal shower this past weekend for Allison. It was a coffee theme and we had a coffee bar with hot and cold coffee and all the fixins. We had a great turn out and I think everyone had a really nice time. She is down to a month and a half until the big day!
Chris went back to school today for teacher workdays, so it is the end of Daddy Daycare for the summer. I am taking some time off, so Caroline won't start daycare for a few more days. She will be starting with Prissila and she will be keeping Meredith for a few days as well before she starts Kindergarten. I'm heading to Charleston this weekend for Allison's bachelorette weekend, which should be a lot of fun, but the timing is a little crazy! Meredith's first day of Kindergarten is August 24th, but then is off for a few more days due to the staggered entry.

4 month stats

Caroline's 4 month appointment was on 7/18, so about a week past her true 4 month birthdate bc the Pediatrician had to reschedule...anyway, she is super healthy and is tipping the scales at 17 lbs, 10 oz!! That puts her in the 97+ percentile! The doctor was pretty surprised to hear that she hasn't had any formula yet!! Go Mommy! She is 25 inches, which is 75th percentile and can't remember the head measurement, but it's 95th....so, all in all we have a pretty big girl :) I looked up Meredith's numbers and she was a bit smaller at the same point, 15.3 lbs and 25.5 inches. She also got the 4 month round of vaccinations, which were terrible, but not as bad as last time. She slept most of the afternoon and we gave her Tylenol for the discomfort, but she never got much of a fever at all.

Caroline is really turning into such a sweetie. She laughs and smiles all the time now and her favorite entertainment is her big sister- Meredith has definitely gotten the best giggles so far, despite the fact that Chris and I constantly think she is smothering the poor thing! She has also just found her voice in the past week. She had been almost silent outside of crying and a few coos here and there, but not anymore! You can hear her testing out her vocal chords and gurgling and blowing bubbles and making raspberries. It's all very cute unless it is at 4:30am, which seems to be her new time for waking up. Usually she's happy and might go back to sleep on her own, but when it's almost 5am and my alarm is going off by 6, it's not worth my time to try to go back to sleep (that's why I've been at work since before 7am this morning!). Sleep is definitely not consistent at all yet. She IS getting through the core of the night from about 9-4 or 9-5, so I can't complain too much, but according to the pediatrician she should be able to go for a solid 10-12 hours at this point. I'm pretty sure Meredith was sleeping longer at this point, but I shouldn't compare :) (M was getting a lot of formula by now though...)

We also talked to the doctor about starting cereal soon. We can wait all the way til 6 months if we want to, but I think we'll start a little sooner than that. I'm not in a huge hurry though. No rolling over yet either, which is totally fine with me and as the Dr said, 'bigger babies usually take longer to roll over'...I love my sweet, pudgy, adorable, kissable baby just the way she is :)

4 months

We have made it to 4 months! Miss Caroline continues to develop her little personality, but she seems to still be on the quiet side. She is starting to blow bubbles, giggle and make a few sounds, but outside of crying, she is really just a sweet girl taking in the world around her. She seems to be sleeping better, but still gets up in the middle of the night quite often. Meredith also seems to get up and come to our bed in the middle of the night as well. So, our house seems to be musical beds at 4am! I'm hopeful that she is close to sleeping consistently through the night, but who knows! She still dislikes her carseat, a lot. Her napping pattern seems to be a lot better these days. I am also still exclusively breastfeeding, so no formula yet! I know the day will come, but I'm proud to have such a beautiful healthy girl fully on mommy's milk :)
Chris has been home with the girls for about a month now and they are doing well. I think he's figured out that it is a lot harder with two than one, but he is managing well. Meredith is in a gymnastics camp this week and she really loves it. She gives me a show every night when I get home and she seems to be getting a lot of good exercise, which makes me happy. I also think it's been good to get her out of the house and away from the tv since she has become an infomercial addict- it cracks me up because she knows that if you buy one, they'll throw one in for free or whatever the tag line is about organizing your cabinets or that the knife can cut through metal and still cut a tomato! She also informs me on a regular basis that I need whatever skin cream is being advertised- I try not to take it personally :)
It's hard to believe it's already July! It's also hard to believe that almost exactly one year ago I was quickly figuring out that I was most likely pregnant :) We were at Myrtle Beach when I was putting two and two together. Now a year later, I have a beautiful baby girl and I feel so happy about my wonderful family and knowing that we are complete. I didn't know this sweet baby's sweet face a year ago, but loved her the moment I found out she would be coming :)

Sisters

15 weeks!

Well, I have been back to work for 3 full weeks now and it has totally flown by. The first few days were nice bc I could just claim ignorance since I had been gone so long, but by now I am full fledged back in the trenches. It has been kinda nice to get back into the groove though.

Caroline slept through the night for about a week before I went back to work and I was so relieved since I kinda need sleep to function. Well, she hasn't done that since I went back to work (ok, maybe once or twice total). She generally wakes up between 3:30-4:30, I feed her and change her and she usually goes back to sleep without any issues. Total time is about 20-30 minutes, so it isn't too terrible, but I do long for the days of staying in bed all night.

The few nights Caroline did sleep well coincided with the same nights that Meredith has gotten up- it's like they are in cahoots! Meredith was up those nights because poor thing was dealing with a UTI and she wanted me to come to the bathroom with her every time she went bc it hurt :( We were at urgent care the morning of her dance recital. She did a fabulous job, but since her little bunny dance was the very first dance of the show, we opted to leave at intermission. She is much better now after a round of antibiotics :)

In the past two weeks, Caroline has turned into the smiliest, sweetest little baby! She doesn't eat all the time anymore and just hangs out and is so pleasant! Besides the night time sleeping, she has become the perfect baby! She obviously has her issues sometimes, but it doesn't seem to last too long.

Chris has been home with both girls since I went back to work and he is doing well. He has fully admitted that it is really hard work and even said he may be ready to go back to work early :) He has ventured out with both girls a few times- once was to a golf store that he loves. He described the scene for me which I think is just hilarious- Meredith was wearing a pink sundress and a pink Easter hat that was way too small and she was hitting golf balls on the little putting green in the store while Chris sat on a bench and fed Caroline a bottle! Such a picture!

Speaking of bottles- Caroline hasn't turned back on the bottle. She happily takes them while I'm at work and she even took a Dr. Brown's bottle yesterday, which is what we had for Meredith. So it seems that after the initial hurdle, she is doing just fine.

Caroline is also chewing on her hands constantly and drooling like crazy. She hasn't rolled over yet, but keeps pushing up on her feet, but can't get her other arm over yet. I don't think it will be too long before she can really roll over though.

Back to work

Well, Caroline is 12 weeks old, which meant it was back to work for Mommy. It was a Friday, so it was just enough time to get caught up on some emails and chat with folks about things I missed. It really wasn't bad at all. Mom kept the girls today and I was still a bit concerned about Caroline and her total dislike of a bottle, but amazingly, she took the bottle like a champ today for Mom! She must have the magic touch! (Meredith even helped with the bottle, which is something she has been begging to do for awhile, so she was pretty happy too!) So, today was a huge milestone and I'll feel so much more better about leaving her during the day. Overall, I couldn't have asked for a better first day back! Next week may be a different story, but it's time!

I think I can officially say that Caroline is sleeping through the night now, since it has been a week of solid sleep. There were a few mornings where she was up at 5am, but that still counts in my mind! She's been sleeping for 8-9 hours a night, which means I am getting pretty good sleep too- although, I still seem to wake up around 4am and have a hard time getting back to sleep. I'm sure that will fix itself over time, especially now that I'll be working again. Last week seemed to be a pretty big week for her. She seems to be much more able to just hang out for longer periods of time without getting upset and she is also able to go longer stretches between feedings. She definitely still has her moments of being pretty hysterical, but it seems to have a lot to do with her car seat. It has been incredibly hot this week and I think she just gets really hot in her seat in the car. She is loving her hands and sucks on them all the time. She seems to try to suck her thumb a bit, but it's nothing consistent. She smiles a whole lot more these days- just in time for me to miss them while I'm at work :(

10.5 Weeks

This past Sunday, May 22nd, was Caroline's baptism day! It went really well overall. She slept quite well Saturday night and we got to church right on time. Caroline slept for the first part of the service and then was wide awake during the actual baptism. She made a few good cries, but did pretty well! She has 4 wonderful godmothers- Elizabeth, Hillary, Allison and Kaci. After church we headed over to Mom's for a wonderful brunch spread. I think Caroline was totally worn out that night because she slept for 7 hours! Unfortunately, the following two nights have been far less.

What else has been going on? She has found her hands! She has been really chewing on them and almost finding her fingers for about the past week- Will we have a thumb sucker afterall? We shall see! Her movements are becoming far less jerky and she is moving her arms and legs like crazy! She is also growing so much! She is already into her 3-6 month clothing and that doesn't seem like it's going to last too long.

Big weekend!

Elizabeth will be here tomorrow to meet Miss Caroline, yay! Caroline is also being baptized on Sunday, so we have a big weekend ahead of us!
Caroline went back to sleeping for almost 6 hrs last night after about 3 nights of only 4-5 hours. Maybe it was a growth spurt (how much more can she grow?!?). So, I hope it sticks this time, especially knowing that we will be having a house guest for a few days! Elizabeth will be staying with us and then Saturday night we will likely have Judy, Kaci & Evan too! Full house!
We have also had a rude awakening this week about kindergarten for Meredith. Unfortunately, after months of waiting on our financial aid package, we found out that we will not be getting any funding since they offered us the same rate they offer to parishioners (Poorly handled in general- he had to hunt someone down to finally get an answer after we heard through the grapevine that the award letters had already gone out). It basically boils down to the fact that we aren't Catholic, nothing to do with our actual finances (which proves we should be eligible as compared to the families that has 3 kids there and a beach house and drive luxury cars, yes, apparently that is who gets 'financial aid'). It is just really disheartening that Chris' almost 12 years of service there have been ignored. We are thoroughly frustrated and saddened by this turn of events, mostly because Meredith has been so excited about 'going to Daddy's school'. He has appealed to his principal (aka begging) and we hope there is a change of heart. In theory, my recent sale of Biogen stock could cover the majority of the tuition, but we really wanted to actually have some savings- imagine that! Plus, we have to consider the fact that we will have additional daycare expense in a few months. So, we have some big decisions to make very soon. Our public school will be just fine I'm sure, but I think we will have one disappointed girl on our hands (mommy & daddy too!!).
By the way, I'm down to about 2 weeks before I go back to work :( Eeek!

Jinx

I think my last post jinxed me for last night. Back to 4 hrs of sleep...

Sleep Success?!?!

So, for the past 3 nights, Caroline has slept for around 6 hrs! Since it has been more than one or two nights, I'm thinking this could be for real! It's generally 10pm-4am and then she eats and goes back down for another 2 hours or so. If she can just get even one more hour in there before I go back to work, I think I will feel relatively human! 3 weeks from today I'm back to the grind :(

2 month checkup

Today was Caroline's 2 month checkup. She was being so sweet all morning, even slept a whole 6 hours last night!!! I felt bad because she had no idea what was coming- 3 shots! Meredith really wanted to go with her so she could comfort her after her shots :) I kinda think she was just excited that she wasn't the one getting the shots! So, I decided to keep Meredith home today and have her tag along.
The stats:
Weight: 13 lbs 12.5 oz- 97th percentile (Meredith was 13 lbs 2.5oz)
Length: 23.25"- 80th percentile (Meredith was 23")
Head: 40cm- 75th percentile
She really cried when she got her shots. Red face silent cry until she let loose! Poor baby, I even shed a few tears. Meredith wasn't quite as brave as she thought she'd be when it came time for the shots. She had wanted to hold Caroline's hand, but opted for sitting in the chair a safe distance away instead.
Caroline has been sleeping ever since we got home. Hope she doesn't end up with a fever. The things we do for healthy kiddos! At least I know she will never remember it!

My girls

8.5 weeks

So, what big things has Caroline been up to this week? She has started giving me hopes of sleeping better. She actually had 2 nights in a row of 5-6 hrs of sleep! Of course, on the 6 hr night, Meredith came in and woke me up an hour before Caroline woke up! I was a little bummed and her reasoning was that she wanted her music on at 3:30am! Let's say that last night I came kinda close to threatening her about waking me up for her music! Although, Caroline dropped back to 4 hrs last night, so it wouldn't have mattered much!

She continues to refuse any sort of pacifier. I mean to tell you that I have bought at least 5 types plus the one from the hospital and there is only one that she even remotely seems to be able to keep in her mouth and that's only by holding it in there! Basically the same is true for bottles. She pretty much hates bottles. We have tried at least 3 kinds and have struggles with each one. The Playtex bottles with the drop in liner thing seems to be the front runner right now. She also seems to take formula better than my milk from a bottle. Guess she really just wants it from the source! We are down to just a few weeks for her to figure this one out!!

She is still kicking away and even acting like she wants to roll over! She's got a ways to go, but she is actively trying to get those legs over like she wants to roll. Oh boy!

She still has some pretty rough times with crying, but it seems to be getting less and less and her awake time is more active and semi-happy. I'd say we are making major progress and hope she settles into a more predictable sleep pattern sometime soon!

Mother's Day was this past weekend. Chris had given me a beautiful pendant with both the girl's names on it a few weeks ago. Meredith made me the little teapot in the picture. It was so cute to get a gift she had made at school...love it! He made breakfast and we went to church and then over to Allison's for brunch...yummy shrimp and grits! We were both too tired to cook that evening, so I think I ate a hotdog or something. I did get a kid-free trip to Target for about an hour, which was lovely. Of course, I only bought things for the kids while I was there :) So, my first Mother's day as a mother of two was pretty quiet, but I am so thankful for being blessed with two healthy, beautiful girls!

7.5 weeks & Easter

Well, here we are, 7.5 weeks. I'd like to say that a lot has changed since my last post, but sadly, not so. Caroline took a step backward around week 6 and only slept for 2-3 hours at a time for several days. She has had a few nights of 4ish hours of sleep, but mostly it's betwee 3-4 hrs. I think I have really just gotten used to it, but I'm feeling especially tired today.

She has started giving us a lot more smiles and almost laughs during her awake time, all of which is gladly taken! It never lasts for more than a few minutes, but I'll take it! She has also found her arms and legs and just kicks and punches all the time. She still has her hands clenched into a little fist most of the time, but she's starting to loosen up a bit.

She doesn't seem to be eating all the time anymore, but there is little that soothes her when she is upset other than nursing. She won't take a pacifier, well let me clarify that if you hold it in her mouth, she somewhat tolerates it and stops the crying momentarily in a pinch. She just can't keep it in her mouth and pushes it out with her tongue every time. She still doesn't much like the bottle either, which is going to have to change in less than a month when I go back to work.

She has been to church twice now and managed to sleep through the service both times. Her baptism is scheduled for May 22nd while Elizabeth is in town. Hope Caroline behaves!!

I know she has grown a lot. I put her in s 3-6 month outfit yesterday and it fit perfectly! Her 2 month checkup is on the 11th and I'm fully expecting that she gained a few more pounds. She also gets several vaccinations, so I'm not looking forward to that part.

Easter:

At the last minute, Chris decided that it would be a nice idea to spend the Easter weekend down at Myrtle beach. Thanks to Chris' mom, we were able to stay at a time share condo and ended up having a great time. I was quite apprehensive about taking a 6 week old out of town, but she slept the whole way there and back! The first night didn't go well, mostly because Caroline is such a loud sleeper (grunting and groaning and sighing and crying) and having her in the room with us didn't allow for much sleep. So, I decided that her crib would fit in the adjoining bathroom! The next two nights went much better and she didn't know the difference!! We spent one good day on the beach and she napped in her crib under the tent and I was able to soak up a little sun. Meredith had a blast and made all sorts of friends on the beach. In the end, I was glad that Chris nudged me into going. It was really nice to get out of the house for a few days and see the ocean :) (We were also able to Skype with Hillary and Joey and 'show' them the beach too!).

Part of why Chris wanted me to be able to go to the beach was because he spent most of the next week back in Myrtle beach for a golf tournament. It was my first time solo with both girls for more than a few hours and overall it went well. Meredith stayed with mom one night and I had lots of visitors and tried to keep busy, but I was really ready for him to get back by Sunday.

Well, that's enough for now. Hopefully by my next post, I'll be a bit more well rested. Fingers crossed!

5 weeks!

Well, Miss Caroline is 5 weeks old today! In some ways it seems like it's taken forever and other ways it seems like it's been a flash! So, what is our 5 week old up to? She still cries a good bit, mostly in the evenings when Chris and Meredith are home. She's pretty good during the days with me and we even seem to have a bit of a nap schedule figured out. So, I feel kinda bad that while Chris and Meredith are home tends to be her fussy time. Although, that seems to be improving slightly. She still won't really take a pacifier either, so tends to just nurse a lot for soothing, but I think that is getting a little better too. She is a pooping machine! I forgot how a new clean diaper must help a baby poop! Let's just say that her insides work well! We've gone through a ton of diapers...used a few newborn size, but basically went straight to size 1. She also seems to be pretty sensitive about having a dirty diaper on and tends to holler until she gets a new one. Meredith also thinks that is the cure-all for when she's crying...'Mommy, just change her diaper!' She has a love hate relationship with her carseat...mostly hate. We still have been keeping up our routine of going to pick Meredith up after Chris gets home and trying to run some errands. She usually cries quite a bit and then passes out and sleeps for awhile. Chris has discovered that she likes to be carried in her carseat instead of being pushed in the cart or stroller. So, he carries her around the store and it generally helps. He'll have great arms soon! We even had our first meal out at a restaurant (she slept the whole time!) this week at Fat Daddy's. It's just nice to pretend to be normal people again! We're still far from normal, but we're seeing sings of normalcy! She's been sleeping in her crib for almost 2 weeks now. It was a bit of a battle since she really hated sleeping on her back, but we got a sleep positioner and an inclined wedge for her bed and after the first night, things got better. She is sleeping a little over 4 hours some nights, which is fabulous for me! Overall, her nights are pretty predictable now, so even if it isn't much sleep, I generally know what to expect. I still long for the night that I can sleep more, but right now it really isn't too bad. I'm getting good at it :) Ok, little girl is waking up from her nap, so I'll post this for now and try to add more later. Happy 5 weeks Caroline!