What a poser...

Caroline does these cute little poses all the time - she really is my baby!! Today she was practicing her modeling pose.

Thank Heaven for Little Girls!!

Caroline and I are so lucky that we have found some wonderful friends in our Mama and Me group. There are a few of us that all have little girls that are around the same age and they are all our first babies. I just know that our sweet little girls will grow up playing together! We have had a couple of play dates this week and I think all the babies really enjoyed themselves. All the mama's had such a great time too - thank heaven for these little girls that brought us together!!

Two Months Old!!!

Two Months Old - July 23, 2010



Caroline is two months old today!! She's such a doll and I've really enjoyed (most of) the past two months. She weighs 10 pounds 12 ounces (50% percentile) and is 23.25 inches long (75% percentile) and her head is 15 inches around (50% percentile - so she doesn't have a large head like her dad :) ). She is still eating about 4 ounces at each feeding every 3-4 hours. She is getting closer and closer to sleeping through the night. She usually wakes up once, around 2 or 3 and then gets up for the day around 7. She's not a good napper during the day but we are working on that. She is wearing mostly 0-3 month clothes. Last week she moved up to size 1 diapers - which look so much bigger than the cute little newborn size!! She had her pediatrician visit on Wednesday and got two shots (Pentacel and Prevnar) and one oral vaccine (Rotataq). She only cried for a minute with the shots and she took off her own bandaids. Clearly she does not get that from me :) She smiles and coos all the time now. She recognizes Adam and me - and it just makes us melt!! She holds her head up very well when we sit her up or hold her but she doesn't like to hold it up during tummy time. Her favorite thing right now is her swing.

Happy two month old birthday Caroline!! I love you so much and each day I love more. You are the sweetest little thing and I can't imagine my life without you now. I am so excited to watch you grow and see your personality come out. It's great to be your mom!! Love you!

Bath Time and Bumbo

Caroline just LOVES taking baths!! She kicks her little legs and smiles. She also apparently likes to eat soap. When we wash her face she tries to lick the bubbles. It's adorable...and a little strange.


I am happy...I just don't like you taking pictures of me when I am naked!!


Yummy Bubbles


All Clean!


Also...Caroline has been able to hold her head up enough to sit in her bumbo!! She isn't quite holding it up all the time yet, but she's close!


She's not too happy right now. She had to get 2 shots today and she's been super cranky all day - which is very uncaracteristic. I just gave her some infant tylenol so hopefully that will make her feel better soon!!

She's Gone

Little Caroline just left for the weekend!! This is the first time since she's been born that we've been apart for more than a few hours (other than when I had to go back to the hospital but I was heavily medicated so I don't remember that). I think it's going to be good for both of us but I did get a little teary eyed after my mom pulled away. It will be nice to get to see a lot of our friends and enjoy the wedding without worrying about the baby. I sure will miss her though!! Sunday afternoon we'll head to Huntsville to pick her up and bring her home. Hopefully we'll all have a super weekend...stay tuned.

Busy Weekend

Adam, Caroline and I had a busy weekend last week but we had so much fun!! We had a great dinner on Friday with our friends Chase and Rebecca and their adorable son Raughley. The food was wonderful and the company was even better! They were even so nice to let us borrow a swing - which Caroline just LOVES!! She sleeps so well when she's in it, so we love it too!! Thanks so much!!!



On Saturday morning we took C to Pepper Place farmers market and got some great stuff! We've been eating fresh peaches, blueberries, tomatoes, squash, watermelon and peppers all week. I can't wait to go back! Saturday evening we went to a baby pool party. Even though Caroline was too little to partake in the activities, it was still fun (for us anyway...). All the excitement must have mad her sleepy because she slept like a champ that night!! She went to bed at 9:00 and woke up at 5:00 for about 30 minutes and then slept until 8:00. It was amazing!! The next night she was up every 2 hours so the trend didn't last too long. She has been sleeping better since then though.






To finish the weekend off, we took her to church then to a friends house for lunch afterwards. Doesn't she look adorable in her little smocked dress and shoes?




We are looking forward to another busy weekend!! We are sending Caroline to Huntsville for the weekend. Adam and I are going to a wedding on Saturday night. This will be the first time that I am away from Caroline for more than a few hours. I'm excited, but also a little sad. I know that I need a little break to spend time with Adam and see friends but I'll miss her!!!

No one told me...

That being a mom meant dealing with a ton of frustrations!!! This post is not cute and fun - it's just honest about how I feel, so skip it if you don't care about me and just want to see pictures of the baby. When I got home from the hospital I was weepy. I cried all the time. But then, things got better. I still get emotional over little things, but I'm not constantly upset like I was. Then this week came... I think I have decided to give up breastfeeding. I have been supplementing with formula since she was born while I tried to get my supply up but it's just not working like I want it to. Since I had PE and had to be on the magnesium, I was too weak to even hold her that first day so I couldn't nurse and right after birth is a critical time for them to learn to latch on. The magnesium made my milk slow to come in so I had to supplement until it did. It finally came in and then I had to go back to the hospital for the surgery. I was away from her for 3 days so she had to have formula. I was pumping, but not too much since I was drugged up and out of it for a day and a half. Because of the surgery, I didn't have a good appetite for almost two weeks. I was tired, weak, stressed and still very weepy so I wasn't producing a lot. After that...my supply was VERY low. I have been taking fenugreek at the maximum dose allowed but that's not doing much for me. I have been nursing/pumping every 1.5/2 hours so I haven't been able to leave the house since my life revolves around this. Part of me is ready to throw in the towel and the other part wants to keep going. I wish I could do it...I mean breastfeeding is supposed to be natural, right? I shouldn't be sad about giving up, but it really makes me sad - even though I was never able to breastfeed exclusively. Ughhh...what to do?? (Sweet Candice...keep that formula coming :) )

I knew that things were going to change with a baby around, how could they not? What I didn't expect was that they would change my relationship with Adam. In so many ways this experience has made us so much closer. It was just him and me on this journey. We got to share everything - from finding out we were having a baby, to seeing the first ultrasound, to picking out her nursry, to witnessing her first moments of life. We have this wonderful, new, incredible bond that we cannot have with anyone else, but our relationship is different. We don't have our time together anymore. From having a conversation to watching tv together, we are interrupted with crying. Don't get me wrong - I would much rather be interruped with cries for a while then live my life and not get the chance to be a mother but still, it's not the same as it was and I loved how it was. Our relationship was the best. We laughed all the time - now we're too tired to laugh!! I know that once we get the hang of things, our relationship will be better than ever. But for now - I miss my husband.

I had this romantic idea that I would just love EVERYTHING about having a baby. I love everything about Caroline but I don't love everything that comes along with her. Of course then it makes me feel guilty that I don't just love sterilizing bottles and mixing bottles and doing a million extra loads of laundry each day. I feel like I should love it because I WANTED a baby. It's just a frustrating feeling to deal with each day.

And finally (I'm sure you are all sick of my complaining) I am just tired of feeling stuck. I'm ready to see my friends again. It's hard when others don't have kids because they can get up and go anywhere and I can't anymore. Basically I need everyone to have babies so we can all be mom friends together :) I know that will get easier too but patience is not one of my many strengths. I know I sound like I am ungrateful for this beautiful healthy baby that I have but I'm really not. Like I said, I would much rather have all these frustrations and issues but still have her than get to come and go as I please. I'm glad that breastfeeding is an issue that I have because it means I get to be a mom. There's just a lot of adjusting. Every aspect of my life has been altered and I was not prepared for that. I knew there would be changes, just not this many!!

The BEST big sister ever

Our sweet Daisy just loves Caroline!! I'm so thankful. Daisy was used to being the center of attention for the past 2.5 years so I didn't know how she would handle a new baby. She has completely blown me away! Yesterday we sat C up in the Boppy and Daisy came to sit with her.

Just enjoying the morning together



Kissing Caroline's little hand



This is from today. I put Caroline in our bed so we could all be together and Daisy wanted to be near her.




Caroline has been learning sign language so she could tell Daisy that she loves her too!!

First Smile!!!

Caroline smiled for the first time this week!! I have been trying to make her smile for several days but she really wasn't that interested. Finally I got one - and it was a BIG smile, not the small ones that she does in her sleep or when she has gas. It was almost a laugh it was so big!!!

At first she wasn't giving me anything



"Alright mom, I'll watch you act like a fool...but you have to try harder than that if you want me to smile"



"That's mildly amusing...but I still need more"



"Who knew my mom was such a weirdo!!! At least she's a funny weirdo!"



She hasn't done it again since, but I'm sure she will be smiling a lot soon!! She's only smiled at me so far, not Adam. I wonder if that's because she thinks I'm cooler...

First night in the crib...and I'm going crazy

Last night Caroline slept in her crib in her own room for the first time ever!! She's growing like crazy, so it really is only a matter of time before the bassinet is too small for her. Plus, she's one loud sleeper!! All her little noises keep us up - even while she gets plenty of sleep. I was so excited while we were setting up the monitor, but this morning I was so sad!! My sweet baby is already growing up. I know that I'm being dramatic here - but she is just getting so big so quickly. She doesn't look like a newborn anymore.

I feel like I JUST had her - and now she's a big baby!! When I took her to the doctor yesterday, there was a brand new born baby there. I looked at the baby and then I looked at C, and she just looked like a giant!!!! I can't get over how quickly babies change. After she was born and I was exhausted ALL the time, I kept saying how I couldn't wait until she could sit up by herself or feed herself or sleep through the night. Now I just want her in this precious stage forever! I know that she will grow up, but I love her so much as a baby. I was holding her this morning just crying my eyes out because I was so sad that she'll have to grow up!!! Maybe those hormones haven't leveled out just yet...am I crazy or what??


I put her back in the crib this morning so I could take a picture to commemorate the event. She wouldn't let me swaddle her...so just imagine that she's sleeping in a sweet little swaddle.