Getting Ready for Christmas

This post is obviously belated but I wanted to include these pictures anyway.  Getting ready for Christmas felt extra special this year because the more I got ready for the holiday, the closer I felt like I was to meeting our baby girl.  Plus, this was the first (and probably last) year that I was completely done with Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving and with more than half of the gifts wrapped!  And all of our Christmas decorations including the tree were up before Thanksgiving weekend was over.  This typically isn't our style to do things so early and I'll admit that it felt a little weird to be eating thanksgiving leftovers while decorating our tree and listening to Christmas carols, but this year, I'll take it!

Below are Ainsley and Bailey decorating the tree.  Their interest, especially Bailey's didn't last much past these pictures but Ainsley remained my helper for at least half the ornaments.  Her favorites were of course the breakable ones which she kept insisting she could be really careful with.  I didn't manage to get all the ornaments hung this year but did enough that the tree seemed full and festive.

A new tradition that we started this year was having an electric Christmas train go around the bottom of the tree.  George was really excited about this addition and spent weeks researching the best train for us to get.  Bailey is such a train lover that we were both excited to see his reaction.  Here are several pictures of them putting the train together.

Both kids really enjoyed watching the train go around the track and hearing the chugging noises and the train whistle.  But Bailey has a little growing to do before he really falls in love with it.  It was still pretty difficult for them each to put the train on the track and Bailey wasn't able to master the remote control to make the train move.  Still, they each had a blast doing a special activity with daddy and I know that they will grow to love this train more as the years go on.

Below Bailey is making his legs and tunnel for the train to go through.  They each did this for quite a while and it brought them lots of giggles!

Another tradition that is such a hit with the kiddos is going to Motzark's coffee house for their annual Christmas light show.  It is quite the display with lights timed to music and is a fun easy outing because it is literally down the street from us.  My mom was able to catch the kid's fascination in these pictures.  I love it!

And then before we knew it, Caroline was here to join us for Christmas!  More to come on all of that!

Caroline's first week

This past week has been amazing. Even though we were doing things to get ready for Caroline and praying that things would start on their own, I fully expected that I would have to be induced on Friday, the 20th, at 41 weeks. So it was a lovely surprise when my water broke early Tuesday morning and we got to meet our daughter sooner!  She was born only 5 days past her due date - my best record yet!!  (My mom and I have already taken about 500 pictures on our cameras of this week but I don't have the energy to tackle those yet.  So these are some of the pics that I have snapped on my phone.  I'll post all the others on her one month post.  Hopefully.)

Caroline has completely stolen my heart and I am just in awe of how much I love her and how good the Lord is.  Both her and I were given a clean bill of health and allowed to leave after two nights in the hospital.  George and I are still in a way traumatized by our experience with Ainsley and feel so grateful, but a little odd, getting to leave with our baby in our arms so soon after birth. We will never take a healthy baby for granted and feel so blessed to have these early snuggly infant moments at home.

Caroline has been a great lil nurser and is already back up to her birth weight.  At her dr check-up when she was 5 days old, she weighed 7lbs, 13oz, which was 2oz more than when she was born.  I'm excited that I don't have to wake her up at night to nurse anymore and love her developing pudgey cheeks but am a little sad that she is already changing so much.  Even in these few pictures, I feel like you can see a big difference between her first few days and now.

It hasn't been easy transitioning to three kids. The energy level of Ainsley and Bailey while mostly sweet and positive, is overwhelming while I'm still recovering physically and so sleep deprived. I am so thankful for the help of my mom and George and don't know how I would have gotten through this week without both of their love, support, and help.  Yet while overwhelming at times, it has been so sweet. I love watching a new side of Ainsley and Bailey's personalities emerge with their sisters arrival and Caroline could not be a more precious baby.

The things that come out of Ainsley's mouth in regards to Caroline are priceless.  Here are a few that I remembered to write down:
-"Keeping care of a baby is a lot of hard work.  I'm glad that you are on my team mommy."
-In her high pitched baby voice, "Caroline, even when you make really stinky diapers, you are still making me so glad."
-"Baby Caroline, God made you so beautiful!"
-"You know that when you were sleeping in your swing, baby Caroline, I was watching out over you.  I will always watch out over you."
-Anytime anyone asks what the baby's name is Ainsley responds with "Caroline Elizabeth".  It is just sweet the way she says it and that she always includes her middle name.
-"Caroline, you are the sweetest baby ever.  I'm super happy with everythings you do."

While Caroline doesn't hold Bailey's attention as long as Ainsley's, he is always curious about where she is and has on several occasions sung her made up lullabies and "read" her books and brought her toys.  While we were at the hospital, he asked for Grandma to read him his big brother book several times and even took it to bed with him to sleep with. It is so sweet to watch his tenderness with her.  Above he was feeding his baby while I nursed Caroline.  He insisted that his baby needed to drink milk from his sippy cup rather than nurse saying, "No, no milk me boobies."  Also notice how he has his phone, just like me, so that he could enter the nursing time into his nursing app too.  :)

Here are a few other random things that I want to remember about this first week:
-The picture above is from one chilly afternoon that we braved the outside in order to get some fresh air.  But we didn't stay out for more than 10 minutes.  I don't know how we would survive in a colder state!
-The first few days home, when I was holding Caroline and feeling her wiggle and snuggle in my arms, I was struck by how similar her movements were to when she was in my belly.  The process of bringing a life into this world is so amazing and mysterious and for a few brief moments I was already a little nostalgic for being pregnant.
-When we left the hospital, our pediatrician was slightly concerned that she had yet to make her first stool.  No one was overly concerned about it because she passed some meconium during labor, but it was something that they wanted us to keep a close eye on.  Anyway, within 24 hours of coming home she had already had 5+ poopy diapers.  We kept joking about it because three or more times she would keep going poop while we were changing her diaper and we would have to go through several diapers before we were able to get a clean one.  Ha!  Every time it made me feel like a newbie parent.  :)

-George changed the ringtone on his phone to the song sweet Caroline.
-We have already seen lots and lots of smiles out of this little bundle.  Like all newborns, she does those sweet sleep smiles like I caught on camera above, but she has also surprised us with several smiles while she's been awake.  It honestly feels as if she has been smiling in response to us ohhing and ahhing over her!
-Just the constant feeling of instant and overwhelming love and how even though I'm so tired, I still find myself staring at her in the middle of the night while she's sleeping.
-The picture below is from Christmas Eve, her one week birthday.  See how much fuller her cheeks are than some of the first pictures.

Meeting Caroline

The day after Caroline was born, Wednesday December 18th, George and my mom brought the kids to the hospital to meet her.  I was so happy to see Ainsley and Bailey because even though it had only been a bit over 24 hours since I had seen them last, I was already missing them.

At first, Bailey was pretty tentative and apprehensive about what was going on.  This kind of surprised me but I think the hospital bed and everything made him a bit nervous.  But thankfully it didn't last long and he crawled up in my lap and gave me sweet snuggles.  I could tell that he had been missed me and kept saying "hi mommy" in the sweet way he does over and over.  After a bit, he looked down at my belly and asked where the baby was.  When I pointed over to Caroline and told him that Caroline was the baby that used to be in my belly.  He got a big smile on his face and said, "Oh.  Ok."  I know he understands a lot more than he can express but I wish I could hear him talk about everything going on more.

When Ainsley saw Caroline sleeping in the little bassinet she got so excited.  One of the first things out of her mouth was that Caroline looked just like baby Jesus.  Melted my heart.  She, of course, wanted to hold her right away and made sweet comments about all Caroline's features.  Bailey wasn't interested in holding her but was content just telling people to be quiet because the baby was sleeping.  I love how Ainsley's first reaction was to be hands-on and nurturing and Bailey's was to be protective.

At one point, Bailey wanted to share some of his pretzels with the baby.  Ainsley was quick to inform him that babies couldn't eat hard things but that they could only drink milk from mommy and daddy's boobies. She then lifted up her dress to show me how her boobies had grown while I was gone.  Hmmm... we might have some explaining to do with her later.

Aside from Caroline, one of the first things Ainsley noticed when she walked in the room were the big sister and brother gifts that Caroline gave them.  Ainsley got a stuffed pink bunny that matches Caroline's lovey and Bailey got a stuffed brown puppy.  Ainsley loved and snuggled her bunny and was pretty excited about it and Bailey could have cared less.  :)

One of my favorite memories from the kid's visit is Bailey singing his version of rock-a-by baby to Caroline.  In one of his big brother books they talk about how big brother's sing to their babies and he was being so sweet and singing her a lullaby.  It took us all a minute to realize that's what he was doing which hurt his feelings a little bit but still, it melted my heart.

As much as they love their sister, a sleeping baby and a small room are only so exciting and both kids started to play and run around behind the hospital bed, sprinkling pretzels behind them.  At that point, everyone made a hasty exit and I was left once again in a quiet room with Caroline.  As soon as they were gone, I was both immediately lonely and missed them and completely overwhelmed at how I was going to deal with all their energy when I got home.  Thank goodness for the help from George and my mom!!

Caroline's First Hours

Caroline Elizabeth Peyton

We welcomed Caroline Elizabeth Peyton into the world on Tuesday December 17th, 2013 at 7:31pm. She weighed in at 7lbs, 11oz and was 21 inches long.  She looks similar to both Ainsley and Bailey as newborns, except for her full head of dark brown hair.  She has already stolen all of our hearts.  We are so thankful for the Lords goodness to our family. 

Santa visit

The kids were really excited to go visit Santa this year so I was happy that it was something that we were able to go do before baby Caroline arrived.  Ainsley asked for a fairy princess doll and Bailey asked for a "man-man" which is his word for a super hero.  I'm not sure if he means he wants superman or batman but I think we are covered because Santa has gotten him both.

We try not to emphasis Santa too much in our house because of the over-emphasis of him in the rest of the world... but this year Ainsley has taken him pretty seriously.  See her serious expression talking to him below.  On the way to this breakfast she was asking me it if there was going to be a real Santa or just someone dressed up as Santa and a few other tough questions.  I wasn't really prepared for such questions and tried my best to answer like a politician... "I don't know.  After you meet him, you will have to tell me what you think."  Then thankfully by the drive home, she had forgotten.

My sweet girl and me waiting in line to see the big man.

My mom, Grandma Smoothie, and Ainsley at breakfast afterwards.  Ainsley was so excited to get to have orange juice in a fancy glass just like Grandma's mimosa.

Daddy and Bailey cheers-ing too.

It was a fun morning and I'm glad that we got to add it to the memory books!  :)

8 years and counting...

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life!  It has been an amazing 8 years and I am so thankful to be married to someone I admire and love more each day.  Thank you, George, for making my life a dream come true!  We don't have any big celebration plans this year... probably just some snuggling on the couch and waiting for this little bundle to arrive.