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.
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. :)
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.
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.
-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.
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