Christmas Morning

Christmas was a little different this year.  It was a little extra special and a little extra crazy.  Caroline was a week old on Christmas Eve and in the middle of the night I started having intense chills, shivering, and body aches.  It turned out I had a fever of 103 and mastitis.  We called my OB and George went out at 2 am to find a pharmacy open so that he could get me the antibiotics I needed.  Needless to say, neither one of us sleep much that night which made Christmas morning a bit of a struggle.  Thankfully, my wonderful mom took over with brilliant distraction skills and the kids were super patient and let George and I sleep in a bit.  We ended up not starting the Christmas celebration until around 10 am.  This is probably the last year this will happen until we have teenagers!  

Here are a few shots of the night before Christmas.  Above is us reading bible stories before bed.  With everything else this season, we unfortunately missed a lot of our nightly devotionals with the kids.  But we will pick it up all again next year.  Then the first picture is our tree after Santa came and below is our stocking filled with goodies.  Notice Caroline's little tiny new baby stocking that my mom made.

Still, despite being extra exhausted Christmas morning, it was still such a sweet time.  I loved watching our kids excitement and expressions when they saw all the gifts under the tree.  I love that magical part of Christmas.

Ainsley showing off her Tinker Bell fairy doll set.  I thought these fairies qualified as the fairy princesses what she asked Santa for but I have since been informed that they are just fairies, not fairy princesses.  But thankfully she was jumping up and down with excitement when she opened these, so I think it was ok.  

Bailey opening his trash truck.

Baby girl and her gifts... a new sophie giraffe and baby's first Christmas doll. 

Bailey and his pirate gifts.  This telescope is from a pirate dress up chest and then he also got the Jake and the Neverland pirate ship.

Sweet Caroline thought Christmas morning was kind of exhausting!

I bought gifts so early this year that when I did, Bailey was more into pirates 'yo-hos' than he was super heroes.  But Bailey asked for a "man-man" for Christmas and for several days leading up to Christmas morning he would check under the tree to see if Santa had come. Each time he would walk back disappointed with droopy shoulders saying 'oh, no man-man.'  Anyway, a few days before Christmas George and I scampered around town to try to get Bailey this Batman bat cave that Bailey had admired earlier that month.  We eventually had to express ship it and it arrived middle of the day Christmas eve. Whew!  So this was Bailey's big man-man gift and he was so thrilled when he opened it!

Ainsley's big gift was her first real dollhouse.  She plays with the plastic fisher price doll house that she got when Bailey was born almost every day during the quiet play time in her room.  I did so much research and was so excited to give her this dollhouse because I knew how much I would have loved having it when I was little.  It is gorgeous!  Ainsley's reactions to most of her smaller gifts was so over the top with excitement that her reaction to the dollhouse seemed a sort of anticlimactic in comparison.  But she was glued to it the rest of the day and has been since.  It might still be a little 'old' for her so I hope that she will love it and grow into it for years to come.

Below is one of my gifts from George and the kids.  It is a stepping stone for the yard at the new house and it has the kid's ages and hand prints on it.  I love it

Caroline and the aftermath of the morning... 

After he opened all his presents, Bailey worked hard and hauled them all into the tent house that Papa and Yaya had given Ainsley the day before.  He hid out there, ate his breakfast, and played for quite a while.

Eventually George talked him into coming out of hiding to open and set up his man-man cave and pirate ship.  I love seeing George's excitement over little boy's toys because it feels very similar to how I feel about Ainsley's dollhouse.  It is such a gift to be able to relive parts of our childhood with these little people and it makes me feel so thankful that we have both a daughter and a son.

I opened all of Ainsley's dollhouse furniture and all her new fairy dolls and she got right to work on making their house a home.

Here is Bailey helping Daddy set up the kid's new art easel and then both of them working on art pictures.

And here is a picture of them playing with their new trains and train tracks.

Merry Christmas morning!!

What is it about our dining room table?

I'm not sure what it is about our dining room table but the kids are constantly transforming the space under neigh into a land of imaginative play.  Above, Bailey turned it into the garage for all this cars and trucks.  He so carefully lined them all up under the table and chairs.  Then another day, Ainsley turned it into her baby's nursery complete with strollers and baby beds.  It's hard to see but in the middle picture she is nursing her baby.  It cracks me up how nonchalant she is about it in that picture.  The bottom picture is from another day when she is pretending to nurse.  She insists on pulling one of her arms out instead of lifting up her shirt.  Ha!

 

Caroline - One Month

I can't believe that Caroline has already and only been here for one month.  I remember this with the other two too... it feels like she has just arrived and yet always been a part of our family.  I love it and am so thankful for this sweet newborn time full of sleepy snuggles.

Because of all the sicknesses going around, our pediatrician recommended that we not come in for our one month appointment.  But based on our at home estimates Caroline weighs 10 pounds!  She is long/tall but is getting little rolls and chunkies around her upper thighs and under her chin.  And I think half of that weight has to be in her cheeks!  They are so pudgy and full and I love it!  She is definitely a good lil nurser and I'm thankful for that.  At first, we were a little worried that she might have reflux because she was having some episodes of projectile spitting up which caused her to lose a lot of what she ate.  Thankfully, it never seemed like it caused her discomfort, it was just kind of scary and unnerving for me, not to mention disgustingly messy!  But these episodes have started to subside and I think it was just a matter of me needing to burp her more frequently and aggressively while nursing and her adjusting to how fast my letdown can be.  Plus, this past week she has also successfully taken a few bottles which has given me some much needed freedom and a little rest!

We feel so blessed that so far Caroline has been an easy-going, patient baby.  She is already smiles easily and looks with fascination at her big sister and brother and the mobile above her swing.  She coos when I brush her hair and loves the warm bath water.  She prefers to be held and snuggled but also loves her swing and kicking her legs free on the floor.  She really has been such a sweet and good baby so far and both George and I are very thankful!!

One of the obvious differences between Caroline and her siblings when they were babies, is her head full of dark brown hair.  I love that it is dark like mine, especially since Ainsley and Bailey's hair has always been much lighter brown with pieces of blond.  A friend commented the other day about how long her hair is and when I was looking at her later that day, I was struck by that same thing.  It is several inches long in most places, which got me wondering how long she had been growing hair while she was in my belly?  Did she have hair already at her 20 week ultrasound?  At 30 weeks?  Hmmm...  But having so much hair does come with its own set of challenges because it gets greasy and messy so quickly!  This wee one has already has her fair share of bad hair days and bedhead moments!  But mostly I'm just glad that she didn't lose all her hair before the newborn/family pictures that we had taken a few days after she turned a month old.

Another difference from the other two is that she doesn't like to be swaddled as tightly as they did.  When Ainsley and Bailey were her age we had them swaddled in little burritos with both their arms down most of the day and definitely all through the night.  But Caroline fights the swaddle and it makes her more aggravated then calm!  So we have been swaddling her loosely at night and parts of the day with one arm out and she is a much happier camper.  She also doesn't love the paci as much as I remember with the other two.  She still takes it on and off during the day but so far it isn't a necessity for her to fall asleep like it was with my other kids.  All this may change, but so far this just looks like fewer "habits" to break down the line!

Several people have asked what transition has been harder, going from one to two kiddos or two to three kiddos... and while we are still in the process of transitioning, the hardest time has honestly been in the fall of 2011 when Ainsley was about 2.5 years old, Bailey was about 6 months old and I was having intense back pain and George tore his achilles and had to have surgery.  That was the time when every day was a struggle of exhaustion and pain and that was when we both dreaded the weekend!  Compared to the memory of that time, going from two to three kiddos has felt like a breeze!  :)

Sibling Time with Caroline

Both Ainsley and Bailey are so sweet with Caroline and it makes me so thankful for each of them.  Here are some pictures from when my mom was here - a few weeks ago - of each of them getting to know their little sister.  Above and below are sweet snuggle moments courtesy of the ipad!

Bailey is still very intentional with Caroline.  He likes to know where she is and what she is doing most of the time but he doesn't interact with her much unless he has a self-determined mission, ie. reading her a story or bringing her a toy/blanket.  But in the series of pictures below it was sweet because it was like he just wanted to explore her.  He wanted to see where her feet where, show me her nose, hold her hand, and tickle her belly.  He was incredibly gentle and inquisitive.  Still, I guess this is one of the reasons why God makes newborns so sleepy.  I'm so thankful to have these pictures of this proud big brother loving on his little sis.

 Opposite of Bailey, Ainsley is always up in Caroline's face, telling her how much she loves her in a high-pitched voice, singing made-up songs, and giving her what she calls "snuggles."  Ainsley's adoration can be a little overwhelming at times but it comes from such a sweet place of affection and joy.  Her love and excitement for Caroline remind me of when my little brother Brian was born (I love you too James, but I was too little to remember all the details of when you were a baby).  I was older than Ainsley but I remember always wanting to be by his side and I see a lot of that in Ainsley. These girls are both so precious to me and I cherish the love that they share.