Sweet Sweet Time

                     Caroline Page

                      6 weeks old

Yesterday I rode up to work while Kyle had C at home and made it official.. Four more weeks at home with my little girl! I am so thrilled that I could shout. She has already changed so much and I know over the next four weeks she will change even more. The past three days now we have not had our nightly screaming fits.. And I am convinced that Gerber Probiotic drops are helping! We couldn't really see a difference the first two days but now I think they are really helping her tummy adapt! Nana also made a trip to her friend Burma's herb shop and got some advice on using a little aloe juice in their bottles. After doing lots of reading and being convinced it wouldn't hurt her, I added a half teaspoon of aloe juice in her pumped bottles. And yesterday she was very content. Our nights have been in 4 and 5 hour intervals... Just having trouble going back to sleep after that 2am ish feeding. So we will see how the next few weeks go! Overall, I have changed so much since that first week. I still don't feel like I know everything that I need to know.. But I have realized so many things about being a mother. How our jobs never end. How there is always laundry to fold, bottles to wash, floors to sweep, bills to pay, dinner to cook, and places to be. On top of being the primary caregiver for a helpless baby who is so dependent on you for everything. I have learned that if I just focus on her and not everything else that doesn't matter, my life is more peaceful. For the next few years my house probably won't always be picked up like it used to be. I might not always have new clothes, fresh highlites, manicured nails, or be 120 pounds. True peace is the realization that none of that even matters and we are perfect in God's image. True peace is knowing that Caroline knows Jesus when she is older and that we will be in heaven together. 

Now that my sappy motherhood post is over... Here are a couple of recent pictures. 

Trying out the carrier we borrowed from Cousin Brittany! C absolutely looooooved it and fell asleep immediately. We are going to have to invest soon…

 

 

Week #7 with my C can take all the time it wants passing by... We are getting the hang of this now! :)

Longer at Home

Today was originally the day I had planned to go back to work. Given the fact that a) no mother wants to leave their baby and go to work and b) C has been pretty difficult God love her.. I'm not going back this week. I believe that a few more weeks of her changing in habits will help us adapt to a more regular schedule. Six weeks is just too soon! I don't mind one bit to be on a tight budget for a few weeks if means I can be with Caroline. 

I have several pictures from the last few days so I wanted to post them.  C has had two good days and nights... Let's hope we are on the upward path. We took another stroll this past week and she stayed awake the whole stroll! We also rode in the car after this and she slept a whopping 20ish minutes out of the 2 hour ride! 

We love love love bath time! It's our nightly routine.

Sweet clean baby! 

Kyle and I went with my parents to Maters and had the most delicious pizza and my favorite part was the peanut butter pie at the end! It was to die for. 

Nana and Pop so happy to see their grand baby... Bless them it had only been three days! (Two days for nana!)

C loved her Uncle A talking to her. She smiled at him a handful of times! 

We traded in our smocked Easter dress for a warmer outfit. 52 degrees with a 47 degree wind chill trumped any Easter dress we had. I was sad we couldn't wear it but summer is nearing!

Daddy and Cousin Judd with C on Easter.

She has some pretty fierce yawns! Maybe I can post soon about our good days! Until then! 

Easter 2015

Quick little Sunday post...Easter Sunday turned out to be a hit for us. I have been nervous about C's first church trip for a while just because we knew we would be bringing her into service with us for a few weeks. She was a perfect little angel and slept through church and even Sunday school. Here is our Family Easter picture. 

Momfessional: I had bought a beautiful Easter dress a few weeks ago. Fifteen minutes before walking out the door, C spit up all down the front of the dress. I knew that with a baby we had to leave soon so I frantically rushed into the bedroom and had to find something else to wear. I was so worried about my appearance for church.. Then I remembered something Ashleigh (our pastors wife) had posted this week. "Easter is not about what you're wearing but who you're worshipping." I immediately quit worrying and threw on the first dress that matched my shoes and out the door we went. Because I stopped worrying about my dress, hair, "post baby weight" etc.. I got an true blessing out of worship service. And my heart got even fuller watching my husband with his arm over the carrier during church taking care of C and watching her every move. God blessed this tired mama today. One more picture of C and her cousins... 

Happy Easter friends! May our hearts be focused on the resurrection every day and not just today. 

6 Weeks with My C

Well…I knew that my blog posting would slow down whenever I went back to work, but I supposed it has really slowed down these last couple of weeks. Before I go too much into detail of the past few days, I just wanted to clarify that this little blog is mainly for me so that I can look back on these days and remember everything. So the complete honesty here of my joys/frustrations/trials are mainly for myself to read. With that being said, C has had another rough week. We have not been to the pediatrician, but we are almost 100% sure she has colic. We probably won't be going to the pediatrician either, for all they will tell me (as they have on the phone) is to eliminate certain foods from my diet, alternate Simethicone/Gripe Water and occasionally infant Tylenol, and to burp her well. So before anyone reads this and thinks there are some things I can try….well we have tried about everything. 

1. Feeding her bottle slow (3-4 oz. over 30 minutes or so with burping in between and after)

2. All the meds….

3. Changing my diet. Okay people, I have eliminated dairy, beans, onions, caffeine, and spicy foods from my diet. Pretty much every day I eat sandwiches/vegetables/fruits/drink water. It is worth the aggravation just to be able to breastfeed my daughter.

4. Getting the in the car and riding. (This is hit or miss with C)

5. Warming a blanket in the dryer and wrapping her belly with it.

6. Gerber Probiotic Drops (1 per bottle) and I think these help. 

7. Bouncing up and down. Rocking. Till our knees are shaking.

8. Vacuum cleaner/blow dryer/washer/dryer. 

9. Strolling her around the block (hit or miss also)

10. Chiropractic therapy (been to one appointment-will see.)

11. Sound machine. White noise-check.

12. Sitting her up while feeding. Sitting up after feeding.

13. Rubbing her back in circles. Putting her over our shoulder.

14. Swaddling. We do this every night. Sometimes she is screaming so much that I unswaddle her because she's going to cry anyways and it makes her madder not being able to move.

I am pretty sure there are a lot more things we have tried.. but for right now thats all I've got. Anyway… Monday March 31st was hellacious. Is that even a word? C turned it up around 5pm, stopped around 10pm when we finally finally finally got her to sleep. Woke up again around 1am and started crying so we hit the backroads of Arab around 1:30 a.m…both of us so sleep deprived and exhausted. We finally got her to sleep around 2am so I told Kyle to drive around thirty more minutes to make sure we were in a deep sleep. After thirty minutes of driving and pulling into the driveway, we turned the truck off and sat there for a minute.. and of course C pops those eyes open, looks around, and wails. So we bring her inside…I tell Kyle to go to bed and I just sit there in the living room while she's crying in her carrier and I cry too. Then I did what any girl does (after I pick her up)…I called my mama. And of course she drove to our house in 30 minutes in the middle of the night. When she walked in I just cried and cried and hugged her. And then she sent me to bed where I slept four hours. The longest I have slept since February 19th.  Please don't feel sorry for me…I will probably look back at this in a few years and laugh. But not now. Keep in mind that my husband is working a lot right now so I can stay at home a little longer..so I'm doing this 24/7 alone mostly with mama's help.

Soooo…. I have woken up the past few mornings trying to start with a fresh insight. Reading some scripture, asking God for patience and guidance throughout the day. Not being tense and if I cry, don't do it while holding her. And it has seemed to help me cope with it a lot better. God is helping me cope with worry. I constantly worry about going back to work, Kyle taking care of her while I'm at work, or bad things happening in general. The funny thing is… I never worried this much in my life until I had a baby. I used to be pretty laid back in my mind about the future. I have also prayed for God to help me focus on today. Not tomorrow, not next week, but today. This moment that I have with my baby that I will never get back. This moment I have with Caroline that some girls do not get because they are not able to conceive a child. I believe that God is helping me get through this. This is not a struggle, but a journey in my life that I am going through. 

Now that thats said and done..my baby girl is 6 weeks old today. She is growing oh so much and I can't wait to see how much she weighs. Yesterday (April 1st) C held a smile three times at me and her nana. Baby book milestone! She smiles with her eyes and it is just so wonderful. She is still eating well and will still breastfeed and bottle feed whenever and wherever. Ha! This past week with her I have really cherished breastfeeding…it is such a sweet bond with her that I would have never understood until I became a mother. Our newborn sleepers are becoming more snug and we are advancing to size 1 diapers this week. The newborn diapers are getting just a little too snug. Whenever anyone else is holding her and I talk she will turn her head and follow me with her eyes. It makes me so happy. Here are some recent pictures...

Daddy and C in their morning bottle routine!

Cousin Greg came to meet C last Saturday at my parents. She really likes male voices. :)

Uncle Harry.. she liked his voice too. 

Our Easter Bunny sleeper from the Criders! Thank you Mrs. Donna! 

I do not like pictures of myself but this picture of C and I makes me smile!

Trying to wear all the bows we got at showers! :)

Morning time is my favorite part of the day. We have lots of chats and I get lots of smiles and funny looks. 

I took this picture for documentation purposes.. some of you new mamas might think I'm lying but really..this is the first time she was asleep when we changed her diaper. She is very alert most of the time and burping/diaper changes/outfit changes really stimulates her to stay awake. Doesn't she look long in this picture?

Nana and Pop got us a new rocking chair for the front porch so we could rock outside and boy has it been nice. I have already put some rocking time in and I can't wait for Kyle to paint it in a few weeks.

We went to visit Aunt Andrea when I was exhausted.. and of course C slept 4.5 hours over there  just to show out. :) 

We took a trip to Jones Valley so Daddy could get a haircut. C and I strolled through stores and she fell asleep on the way home…..

Still asleep when we got home! Score! So daddy and mommy enjoyed the fresh air and C slept on the porch in her carrier… and guess what? She is still asleep while I'm writing this post! Score!

First Trip to the Movies!

When I was little my all-time favorite movie was Cinderella. I probably watched it five times a day and my mom even had two VHS copies for when I went places. Needless to say when I saw the new Cinderella movie on TV I had to see it! Turns out one of my best friends Brooke wanted to see it too so off we went on a movie date with C! My little girl does everything with me and she is very good at it. (If it's during the day.) Here is C all ready for the car ride to Huntsville. 

We love Aunt Brooke. She loves C so much!

Excuse my awful posture! That car seat gets heavier every week. Ha! C was not too thrilled about this picture for sure! 

This is C when we got home looking oh so beautiful. Unfortunately, she had a screaming/crying spell from 6 ish until late. For the third or fourth night in a row. Thankfully my parents were visiting and helped.... It was not fun. 

Pop with C right before her crying spell started. He still loves her very much crying or happy! 

My mom text me today and told me to send her a picture of Caroline. I sent her this and said "She actually fell asleep laying in my lap!!"

Then thirty seconds later....."Tricked ya mom!" Little stinker!

My little C was five weeks old yesterday. At five weeks, she is still eating anywhere from 3-4 oz every 2-3 hours. She will breastfeed and bottle feed very well. She knows now how I hold her when I feed her and starts to crinkle her nose and open her mouth wide when she knows she is about to eat! It's so funny. She is an excellent car rider and loves music. She doesn't like when we stop at red lights though. The vacuum cleaner has became our powerful weapon when nothing else works for sleep. She loves her time with her daddy in the mornings when he gets home from work. Daddy drinks coffee while holding C and watches TV and they chat for a while and let me take a shower. We change her diaper anywhere from 10-14 times a day! She loves bath time and likes for her body to be submerged. She does well during the day anywhere and struggles at night... But we are making it through, for we know these days won't last long! We love you Caroline Page!

Sleep Little C!

We had a day at home with daddy yesterday and it was wonderful. He is at work again now so we cherished our time with him. C just would not rest yesterday morning so we hit the stroller pretty hard! We met some neighbors on the street over who were in their 80's and ended up visiting for a while. (I love elderly people!)  They told us to please come back and visit anytime. They just loved C and her sweet little feet. It was precious! Daddy mowed and we hung outside for a while (still fighting sleep.) So I took her inside and put her in her vibrating seat and turned the vacuum cleaner on. And just like that, in about ten seconds she was out. She slept for 3.5 hours! I was so relieved! And so was daddy I bet because the laundry got caught up and his favorite clothes got washed and put away! :) 

We grilled out steak and had an awesome dinner. Then we took a trip to GSBC to my 5th graders and C made her surprise debut! No touching was allowed yet but they just ate her up! And of course Mrs. Donna (who I love and admire) ate her up too. We love Mrs. Donna! And our 5th graders! 

Next week is our last week together. I am already tearing up thinking about it but on a positive note, Daddy, Nana, and Pop are going to get some serious bonding time with C while I am at work. I am trying to be super grateful that I only live ten minutes away, she doesn't have to go to daycare, etc... but it is still so very hard! And the whole pumping at work thing is just a whole other set of worries. I love breastfeeding so much and really hope it works out. My short term goal for April is to pump my first three weeks back at work. If I can make that, we shall set another goal! Anyway.. we are out to start another day! Until tomorrow!

Growing growing growing!

What a beautiful day we had yesterday. Daddy had to work overtime so he was away from us for 48 hours.. And has to go back tomorrow. We managed to make it though. C's reflux is under control but we still think she has colic. Most of our day yesterday and the day before was not much sleep and lots of crying. But we did manage a grocery store trip with nana. In other news, I have read so much breastfeeding literature it is ridiculous. I remember reading that somewhere around a month old babies hit a growth spurt and tend to eat more often. Well this is true and in full effect. We fed every 2-2.5 hours around the clock yesterday as opposed to our normal every 3-3.5 hours. Milk factory in overtime. 

First grocery store trip was successful. No one tried to touch us...Thank goodness because I might have had a come apart. 

Swinging with my little jewel! Love that girl. 

She is such a sweet girl. It breaks my heart when her tummy hurts and nothing works. 

"Seriously, another picture mama?"

All smiles. My missing piece!