Sip N See party

On Sunday my good friends Jackie and Courtney and Jackie's mother-in-law hosted a sip-n-see party for Caroline to meet all my Houston friends. It was such a nice party! Cute girly decorations, yummy food, lots of cute girly clothes gifts, and of course great company! I am so glad to have such a great circle of friends here!!

smilin at Aunt Jackie!

Cute letters to decorate with in the nursery!

Nana was very helpful. So glad she could come!

one of my oldest friends, Julie

She was very well behaved for her party!

Love all you girls!!

first family day trip

Last weekend was full of fun events! On Friday my mom and sister drove in to Houston; it was Emily's first time to meet Caroline! Caroline was mesmerized by her Aunty Em...we think she is fond of people with spectacles! Aunty Em hung out with us for the evening and got to feed and bathe Caroline. Miss C was a bit fussy here and there but overall she was pretty good for her visitors.

meeting Aunty Em for the first time!

On Saturday my mom and Bill and I and the baby packed up the car for our first family outing to Brenham. I had been wanting to see the wildflowers in the hill country for a long time, and with a new baby and my mom in town it seemed like the perfect time to finally go. We stopped halfway at the outlet mall to hit up Carter's for baby clothes...just can't resist shopping for her!

The drive to Brenham was gorgeous! Fields of wildflowers in every shade imaginable...blue, yellow, orange, pink. The bluebonnets were particularly beautiful.

We of course tried to get a few good photos of baby in bluebonnets. Good idea in theory...not so good idea when it's high noon and the sun is beating down on her face making her squint and burning her delicate skin. Bad mommy.

She was not thrilled with being forced to participate in the photo shoot.

This is about as good as it gets for a 7 week old scorching in the sun in a field of flowers. Oh well we tried.

Had to have mom and dad hop in for a few photos as well!

After touring the scenic countryside we went on to the cute little town of Brenham. We made the mistake of attempting to eat lunch at a place called the Bread Basket. If you're ever in Brenham and thinking of eating here, DON'T. We placed our order and waited over an hour to get our food and it never came. We finally decided not to waste any more valuable time waiting for food and just left. Good thing Caroline's lunch was a ready-to-feed bottle...at least one of us got to eat!

We hit up a few shops in town and nearby. My favorite find was the baby consignment shop....lots of cute clothes! I had to limit my impulse to buy everything I picked up. Mom's favorite find was the giant metal chicken, a joke between her and her best friend Susan. (Those of you that read the blogess post about 'choosing your battles' will appreciate as well!)

It's Beyonce!

We finally headed home down Highway 6 and it was just as gorgeous as our drive up...so scenic. We will definitely be making this an annual trip! Next year MaMa needs to come!

routines

We are slowly starting to make some progress on setting some normal routines in our household, and it feels so good to start to get back to 'normal.' We have the sleep routine down pat, no problems. Ever since she was 4 weeks old when we stopped waking her up to eat every 3 hours she has been 'sleeping through the night' with no problems! Bill goes to bed around 8 pm since he wakes up so early. I stay up with her and give her the last bottle around 10. She goes right to sleep after the bottle and doesn't wake up till about 3 or 4 am. Bill gets up with her and feeds her and she goes back to sleep till about 7 am. So with our handy little schedule everyone is getting a full night's sleep!! Fantastic. She also takes quite a few naps during the day so I can usually get one or two chores done around the house.

Winnie is a great nap buddy!

Taking a shower is a skill I have just about mastered. It must be done right after the 7 am bottle, when she's either fast asleep or peaceful and content. I put the bouncer in the bathroom so I can keep her in full view while showering. Shower lasts no more than 5 minutes max if she's awake.   The trick I discovered today is the hair dryer...it puts her right to sleep!! If I hop out of the shower and immediately start blow drying my hair she passes out and I can finish getting dressed in peace! 

Loving the bouncer!

As soon as the hair dryer comes on it's lights out!!

This past Sunday we made our first appearance at church. Getting all 3 of us dressed and out the door on time was a bit of a balancing act but we got it done. She was very good at church, just dozed off and on, didn't cry at all. I'm sure we won't always be this lucky at church but at least our first venture was successful!

Such a good girl at church.

I've even started venturing out of the house with her to run some errands, which is what I appreciate the most. We ran to Target to get more formula...and walked out with more clothes and an Easter dress. Shopping for her is an impulse I just can't resist. We also ran to Michael's to get goodies for her Easter basket!

Both times she was pretty cooperative, didn't fuss much. The only snafu is when we're driving...she likes the car in motion and is not pleased when we stop. She'll fuss till the car starts moving again. Hence I've started planning our routes with the least number of red lights and stop signs possible. But at least I know she should do pretty well on our first road trip back to Louisiana in a few weeks! Looking forward to seeing everyone!

for Betsy...sunshine and puppies

Sugar and spice and everything nice, that's what little girls are made of.

Dad!!! You forgot to brush my hair!

Taking a stroll along White Oak Bayou.

Hmmm....what shall I do today?

one month down, 98459847 to go!

Well we survived the first month. Some of my friends with kids are always saying time just 'flies by' and 'before you know it you'll be celebrating her first birthday and wondering where the time went!' HA! This has been a long month that I remember every single sleepless  moment of and I can't wait until she gets older!! It's been hard to admit but I am coming to terms with the fact that I'm just not a 'baby person.' I never was, never have been, and apparently never will be. I was greatly disappointed that I didn't feel that immediate swooning baby-love that new moms are supposed to have, but apparently it's not uncommon for some moms to take a bit longer to get in the mommy groove. I'm trying to accept the fact that this is a trying stressful time that is a huge adjustment, and everyone promises it gets better as she gets older. I try to remember that it's ok to just get by one day at a time, and somewhere down the road we'll get into some type of routine and it will get easier and I will enjoy it more. I try to remember that 'this too shall pass' and I can't wait until she's a fun, talkative bubbly-personality 3 year old that we can take to the zoo and the park and do pictures with Santa and birthday parties. Can't wait to teach her to ride a bike. Can't wait to do christmas morning with toys and presents. Can't wait to pack her backpack for her first day of school. Can't wait to see her first dance recital. Can't wait to watch her play with Winnie and see him run happily towards her. Can't wait to do the tooth fairy and Easter Bunny. Can't wait to see her little personality unfold.

Till then I'll just have to take it one day at a time and keep counting down and moving forward. And engage in a little retail therapy every now and then.

happy one month birthday Caroline! 

observations

How I know my daughter is mine:

1. She has such a happy disposition, despite all her eating issues. My mom said I was the same way as a baby...just a peaceful content baby that didn't cry much.

2. Her second toe is longer than her big toe. Very distinct Elizabeth gene.

3. She loves bathtime, happily sits in her little tub and just looks around. I try to scoot her up higher in the sling so I can wash her hair and she wiggles her way down so that her body is mostly in the water. I'm convinced this is because I took so many baths while pregnant. It was our nightly ritual.

4. She loooves headrubs. Every time we rub her head she gives us such a big smile. Definitely her mama's girl.

the miracle of formula

I believe we have finally solved her eating problem....MANY THANKS to Nana for her suggestion!! For the first two weeks it seemed like Caroline was spitting up and even vomiting a lot, and she was fussy for hours at a time. She kicked her legs and fussed and it seemed like she was in pain. The doctor made a couple recommendations but it seemed like she wasn't really listening to me...she seemed to think it was normal, and i was not convinced. My mom was also not convinced, saying the baby was having entirely too many poopy diapers and not enough wet ones. The doctor said to supplement with formula, and we tried several variations...dry formula, ready-made formula, 2 different types. She was still having issues. Mom suggested we do an experiment: 24 hours of just formula, and 24 hours of just breastmilk. The 24 hours of formula were PERFECT...she did great, not much spitting up, and she pretty much slept through the night and we just had to wake her twice to feed her! HEAVEN! As soon as we switched to breastmilk she immediately spit up, or more like vomited. Problem solved. There's something in my milk that doesn't agree with her, and I'm not about to spend another 2 weeks trying to figure out what I'm eating that gets in my milk and upsets her stomach. So formula it is. We switched to formula cold turkey on Monday and the last 3 nights have been absolutely perfect!! She still gets a bit fussy during the day sometimes but I suspect that's due to gas and other normal issues. The fussy periods are not nearly as bad as they had been. And she's having LOTS more wet diapers than poopy diapers, so that's a good sign!!


She is such a good baby. I will be the first to admit she's about as good as they come. She doesn't really cry unless she's absolutely starving (which we learned the hard way after those first 2 weeks!) Changing her diaper, giving her a bath...none of those things bother her. And I do believe, to my absolute delight, that she has inherited her mother's champion sleeping genes! Bill is a notoriously bad sleeper...has trouble falling asleep, wakes up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep. I could sleep my life away if you let me. Based on the way the last 3 nights have gone, I suspect that once she's 4 weeks old and we stop waking her to eat she might just sleep through the night! My mom said my younger brother was like this...sleeping through the night at a young age. Hope she follows in the Herrod tradition!


Other than that we're just getting through one day at a time. Bill goes back to work next week. I'm nervous about being alone with her all day, every day. I like having help!! But I guess it's gotta happen sometime!

Winnie is always a big help at bathtime!

the frohawk. the girl has a ton of hair!! she's even got a mullet in the back!

lots of quality snuggle time