still on different schedules

so this morning, caleb slept until 8, but carly was up at 6:30. however, caleb didn't get up in the middle of the night, so that was good, but carly didn't go quite as long as she has, in between feedings, but nathan did not have to get up with her after her middle of the night feeding - that might be the first time she's done that! i am still optimistic that soon, she'll go 5 hours at a time AND caleb will sleep all night AND they'll both sleep longer on the SAME day :)

crazy nights

so, carly did great last night. after feeding her at 10:30, she slept until 3:30 -wahoo for 5 hours. however, caleb woke up at 2:30, crying, and had trouble getting back to bed. then, after eating at 3:30, she slept until 8:30, but caleb was up at 7:00 - but i can still turn on the little einsteins and let him have his pacifier in our bed and he'll be fairly still and quiet, so i kinda got to sleep until 8:30 - interrupted every 25 minutes to restart the show. BUT caleb getting up was a fluke, and nathan was only up with her for 20 minutes or so last night, so 2 steps forward and 1 back, is still moving forward.

so we got the camera out this morning to try to get a shot of carly with her eyes open.... and then caleb wanted his picture taken with his milk - and then he put on his blanket as a dress - isn't he beautiful!

2 week stats

we took carly to the doctor for her 2 week "weight check" - it's not really a check-up, they just want to make sure they are putting on some weight.... and we're good!
8lbs 3oz 45%
20 inches long 36%
35.5 inches (head) 37%
here she is, snoozin in her car seat before the visit.

not sleeping so good

so for the past 2 nights carly has been up for a couple hours around 3ish. the good news is that nathan gets up with her when she's crying becuase i get up with her to feed her. so saturday night, i didn't even know they were up, but last night i did, mostly becuase he had to start getting ready for work, so she was back in our room crying while he was in the shower. so i fed her about 6:30, when i couldn't get her to go back to sleep. and thanks to the little einsteins and a pacifier, caleb sat mostly quietly in the bed watching tv, carly slept, and i got a little nap of 15 minutes at a time. anyhow, hopefully this was just a 2-time thing and she will go back to sleeping at night - which by the way, makes life wonderful!!!! and lets nathan go back to sleeping all night

some pics from home

So, we are trying the potty seat that goes over the real potty (something different to be excited about)- it's a big boy potty.... we'll see how that goes! as i was trying to get a picture of carly with her eyes open, caleb wanted in on the action, so here he is, coloring, and saying "cheese." and here he is with the goggles on his head, talking on his phone, probably to grandad - he likes to talk to grandad on his phone. he's so funny :-)


carly has been opening her eyes a little more, still not much. i tried to get a shot of her with her eyes open and looking forward - this is the best i could do... but here are her eyes. it's a big deal when she opens her eyes, caleb announces when they come open, and he usually gets close to her and says "hello carly carly carly" - its pretty cute. and here she is with her cousin hallie - sweet pic, huh!

first week home

so we've been home a week, and i'm happy to report we are doing pretty good. carly is going 4 and 5 hours in between feedings at night (most nights). nathan is back at work, and this family of 4 thing is starting to feel a little normal.

caleb loves his little sister - he gets too close to her face and always wants to kiss her only on the mouth, but it's because he's trying to love her or play with her, and he's not trying to hurt her, let's hope that stays his disposition! he did start hitting yesterday afternoon, need attention kid? but that hasn't been a problem today - maybe he has figured out that's a bad idea... he spent a lot of time in "time out" for that yesterday.

he likes to take carly's dirty diapers to the trash for me, and talks to her and plays with her when she opens her eyes. she doesn't open her eyes much or for a long time, but we love to get to see them and are looking forward to seeing more of them. we don't know what color they are, they are still dark blueish / brown.

i was able to get caleb to and from mother's day out, while toting carly, successfully - yay. it's funny... when caleb was a baby, i found it very difficult to "run in" anywhere - because i had to carry the carseat in, and was just a pain. now... i look forward to tues / thurs so i can run errands with just the baby, because i only have to lug the carseat in and not it AND caleb. guess that's life!

we have been extremely blessed with friends and food. the most we've had to do is turn on the oven and reheat a casserole, and we have food scheduled for quite a while more. thanks marta for organizing, and thanks to all of you for taking care of us, with food as well as your love and support! we feel like we are in a great place right now... we have a great little family and an excellent supporting cast. thanks :)

things that go SQUIRT in the night

so, one thing that's better about baby girls is that you dont have to dodge the stream of pee when changing a diaper... well... dodging still necessary. last night i was changing her diaper in the middle of her feeding (it wakes her up enough to finish eating). by now, i've learnd to put a clean diaper under her bum before i move the dirty one - they poop without warning - which i no longer have to do with caleb. anyhow, as i had her legs/bum up to clean off some poo, she pooped again, and again. since it started to go up her back, i lifted her up a little more - bad move - she shot poo at me - kinda like a monkey, but no hands needed. it got on everything: her pjs, socks, my pj pants, my blanket, our sheets. at least it was 9ish and not in the middle of the night. but after we all got changed, including our bed, she slept great, and we did too!

carly's first bath

so, she's not a huge fan of the bath.... yet, but she has to hang in mid-air, naked and wet, until her cord falls off, i guess i wouldn't like that either! she survived the scrub down, got dried off and pj'd - turns out she's fine, and a little bit cleaner

so, apparently carly likes to play with caleb's cars. well, at least he is sharing at this point and not trying to poke her or eat her or something else. he still likes to hold her, however, he is getting a little more brave with her in his arms. and this is funny.... caleb's diaper and carly's diaper.

caleb wants to hold her..

when caleb got home from school, he came to me, to see carly. she had her eyes open, which makes her much more interesting, and he talked to her for a few, then said "i hold her." so, we checked with him a couple times to be sure that's what he said, and sure enough..... the last pic is him kissing her. he is doing good with her, just not so great with us - which is harder for us, because we are tired. we tried a couple things last night to try to get her to sleep better, turns out nathan's chest is the key. she slept for 3+ hours on him early this morning. that worked good last night, too bad we can't do that all the time!

first night home

so, we got home yesterday about 2:30ish. when caleb got up from his nap, he was pretty interest in carly, for a few minutes - but she was a little boring... asleep. when she got up and cried, he said "oh, she needs a truck" and handed her one of his new monster trucks -makes sense to me! he did pretty good last night and has been in school (mother's day out) today. so far, so good, tomorrow will probably be a better indicator of how he'll do, we'll all be here all day. we had spaghetti delivered for dinner by lindsay bird - it was delicious, and caleb had 3 plates of it. carly didn't sleep great last night, but we did get a good 3hr stretch, interrupted by caleb when he got up about 7am. we took carly to the her dr (stephanie shults) this afternoon and got a great report. stephanie said she was doing fine and looked great - yay carly! here's some pics from the day....



heading home from the hospital in her new blanket





sleeping on grammie

hanging out in her swing - caleb likes to help her swing - i'm pretty sure it's dangerous

while i was catching a little nap, we find that this is really what a boppy pillow should be used for!

We're home...

so we got home about 2:30ish today. when caleb got up from his nap a little later, he was quite interested in carly. he took a few good looks at her, she was sleeping, and then he was mostly unconcerned with her while he played. he's been loving his new monster trucks, thank you grandad and thank you kate. in fact, when she finally woke up and starting crying, caleb said: "oh, she needs a truck" and placed one of his trucks on her - he's so funny. he gave her a kiss also, but i wasn't fast enough to get a pic. caleb is down for the night, so... let's see if we can get some sleep!

Night #2

Night number 2 was a bit better, Carly was up till about 3 am, tried to put her down several times but she wanted to be held for awhile. The nurse came and got her around 3:15 to run some tests on her, that took about 45 minutes. She came back all bundled up, cried a little then was out, she is still asleep, we got a good 4 hours of sleep! Leslie is doing good, we are gonna be going home around lunch time. Doctor Evitt has already been in to see Leslie and was going to fill out her discharge orders.

My First Moments

With both of my children I had a memorable first moment where it was just me and them, both were shortly after they were born and checked by the nurses. With Caleb I took him aside cuddled up to him and sang the Michigan fight song! That's my boy!

But with Carly I did something different with my baby girl. With her I held her close so that she could feel my heart beating with the love I have for her, tight so she will know that daddy will always love her, and high so that she knows the pedestal I have put her on. Then I sang her a mixed up version of "you are my sunshine," but in stead of my I put in there our and made it a plural song from the three of us.

First night down. The hospital does not have a nursery to send the baby to, we had hoped there was one so we could get some sleep. Oh well. She was up around 0230 and every time we tried to lay her back down she would end up crying within 10-15 minutes, we tried to sooth her in her bed, but that did not work. She finally conceded around 0500. Breastfeeding has been going really well, and all of her plumbing works. We have not had to change her poopie diaper, the nurses have encountered that when they have been checking her and have done it! Now that we are up she does not want to be. Leslie was going to try and feed her but she is zonked out. Hope this doesn't mean that she has her days and nights mixed up! Everyone is doing good. Thank you all for your prayers and comments, it truly has been uplifting!

Carly's Birth Day pictures, Caleb met his new sister, not sure he gets it yet. He did "pet" her like he would the cat, I believe he will be a good big brother!

We are all doing good, Mom is a champ, Carly is a squeaker, hasn't let out the cries yet, but i'm sure that is coming! Thank everyone for all the prayers, believe me God's hand was all over us today!! Praise Him alone, for He alone is worthy!

Carly Ann Sweet born on April 13th 2009 at 1413 (2:13 pm for non military folk), weight 7lbs 12oz, 20 1/2 inches!

Praise God, Momma was a champ! I am sooooo proud of her!!!!

Ok, Doctor just came in and checked, said that the baby was wiggling her head when she was checking the dilation, we are at 6 cm during a contraction. By the way our Doctor is fabulous, such a great attitude and interaction with us! We love her! Mad props to Doctor Evitt!

5 cm, baby is down all the way. At this rate she will start pushing in 5 hours! Hope sooner than that!

Up to 4 cm, moving slow (in my opinion) but at least moving!

Ok, 1 hour and now up to 3 cm, the Doctor said that her contractions are looking really good, and that all in all it should start picking up real soon! Of course the epidural is working like a charm!!!! Praise God for modern day medicine!

Update: Epidural is in, no problems there, still only 2 cm! In need of some dilation!

We made it on time this morning, was checked by the Doctor and given the OK! Water has been broken and the Pitocin is running. Leslie is doing good!

the final countdown

so, in 8 hours, we get set up for induction. i should see my doctor at 7:30 / 8:00 and she'll make sure everything is ready to go. there's a slight chance we won't induce, but my doctor is confident that things will be fine. the main concern is whether or not i have dialated to 2 or 3 cm (i was 1.5 at my last visit a week ago). my doctor actually called me this afternoon to check on me and make sure i was still ready to go in the morning - i have a great doc! so, let's see if we can get some sleep tonight before we are up EARLY to get this party started. we are a little nervous, just because this process is going to start differently than it did with caleb, which is a good thing. we are praying that i am ready physically, and everything goes smoothly, and quickly, and painlessly - yeah, that's wishful thinking! we'll keep you posted.....

easter egg hunt

so.... easter dinner at nana & edward's: we had dinner as edward posed for a pic with the boys! caleb loved lucky, edward's goldfish, he even learned to make a fish face, thank you lucky. after dinner, nana hid the eggs in the house (it was cool and muddy outside) and here came the boys...

after the hunt, we broke out the delicious easter cookies, thank you k-town treats! since Teagan is the baker, caleb got his own cookie with his name on it :)

nana stashed the big eggs and handed them out so they weren't snatched up

by jace (the big one) and they had cars in them - wahoo!

me and caleb enjoyed some yummy milkshakes, after his movie time with debbiejulie - that's two people, but referred to as one. they may just be his biggest fans.

he is peeing with nathan's goggles on. he had the goggles on and then we got him to pee. thought the picutre was too awesome not to share!

this is my friend tara at her baby shower last weekend. baby juliet is due just one month after carly. here are our bellies. we have decided that our girls will be bff.

things i'm looking forward to....

sleeping on my back
sleeping on my stomach
sleeping without having to get up and pee
being able to reach my toes
walking across the room without getting winded
finally meeting carly
no more pain when i walk, well different kind of pain
bending over
first baby laughs
caleb getting to meet carly and be a big brother
rolling over, crawling, then her first steps
not bumping into stuff because i forget my belly is enormous
little fingers and toes
wearing pants that don't fall down, and covering my belly completely
my belly button returning to the "in" position

not looking forard to...
the pain before she arrives
lack of sleep (but doing so on my back or stomach!)
hemroids
non-stop bodily fluids (carly's)

We are not statistics....

So, statistically, the second child arrives earlier than the first. if carly were to follow caleb's time line and be here before he was, she would have been here by 10a this morning. she's not, and it doesn't look like she'll be here at all today. caleb was 10 days early, and today is 10 days early for carly. even though i wish she were here, i'm thankful that we didn't follow suit with caleb's arrival, because i would have just been in labor for a little over 40 hours. even though she didn't come statistically, i'm still hoping we'll come out better with "odds are the labor will be easier" and "odds are she'll sleep better than caleb did as an itty bitty"

our funny little man

so last night, we went out to dinner and had a sitter for caleb. we didn't mention his pacifier. btw - he only gets it in the car and at nap / bed time. so we got home and we were asked about him having his pacifier, becuase apparently he had it, and as soon as he heard the garage door, he jumped up and said "i got to put my paci up" and ran in his room to put it up. confirmation that he knows a lot more about what's going on than we sometimes give him credit for!

he made a bird feeder at school today. it's a bagel with peanut butter and bird seed. we hung it on a tree in the front yard when we got home. its above his head, a little to the left. and the hands in his pockets - he's been doing that lately, just another little grwon up thing he does that cracks us up. he is also saying "cheese"

Here's Carly!

well... kinda. we went to the doctor today and have a little more dialation than last week, but other parts weren't ready enough to schedule a induction yet, so we are scheduled to be induced the 13th, if all parts are favorable at our appt next week and assuming she doesn't come on her own first. so after the bad news of "not yet" they sent us for an ultrasound, which we waited for for a long time, while they paraded calhoun's in front of us - well, their staff ordered take out for lunch, really they just walked past us with it and it smelled delicious. so after not getting the news we hoped for, and having to smell deliciousness that we couldn't have... we got to see carly, which pretty much made it worth the wait. here's her little side profile and then her sucking her TOE! that's right, not her thumb, her toe. we have a little toe sucker!

are you coming, carly?

so monday night we timed contractions (sorry no pic for that) for about 2.5 hours. they were never very consistant or very painful, and ended up easing up for a good night's sleep. however, they were close and bad enough that i did skip my confrence call that night. although i wish she were here, i'm trying to enjoy my last few days with just caleb - poor kid - his world is getting ready to be rocked and he has no clue! and i know when she gets here, i'll be longing for a full (mostly) night of sleep. again, even though we are anxious to meet her, we hope she waits till after thursday night... we have a special dinner tonight and tomorrow night that'd we'd like to not miss. yes, we try to plan major life events around food :)