Some Smiling and Cooing

Today while she was nursing, Caroline suddenly stopped, and I looked down to figure out why. She was smiling at me and then started cooing. So, I got the camera and tried to get her to do it again, and she obliged. It was very cute. The best smiling and cooing is at the beginning of the video.

Easter Egg Hunt at Church on Saturday

We did the obligatory churchwide/community-wide Easter Egg Hunt and activities at church this morning. It was fun - the boys did crafts, participated in the singing and dancing, and all three kids saw the Easter Bunny and egg-hunted. As you can see by the pictures, Caroline wasn't too fond of the Easter egg hunt. It was fun that our neighbors, the Tranthams, ended up coming too, so the boys enjoyed playing with their guys on the playground after the egg hunt. Tonight we're dying eggs, and thinking that the Easter Bunny might possibly hide eggs indoors tomorrow as we're supposed to have strong storms in the a.m. I'll post some pictures tomorrow from egg dying, church going, and egg hunting.

Buns, Baby Buns

Just had to immortalize the adorable rolls and buns of my little girl. I thought Grandma would like to see what she looks like now without her diaper. She'll kill me one day for publishing this, but it is a private blog, so only close friends and family get to see.....the ones who'll tease her for it later.

4 Weeks Old!

Caroline turned 4 weeks old today - and to celebrate, I took her in bright and early to the pediatrician's office to weigh her after dropping Jake off at school. You know, she didn't gain weight much at all in her first 1 1/2 to 2 weeks, so I braced myself for a number a little lower than I hoped for. At 2 1/2 weeks, she weighed 7 lbs, 11 oz at the dr. office, and when I took her in today, she weighed 9 lbs, 1 oz. Yea! I was so happy and Dr. Mac even popped his head in and said, "Wow - I calculate that's 1.5 oz a day - that's extraordinary!". That made me feel good. She's had a busy social schedule recently - visits from Uncle Mark and Aunt Hanna, a Conroe drive-through by Debbie, Gloria, Papa, and Grandma, a lunch date with baby Burke, Alicia, Karin, Erin, Stephanie and Wendy ( my poker group), and now tomorrow we head down to Houston (with Ben) to introduce her to Ganga (Scott's grandmother). She's a busy girl, but looks great from head to toe - see the picture below for her first miniskirt (thanks to Des!). I got four smiles today, and I think some were legitimate, so I was so excited. Ben had Cowboy Week at school this week, and so he wore all of his cowboy gear to school two of the three days. Scott took the boys to the Montgomery County Fair this afternoon/evening and they had a blast! Here are a few pictures from the week!

Week without Grandma

Well, Grandma and Granddad are gone, as I mentioned previously, but we've gotten along pretty well. Kathleen got here on Tuesday and is staying until tomorrow, so I've had some help the middle part of this week. I had my postpartum visit with my OB and my followup with my internist on Tuesday and Wednesday, and those appointments went pretty well. Caroline and I also got a chance to follow up with my lactation consultant, and I got to see that she is gaining weight and getting a much better intake of milk, since her frenectomy. In fact, Christina, the LC, is thinking about using Caroline as a case study for a conference in May that she is presenting out about the difference before and after her frenulum was clipped. So, she may be a celebrity yet. Now that she's starting to fill out a little, I've gotten to dip into some of the different adorable outfits that I've had waiting for her. Here are a couple of my favorites from the week:

We're really looking forward to Mark and Hanna's visit this weekend! The boys are especially. It's always a good time!

We Love Grandma!

Grandma (my mom) has stayed with us for 2 1/2 weeks - and she has been a god-send (and she leaves tomorrow :( ). She has kept me sane, cared for the baby when I was unable, loved on and spoiled the boys, supported Scott, helped the house and laundry stay under control, chauffered me to various places when I was not allowed to drive, bought the kids some spring clothes, took some night feedings so that we could get some desperately needed sleep, filed Caroline's talons and helped bathe her, planned a "Mud Day" with the boys, and NEVER complained once. She is a saint. And Granddad (my dad) is a saint for sharing her so long with us. He never complained to me about it, even though it was unexpectedly longer than it was supposed to be, and he went a long time without his wife. We will certainly have an adjustment to make when they leave tomorrow, but we're much better prepared for the future than we were a week ago - what a difference a week makes! We can't wait to see them again soon.

Dress Up Time!

We got Caroline dolled up in her first dress today - and she stayed awake the whole time and even smiled at me twice (although she was on the way to dreamland, so it was more of a fluke!). Here are some pictures of her in pretty bows and dresses.

Weekend at Home

Well, our weekend is almost over, and Caroline is 1 1/2 weeks old already! She's still a great night time sleeper, and pretty sweet all the way around. My blood pressure is still bad, and the anxiety isn't great either, but I'm hoping this week will bring relief for both. Here are some pictures from our weekend, including the much-anticipated visit from Kelley and Matt. Tomorrow is her first pediatrician visit, so we'll be praying for a rave review from Dr. Mac!

At Home and Prayers

Well, we are two days into being home, and Caroline herself is doing great. She is eating well, sleeping well, pooping well, all of the things that a baby is supposed to do. The boys are loving having her here. Last night was the first night that she had a little bit of fussiness, but we are SURE it's because she's been taking in a little bit of my blood when nursing, as she doesn't quite have her latch down, but we're working on that. Her tummy was pretty upset last night and she wanted all of us to know that. Other than that little bump in the road, she is a pretty easy baby....so far. We feel so blessed to have her in our family and in our lives.

I have been struggling though, with my "normal" post partum issues. Normal as in, I've had some degree of post partum blood pressure struggles and severe anxiety with all three babies. As far as the blood pressure, this one has been the worst. The numbers that I got on my monitor at home yesterday are higher than the ones that got me readmitted to the hospital last time. I called my internist, and he told me to take another round of my medication and he would see me today - I don't think that he was as alarmed as I was, and he's the professional, so I trust him. The numbers are down a bit today, which is encouraging, so we'll see what the dr. says. I'm SO hoping to avoid rehospitalization. UPDATE: Just got back from the doctor, and he wants to give the upped dosage of medication another day, so he sent me home with a monitor that stays on my arm and takes my pressure at different times, and then I'll go back tomorrow and re-evaluate. If that doesn't work, he wants to put me on a diuretic, but then I would have to stop breastfeeding, and I DON'T want that. So please pray for me that the medicine will kick in, and that my anxiety would stay at bay for the sake of my whole family. Mom just felt like she couldn't leave me yesterday, as planned, and so now she's here for the long haul (this week and all of next week). I love her for so many reasons, but she's so sacrificial with her time and energy, and that is something I admire so much.

We did decide to get out a bit yesterday, hoping to improve my mood and maybe my blood pressure (didn't work, but it was fun). We took them all to the park, and the boys flew a kite and rode bikes, while Caroline and I hung out and watched. Here are a couple of pictures from this first part of the week:

She's Here!

Caroline Laura Cummings was born today on Thursday, March 5th, at 1:11 pm. She was 7 lbs, 10 oz, and 19 inches long. She has dark brown wavy hair and blue eyes. She is doing great, and I am too. Thanks for all of your prayers! We'll post more pictures later.

Last Pregnant Pose - 40 weeks!

Being my last pregnancy (right?), I did feel an itch to preserve the memory of my largesse for my children to see, and for Scott and I to reminisce about, because after all, I have always loved being pregnant, and I'm going to miss it! But, this belly is one for the books - not necessarily because of its size, but its weird pointy shape.....kind of gives me the creeps - but nevertheless, I needed to freeze the picture for posterity. I did do everyone the kindness of keeping it under wraps, but here it is, in all of its blue and white toile glory.......

Last Nursery Shots before Arrival Day

Here are the last pictures that I will post of her nursery, I promise - but we added the nightstand, the bookcase, the mobile, the window hardware (the panel is still on back order!), and the mobile. Jake put in a little bit of elbow grease too - I told him that it would be fun for him to tell Caroline that he helped put it together. Ben helped set up her swing today, and while we were getting all the pieces out, he told me totally out of the blue "Mommy, I will NOT smack Caroline, because that would be so sad, and would make her so sad." I said, "No, you wouldn't do that, Ben, because you're just so sweet." He responded "well, I appreciate it".

Additional Pictures of the Nursery - Wall Decor Up!

Here are the pictures of the rest of the nursery with the wall decor up - we made her wall letters ourselves, and then we put up a mirror (laced with pink ribbon), the flower wall pegs, and the little white ledge. I will be hanging up her quilt with quilt clips, but I don't have them yet. The only thing left missing in her room is a bookcase and/or small little bedside table to have near the glider. The glider doesn't go in the room at all, but I couldn't justify replacing it when it's fairly new to begin with and so comfortable, so room snobs - just deal!

Her infamous wall letters!

Her dresser with its legs finally!

Her crib in its final resting place.

The glider with the mirror

The wall ledge with the flower pegs

Nursery Decorating

Well, we spent several weekends gutting the old nursery (aka Ben's room) and girlifying it for Caroline. I wish we could replace the hideous carpet, but we've dealt with it for 7 years, and I don't think that's going to change any time soon. We painted the room Behr's Lemon Pound Cake and it turned out a little brighter and citrusier than I had expected, but it is growing on me and will be just fine. We painted the trim around the window, doors and floorboards a pure white (it was sort of a blah-cream). We put together the crib and the dresser arrived just in time (I supervised the putting together of the crib - I should give Scott the manual labor credit). I washed a bunch of baby clothes (three full loads of 0-6 mo little girl clothes!), and put them away in the dresser, and we began the process of accessorizing the room. We still have several major things to do - hang a mirror, hang wall letters that will be hung from ribbon over the dresser, install a white ledge, change out the wall outlets and switches to stark white ones, and change out ceiling fans as we have a pure white one in the boys' room and the one in here currently is a honey wood (which will work perfectly in THEIR room). We also need one more piece of storage - probably like a short 2 shelf bookcase or a little nightstand to set between the crib and the glider that I can plug in the monitor and adorable little pink CD player/radio that Kelley and her parents gifted me with. Here's some pictures of our progress. Speaking of progress, none made in the month-away arrival of Caroline. I had my 35 week appt last week and I'm still measuring right on track, although I did manage to gain a whole 3 lbs in 2 weeks....which was discouraging to me, but still under my starting weight when I got pregnant to begin with. My blood pressure and ankle swelling were a little above average, but not bad or worrisome, and totally explainable as it was the end of a LONG day of work. She still doesn't want me doing weekly appts so I'll have one last two week break - go to my 37 week appt, and do weekly ones from there. March will be here before we know it!

Her bed with her polka dot/striped/toile bedding from PBK (I finally found all the pieces!)

The glider where we will spend a lot of nights in - with the Boppy!

One of the diaper caddys, currently filled with burp cloths and pacifiers

The other diaper caddy filled with socks and hair accessories.

The dresser - it is so huge, and so wonderful!

Happy 7th Birthday, Jake!

Jake is 7 today, and is really enjoying his birthday weekend. First he had a party with his class at school on Friday, complete with a chocolate cake and a little Cha-Cha slide dancing at the end of the party, courtesy of Mrs. Fayle's DDR CD. He was really tickled that the whole class decided to indulge in a little dancing for his party. On Friday night, Grandma and Granddad came into town and all day Saturday were birthday festivities. First we had lunch with the four of us, Grandma and Granddad, and Donna and Corey. We cooked out hot dogs, burgers, made yummy bean dip and had fruit and chips, and then Chocolate Chip Cookie cake for dessert. Then he opened presents, and he loved ALL of them. He made it a goal to play with ALL of them before the end of the day. Matt and Kelley got here from Austin around 4:00pm, and he got to open another present (from them and Mark and Hanna), and then we went to his choice for dinner: Denny's (?). We came home and played Hit or Miss, and then after a long day, he was ready for bed. Today, we have church and then we're picking up his 3 closest friends for a little afternoon celebration - first stop is McDonalds for lunch, then the movie theatre to see "Hotel for Dogs" and then ice cream cake and presents at our house. Finally then the birthday will be over. But he made it last a whole weekend. I'll post birthday party pictures later!

My C-section has been rescheduled and then rescheduled again, so officially now, the date is set for 12:30pm on March 5th (one day before my due date), but the dr. office feels pretty confident that there will be cancellations between now and then, and I'll get moved back to the first half of the week. I hope so - I've never been pregnant for one day short of 40 weeks. That would be a record, and not one that I really want to achieve with the large babies I seem to have (although my dr. thinks that she will not be as big as the boys were - maybe somewhere in the 8lb - 8.5 lb range). Only time will tell!

33 Weeks

Hello everyone! I thought I would make a little appearance on the blog to share the latest and greatest about Miss Caroline, as I had a big, important ultrasound today. First and foremost, she looks great - she's very healthy - her head and abdomen measure exactly where they should be for 33 weeks (they measure just a little big, but not hugely big like Jake and Ben did!). She has perfect toes, a perfect nose, beautiful lips, LOTS of hair, and chubby cheeks. They estimated that she is about 4lbs, 14 oz, and is in about the 60% percentile for height and weight. She's not head down or breech but rather transverse, which means her head is on the left and her rear is on the right. She sucked her thumb during part of the sonogram and yawned once too. What really blew us away were the images that we were able to see of her using a 4D machine. We can see that she looks remarkably like a Scott and Carrie Cummings baby - a little more like Jake than like Ben, but favors either given a certain angle. She has a nose like Jake's, that turns up at the end, and luscious lips like Jake and Ben (and I) have. It brought tears to my eyes, and that doesn't happen very often. We are so excited to meet her, and we know that we will, barring any surprises, on Tuesday, March 3. My blood pressure was great, my blood sugars were great, and I managed to lose 2 more lbs (?). I am being very brave, but for posterity's sake, I have decided to take the dreaded belly pic - I will only take one more - the day before she's born. It'll be fun to compare. Ignore the nasty stretch marks. And then I'm also posting the ultrasound pictures from today that I scanned.