Life has been full here!

But, of course, first things first. I took this picture of Caroline this afternoon. That smile just warms the cockles of my heart. I can honestly say that I will remember motherhood becoming fun when she was six and a half weeks old. Of course, I loved Caroline and enjoyed her before this. But there is something about being able to interact with her now and seeing her respond to me with smiles that completely changed everything for me. 🙂

Every day I think I’m going to find the time to sit down and blog, but we’ve had some extra things going on that have taken more time. I started physical therapy a couple of weeks ago so I’ve been going twice a week to that. The good news is that it isn’t my old problem, but a newer, pregnancy-related problem that isn’t chronic and is very correctable. Praise God! I’m working with the same physical therapist, a really nice Christian man who has done a great job for me in the past.

We’ve also been catching up on other doctor’s appointments that got put off while I was pregnant. David has had extra meetings to attend the past two weeks. And we’ve been rearranging things in our house to make them more compatible with our “new ” life with Caroline and all her “stuff” (swing, pack and play, etc.). I’ve been rethinking my routines and deciding how I can make them work better with our new flow of life and where I need to be in the house at certain times of the day. And we have, of course, been thinking about the holidays coming up and starting to do small things related to them.

Caroline has been starting to go longer between night feedings to which we say – HOORAY!!! When she hit her six week growth spurt she was eating every hour and a half during the day. YEESH. That was a bit much. We’re getting back to the two and a half to three hours cycle which is much better. She’s also started growing out of her first group of clothes to which her Mama says – not already! It’s too soon! But, yes, I’ve started putting her into some of her next step up clothes. They are big on her, but we’ll be able to enjoy them for a while. People aren’t kidding when they say that it all passes so quickly. It is true in just the seven and a half weeks we’ve had Caroline. We keep our camera and video camera out in the living room so we are more apt to take pictures and video footage. I highly recommend it.

Something else I highly recommend to any of the ladies who have left comments that they are also expecting… Someone (?) had recommended hanging a baby calendar in the nursery and writing down little things every day. I took that advice and am so glad I did. I don’t have something on every day, but I do on the vast majority of them. It will make a great keepsake just on its own merits, but it will also make it really easy to date and order things when I start scrapbooking all of the baby stuff.

Something I didn’t do, but have thought of since having Caroline… If I had it to do over again, I would have made a list of everything I wanted to do the first couple of months and put it on the refrigerator. There have been things I meant to do with her/related to her and forgot because the time is so intense and packed with so many things to do. But a written reminder on the refrigerator will tell you – cut a lock of hair, get a picture of the baby in such and such place, spend time with her doing X, etc. It may sound like overkill do write it all down, but sleep deprivation doesn’t make for a good memory.

I have one more baby shower coming up. My church is giving us a shower so I am looking forward to that and getting to know more of the ladies at church during that time. So many people at church have been so wonderfully excited about Caroline and it has been fun to “share” her with so many great folks. We haven’t scheduled her dedication yet, but plan on doing that sometime soon.

Have a great day! 🙂