Caroline - the Early Days

As soon as we got home from the hospital, we left all 3 kids with Annie and went to Firebirds for lunch with the McSwains.  I missed my sweet Caroline while we were gone but it was a nice quick break.  I continued this trend of getting out of the house to do some shopping or get my nails done in the first few weeks.  It was fabulous!  I think I was really able to do this because I know and love Annie so much.  I really don't know what I will do when we have our next child and she isn't around!  

We also took Caroline out pretty early.  Her second day home, we went to the park and her third day home, we went to the Botanical Gardens. Funny story - it's obviously been a while since I've had a newborn, because we got all the way to the Gardens and I realized I didn't have the stroller!  Luckily, Ryan, my dad, and Gary were all there so we had plenty of strong men to carry her car seat around!

It was really nice not having to work and being able to spend more time with the kids.  I took Caroline on walks around the neighborhood and joined Annie for trips to Madison Claire's school and out with Mac.  Our good friends the Thorntons set up a meal calendar for us so for the first time ever, I had people bringing us meals for a while after she was born.  It was *so* nice and I'm forever grateful!  Meredith & Ben came up for a visit when Caroline was 2 weeks old.  We took the kids to the zoo and had a great time spending time with them.  Unfortunately, I got really sick when they left.  I'm still not sure what it was, but I pretty much spent 3 days in bed not able to do anything at all.  I almost fainted in the shower and Ryan thought he was going to have to take me to the ER.  Fortunately it passed, but it was awful at the time!  My mom was able to come into town to help with the kids - I was so thankful to have her there!

Caroline slept in our room for the first 6 weeks.  We knew we were going to be moving, so didn't want to have to move Mac out of his room.  She was a great early baby - she ate well, and really fast!  She could nurse in a total of 7-9 minutes.  I was sure she wouldn't gain any weight but the pediatrician said she was perfect.  She woke up around every 3 hours to eat but would eat quickly and go back to bed easily, so the entire process would only take around 15-20 minutes.  

Madison Claire continued to think that Caroline hung the moon. She was quick to tell EVERYONE about her new baby and told me several times that she didn't really like her Caroline American Girl Doll - she liked her real baby.  It was precious and we couldn't have scripted it better.  Mac also did well.  He was really indifferent for the first few weeks.  He didn't like her or resent her.  It was almost as if he acted like she wasn't ever there.  He still had his Annie, whom he did seem to grow more close to with Carolines arrival.  He was also happy to have me around a little bit more.  

Our lunch right after leaving the hospital!