The Dreaded Two Month Checkup.

This was Caroline's happy little face while in the waiting room at her pediatrician's office. Her daddy was holding her, she was blowing bubbles and cooing, an older boy was hitting on her and calling her "baby," and all was right with the world. Then, they called her name.

We took her back and stripped her down to her "panties" (diaper). How embarrassing! They then weigh her. This was okay because there were airplanes spinning above her (a mobile). 12 pounds 6 ounces (78 percentile)! Next, they measured her length, which gave her a chance to stretch her lady muscles. Twenty three and a quarter inches (80 percentile). Then, they measured her head, which seemed to be fine to her. Thirty nine centimeters (70 percentile). That was all so fun for her, although she did not like only wearing her "panties."

Back to the room we went. Mommy carried her to a poster on the wall and showed her all the different insects. Daddy carried her around and gave her kisses. The nice doctor came in, called her a perfect baby and said she was a keeper, and gave mommy free samples of formula (she says it's not as good as her milk machine's milk, but it's okay sometimes). Everything was well and good.

Then, the nurse came in. All hell broke loose. She laid on the table smiling and cooing, her daddy and mommy holding her hands. And then gives her the oral vaccine. That wasn't so bad. But then...... three shots. OH MY GOSH THE SCREAMS. There were sounds coming out of my poor girl that I have not yet heard. Her face was bright red. She squeezed our fingers. IT. WAS. TERRIBLE. Everyone prepared us for it and holy cow they were right. My poor girl was soooo sad. 

We quickly dressed her, checked out, and rushed the crying lady out to the car. I nursed her immediately, which seemed to calm her down. She and I then started the drive to Target to get her baby pain reliever and she SCREAMED the entire time. I nursed her again in the Target parking lot and she fell asleep. So, Target was a breeze!

We got home and she had to eat once again (she takes after her mom) and then she sat on the floor with me to look through a box filled with amazing hand-me-downs from her second cousin, Lena. (Thank you, Margaret!!). She is currently swinging but not sleeping. I thought these vaccines were supposed to make them tired? Not my little girl. She is wide awake!

So, it was not a fun experience. I wish we could have delayed the vaccines until she was a bit earlier, but with her going to daycare in three weeks (don't even get me started on how much I am dreading that, oh my gosh), they're necessary!

Sorry, Caroline Quinn, I promise we weren't trying to torment you <3

Instagram Photos!

So, I don't upload all of my Caroline pictures onto Facebook because I don't want to be obnoxious, but I upload a bunch onto my Instagram for fun (http://instagram.com/krbrian if you wish to follow). I figured during morning coffee time today, I'd upload them into a blog entry! Fun, fun! So, here we go! They are not in chronological order at all, because that's just too much work :)

Nap time on her boppy pillow.

Strawberry feeeeet!

On her car ride home from the hospital; so tiny!

One of the first smiles caught on camera!

Yes, that's a Caroline on the dinner table.

Nakie musician!

Admiring her Christmas tree.

Cutest. Face. Ever.

Ready for our first family walk.

PEACE!

Snuggle time <3

Making faces at each other!

Oh, those burp faces :)

With her dolly! 

She used to be sooooo tiny!

More dolly cuddles.

More face making!

Trying to get comfortable.

RUFFLE BUTT!!!!

At the hospital; only a day old <3

PANDA BUTT!!!!

Sisters :)

Sitting at the dinner table with us.

LOVE that face!

These are from yesterday; look at that smile!!

Waking up from a nap :)

CUPCAKE BUTT!!!!

In the hospital; so new to the world!

<3

Cuddles with my newborn.

Lunch outside; one of her first outings!

SOOOO tiny!

Another from yesterday; on my lap :)

In my legs; a comfy spot for her!

Love, love, love her.

Ellie supporting her during tummy time.

Nap time!!

From yesterday; ready for a lunch date with mommy!

But mommmm, my head is so heavyyyy!!!!

We've got a smile!

And it's beautiful :)

Productive Monday!

I can't believe how productive I have been today considering the amount of time Caroline ate last night, which leads to no sleep for me! I have done all of this today:

• Woke up and fed Caroline at 6 (Josh's alarm woke her up; grr).
• Drank coffee and hung out with Josh until he left for work at 7.
• Managed to get Caroline to go back to sleep in her cradle.
• Ate Oatmeal (it helps with milk production - score!).
• Put photos into Caroline's baby book while she slept on my lap.
• Organized photos for a baby photo album while she stared at Mickey on the TV.
• Had Caroline play with her piano gym while I hung up her clothes.
• Had an adorable photoshoot, edited the photos, and posted them to Facebook.
• Had leftover chicken and spinach pasta for lunch - quite tasty!
• Went for a walk around the neighborhood with Miss Caroline.
• While she slept in the stroller in the yard, I rearranged our sidewalk lights.
• Completed another photo project: 3 small frames with baby picture of Caroline, and young photos of both me and Josh.
• Had an adorable tummy time session with Caroline (and Ellie) and posted a video online.
• Did dishes, retrieved the trash can from the curb, got the mail, cleaned out the refrigerator, and took out the trash.
• Went on an epic commenting and liking spree on Allison's Disney album.
• Watched both Clue and All Good Things on Netflix during baby feedings.

That's a lot of stuff!! Caroline has had two naps today (she's on nap number two right now), which make time for me to be productive. 

We will probably just have leftovers for dinner because: 1) I made way too much food last night, 2) Josh may have to work late, and 3) there's no way I'm waking Caroline up from this rare nap to go to the grocery store!

Look how adorable she is, guys. Seriously, I love her.

Update time!!

Hello, readers! I apologize for the lack of update, but I have been entertaining my little sister, Allison! She spent a week with us and it was SO fun. Wish she could have stayed longer, but she had to go visit Mickey Mouse :) I was really sad when she left because I didn't know when I'd see any family members next. It's always helpful to have some sort of visit scheduled to look forward to when you live far away. My mom mentioned a possible February visit from her and my dad which would be AMAZING. He's the only grandparent that has not yet seen his granddaughter, and he needs to see her; she will LOVE him. That phone call cheered me up because it gives me a possibility to look forward to; hopefully it works out! The visit would fall a week before my dreaded return to work. I wish I could stay home with Caroline but there's just no way we can possibly afford that. She'll be okay in daycare, though, and it will make her very social. Just makes me a sad mommy!

So, here are some updates!

Caroline had her one-month checkup. She is over 22 inches long now and over 9 pounds! I am a bit bummed that I had to use the formula supplement to get her there, but all that matters is her health, and she is very healthy! And the formula isn't too bad; it actually makes life a lot less stressful!

Speaking of stressful, today has been a stressful one. She is going through her 6-week growth spurt and is CONSTANTLY eating. Like, constantly for real. I feed her one side, she falls asleep, realizes she's asleep and still hungry, and SCREAMS. I then feed her the other side, she falls asleep, realizes she's asleep and still hungry, and SCREAMS. I then go make her a bottle, she keeps falling asleep while drinking it, I take it away, she realizes it's gone, and SCREAMS. I had to leave her screaming for a few minutes just so I could get a chance to brush my teeth. We did take a walk around the block and go to the grocery store, which both calmed her down for a bit (she loves being outside and moving around), but the second we got back to the house both times she, you guessed it, SCREAMED. Josh probably thought I was exaggerating when I told him this, but he is on daddy duty tonight and is seeing that I'm not making it up. Poor little Caroline, I feel so bad for her. But we are doing our best to meet her little piglet needs. It's exhausting!!!

She has started smiling which is SO. CUTE. She can be exhausting me, as detailed in the above paragraph, and the second that smile appears on her face everything gets better. She is still figuring out that smile and it is sometimes a bit odd, but it's adorable. She is also experimenting with more sounds. My gosh she makes such cute sounds. The other morning she seriously meowed at me. Josh heard her say "hiiiiii" one day. She seriously is an adorable little girl.

Kind of a smile :)

I feel like I had more to say, but my exhausted brain has run out of words. Miss all of you oh so much! <3