Sisters

Camille

On Monday, August 23, 2010 at 2:15 pm Camille Louise came into the world. The ability of our hearts to love and love some more has proven true again! She weighted 6 lbs, 11 ozs, and was 20 inches long. Her body looks so much like Caroline's did when she was a newborn, but I'm not sure if she looks like either of our girls. She just looks like Camille to us right now, but maybe as she gains a little weight and time goes on, we'll see if we think she favors one of her sisters. So many people have said she looks like one or the other of them, but for now, I just don't see one of them more than the other in her.

Though I was worried about how Charlotte would do with a new baby in the house, Charlotte has been wonderful with Camille at home. She looks for her around the house saying, "Baby, baby." Having Camille as part of the family has brought out the best in our Charlotte girl; as funny as it may sound, Charlotte seems like she has grown up a lot in the past few days. She isn't asking to be held all the time, she is playing independently more, and has generally just been in a really funny and happy mood.

Caroline is in love with her youngest sister, but a little concerned that Camille isn't ready to play yet. I don't think the fact that Camille would be mostly sleeping and eating her way through the day was exactly what Caroline had planned when her new sister came home! But Caroline is learning to roll with the punches and has taken to being a mama to her babies in a new way since Camille came home and is always asking me, "So mama, what are you going to do next with your baby? I'm going to do that with my baby!"

All in all, we are doing well.Camille had a so-so first night home, but last night she did great and I'm hoping that is a little preview into how she'll do in the weeks and months to come. The Lord knows I have prayed and prayed for a good sleeper. We are truly blessed and so thankful for our girls.

Our youngest

For perhaps only a few more hours, Charlotte is our youngest child. As I read her a few extra books tonight to celebrate the (maybe) milestone happening, I felt a lot like I felt with Caroline right before Charlotte was born. There is this strange contrast of feeling so happy that you are about to gain a child and your child or children are about to gain a sibling, but there is this sadness that the way things are now will never be again. Our little family of four is about to turn into a family of five.

Of course, Charlotte has no clue what is going on, or that she's about to be shifted from the "baby of the family" to the middle child. She is still a baby in so many ways, she loves to be held and she is on the small side for her age. Charlotte is also an independent little girl who knows what she wants, how she wants it, and how and when she wants you to make it happen! I love her determined spirit, the way she tries so hard to do whatever it is that Caroline is doing, her mischievous smile when she thinks she's getting away with something. She has a way about her that is endearing and makes you want to get to know what's going on inside that little head of hers.

I think I posted recently that she is learning so many new words and she surprises me with them all the time. Part of the independent spirit includes only doing what she wants, not what you want her to do (so asking her to say something will likely get the response, "Nah."). Last night she was eating rice with her dinner and she was making a total mess out of it, but she was happy and we were all sitting down eating together, so I let it go. After we were finished, I picked her up out of the high chair to take her straight to the bathtub. She kept pointing to her nose, saying, "Icey nose, icey nose" (I thought she was saying, "I see nose"). More like "rice in nose"! As it hit me that she was saying she had rice in her nose, I took a look and sure enough, there was a piece of rice in her nose. I used my doctor mom medical skills to remove that piece and soon realized that the piece I removed was the last of several that she shoved up there.

After some tortuous work, I found that there were five pieces of rice that had been lodged in her nose during the course of dinner. Great parenting night Jeff and Ash! When I was done, I asked her, "Charlotte, do you feel any more rice in your nose?" She replied, "No icey nose."

So, in honor of her maybe-last-day as our youngest, here are a couple of videos of Charlotte being Charlotte from Sunday.

First Day, Part 2

Our girl after her first day of school!

And here's Caroline's riveting recap of the first day of kindergarten.

And yes, you heard that right, she went to time out for going to the wrong center. They were supposed to choose from three specific centers and she went the home center to "cook and dress up" and the home center was not one of the allowable centers for the day. If that's the worst she does, we're going to have a good year.

She had a good day all things considered. Her only disappointment was that they didn't get to go outside to play today because it was rainy. Thanks for all of your kind words and prayers for our girl!

First Day

As if having Caroline turn five wasn't shock enough for my world, she had to go and start kindergarten today. She was so happy and proud of herself; this is a day she has been looking forward to for months. We made the first day a family affair. We all went to drop her off and walked her to the classroom. When we got there, she was ready to start playing right away. Jeff and I, on the other hand, were both a puddle of tears.

I've worked since Caroline was a year old, so I've had to be away from her all day during the week for four years now. This was so different though. I know it is cliche and sounds kind of trite until you actually experience it, but the saying that having kids and watching them grow up is like having your heart walk around outside of your body in this big world is so true. I couldn't be more proud of the person Caroline is; she is confident and lives life fully, but there is something in me that just wants to hold on to her hand. I suppose it's also true when parents say, "It's not that I don't trust you, I don't trust everyone else out there."

Here's a video of our girl about to leave the house for the first of many days of big girl school.



And here are the last few pictures we took as we dropped her off:

She ran right to the rug and had a seat after she gave us all a hug and kiss. Thankfully, we were able to hold off our tears until we left the classroom. I would hate for her to be known as the girl whose parents cried in her kindergarten classroom.

Despite all the tears and worry, we are truly so proud of her. We know that she is going to have a great day to begin a great school year!

welcome home?

Sorry for the long silence!

It's hard to believe that since I last posted Caroline turned five. Yes, five! I doubt myself every time I say that. Surely my firstborn can't be five years old? In so many ways, it feels like she's been part of my life for so much longer than five years. I can't imagine my life without her. Caroline is such a joyful soul; she smiles and laughs and loves life. She finds a way to see the beauty and glory in just about any situation. In other ways though, it seems like she was born only a very short time ago. So much life has happened since she's been in our world though, and I am so grateful to God for the gift that Caroline is, has been, and will be in my life.

Charlotte is growing so much day by day. She is learning so many new words, but in true Charlotte fashion, she only uses them when she is ready. She has been loving to dance so much lately. She runs to Jeff when he pulls out his guitar and gets as close as possible to him to move to whatever music he plays for her.

In baby news, we might, MIGHT be welcoming our girl to the world on Thursday. My fluid level has gotten low (again, this happened with Charlotte as well) and the doctor told me to come to my appointment on Thursday ready to stay and head and over to the hospital. I'm trying to drink as much water as humanly possible to hold off delivery if we can, but I'm also ready to get this girl here if that will be the safest route to take. Other than the fluid issue, she is doing well and so am I. She is a mover, so I'm just waiting to see if she keeps up that constant motion once she gets here. There is no news on the baby name front; that is definitely on the "to do" list this week! I'll try to keep everyone updated as much as possible on her plans for arrival. In the meantime, we appreciate your thoughts and prayers whatever happens on Thursday and in the upcoming days.