Berry Family: 11/20/11

We spent "Week Zero" hanging out in the house, going to doctors' appointments (Carson weighed 7lb 3oz on 11/15 up from 6-14 at hospital d/c and received a good bill of health by Rachesky; I also went to the OB for a f/u on 11/17; Gigi was our driver to both visits while Miss Heather had Lauren), and getting used to our new life as a family of 4. Grandma and Pa spent the night with us Sunday night, our 1st night home. Carson had his last nursing at 10:45pm and I felt that his fussiness was a little "different" at 12:30am after I tried to nurse him again. Eric, Grandma and I stood in the kitchen and wondered what to do...so we decided to try supplementing him with 2 oz of formula. Maybe my milk hadn't come in yet. He gulped both ounces quickly and slept until 6:00am! 5-1/2 hours! I fed him at 6 and Eric, CEB and I woke up again for the day at 9:40am. Not too bad for our 1st night home! Grandma and Pa took Lauren out for breakfast and came back home just after 10am. I was a little worried that Lauren would be cooped up inside the house and become fussy over these 1st few weeks, but I think having family here to help with her will be perfect! Eric spent A LOT of time with her this week (and the following weeks) and made her feel special. She is even more of a Daddy's girl now. Eric has been worried that Lauren would have her "spirit broken" and become jealous, so I think it is his personal mission to make sure this doesn't happen. He has definitely been buring the candle at both ends attending to Lauren (even though we've had family here) and helping me recover plus helping with Carson when he can. Wow...he's doing an amazing job.

Lauren with her Grandmothers...making the shift change for the week. :-)

Judson Howell and his mama came for a visit on Monday. Judson was born 10/17/11. This is their 1st buddy picture. :-)

Aunt Nan also came by for a visit. She brought Lauren a Big Sister present--a FSU pillow. Lauren loved it!

Gigi came on Monday afternoon and was ready to stay until Friday. She is so busy with her job; I felt truly blessed to have her here to stay all week. It was the best gift she could have ever given us. Thank you, Gigi, for entertaining Lauren and keeping our house clean, my family fed, and helping with Carson.

Miss Heather also came on Tuesday and Thursday of that week to take Lauren to Library and Kindermusik and just give a helping hand with anything we needed.

Gigi and Lauren had a lot of fun that week. Lauren likes holding Carson but only for about 60 seconds and then she's ready to let someone else hold him.

Sweet little Carson

Getting some quality time with Gigi

I wanted Lauren to feel a part of every aspect of Carson's care (if she wanted to), so we would pull up a chair for her to climb on to and then up on the counter. We created a temporary diaper changing station in the laundry room since Carson's room is upstairs and I won't be going up stairs for a little while. It seems to be working out just fine!

When I saw this picture for the 1st time, I said "Wow, I really DO have two BABIES!"

My two babies...how did I end up so lucky?!

After this picture, Gigi took Lauren to Pier Park (one of LEB's favorite places to go in the entire world) and she let her stroll her baby doll in the doll stroller wherever she wanted to with her sunglasses on.

So cute.

Eric multi-tasking. Notice Emma next to Eric's feet. She's been a good little kitty welcoming another baby into our home!

Having fun in the play room

He is already changing so much

Lauren trying out the bouncy seat

Marley came by for a visit

Time for Carson's 1st bath. Day 5. I thought Lauren would have really gotten in to helping with his bath but she played with my perfume bottle the entire time and could have cared less. Gigi videoed the moment since Eric was at work. He worked Tuesday-Friday 11am-5pm. It was nice to have him home in the mornings.

I am pretty sure that I did a better job giving LEB her first bath than I did with CEB. For some reason, all of those mommy of a newborn insticts came SLOWLY back. I hope I remember more about these phases sooner than later!

He liked the 1st half but cried the rest of the time. Oh dear...

Liz and her mom came to visit on Friday 11/18. Little did we know, she would deliver baby Jacob 3 days later!

Just after Liz left, Gigi went back home to Pops. I almost cried; I didn't want her to leave. It had been so nice to have an extra set of hands to help with Lauren. But, I'm thankful for the time that was got with her (5 whole days!) and know she'll come back any time we need her. :-)

And boy did we ever want her back the next day. Saturday was our 1st day by ourselves as a family of 4. And it was hard! Eric and I were constantly taking care of somebody. It felt like we were running a small day care. Between LeB and CeB, I bet we changed 15 diapers that day. "Gigi, come back!!!"

On this day (Day 8), I saw the 1st sign of jealously from Lauren. Not mean jealously, but sad jealously. It was late morning and I was changing Carson's clothes into his Gator shirt for the UF game on TV. Lauren loves "my game day" (as she says it) and will say so any time she sees football on TV. I had not dressed her yet and she was standing on the chair watching me change Carson's clothes. She started crying tears and saying "my game day, mama. my game day." I realized that she was wanting her cheerleader outfit on and asked her "did you think I wasn't going to put your game day clothes on?" and she nodded her head and buried her head into my shoulder. Well, I broke down crying. Whether it was the hormones or just a sad moment, I don't know, but I learned a good lesson that morning: dress Lauren first if we are having a special day. And game days are special days. As I'm writing this on Week 9, I can report that I have never seen any sign of jealously since then. She has adapted to Carson's arrival better than I could have ever imagined. She is the sweetest little 2-1/2 year old and I'm so proud of her.