6 weeks update!

This is how I decided to spend most of my day today: (I'm exactly 6 weeks old!)

See, before he left this morning, Daddy had a talk with me about being on my best behavior for Mommy, especially after my meltdown last night...


This afternoon, Mommy talked on the phone to Megan, my birthmommy! Megan is still doing well and after a few interviews, she has a couple of options for jobs, so she feels good about that. Mommy Megan misses me alot, (of course!) but we are actually going to see her in a couple of weeks for a play-date when we go to Pop & Mamie's house in Granbury! Then, she's coming all the way out to Lubbock to see me be baptized on April 27th! Mommy & Megan laugh alot when they're on the phone together, and they both think it's amazing how God orchestrated this adoption, and it was His plan from the beginning! I sure am loved by so many people...


Tonight I had another case of the "colic"-y stuff, but not quite as bad as last night's spell. Fortunately, two of the RUF college students came over this evening to help calm me down, take me on a walk, and let Mommy have a few minutes of peace. (thank you, Jennifer & Kelly! you guys were lifesavers!) I started winding down slowly around 10:00pm & Mommy put me to bed in a deep sleep shortly thereafter. (whew!) Day #1 without Daddy: SURVIVED! (yea!)

bye, bye Daddy!

Well, Mommy's happy to report that after all of that crying last night, I slept for a whopping 5 1/2 hours straight!! (longest stretch yet) I was exhasuted, let me tell ya! And Daddy and Mommy cried saying goodbye to each other & to me, and Daddy is off towards Virginia! (although when Mommy last talked to him, he was facing high winds in the Amarillo area... and he's headed towards severe thunderstorms in OK City!)


But I thought I'd give him a little smile to take with him while he's away... :) And so far, I've been a perfect angel for Mommy today.

a day of ups and downs, part 2

Okay, so it is almost midnight, and after all the GREAT things today-- the smiles at Daddy & a great baby shower, we have had the hardest night of parenting yet. We're pretty positive that she had a bad colic spell this afternoon & evening... it was obvious her tummy was bothering her bad, and nothing, I mean NOTHING was consoling to her... she cried so uncontrollably off & on from 4:00pm- 10:30pm, and I feel like probably every mother does in this situation- like a failure. In those moments, it just seems like there is NOTHING I can do to help her and it is just terrible. I love her so much and I want to take away that pain she is going through.

I wish I could say that I handled it like a champ, but I was in tears this evening. It was really hard to remain cool & collected after hours and hours of inconsolable crying when I was doing everything I possibly could think of to help her. I called the nurse on-call to get her advice about the situation, too. Fortunately, I have a calm & logical husband who took the reigns when I wanted to go in a corner and just cry, so we did all the tricks including sitting her on top of the washer during the spin cycle and even taking a midnight Paul Revere ride in the car. (never thought I'd actually have to resort to that) But the car ride did the trick-- she calmed down and slept for about 20-30 minutes before she woke up "hungry" again. But then again, when we tried to feed her, it hurt her poor little tummy again, so she couldn't eat very much, and the cycle begins again...

Right now it seems like she is going down to sleep, so hopefully this gas-stuff will just work its way out by the morning. Please pray for me-- Marc is leaving in the morning to drive our truck to Virginia for the week, and it is just terrible timing for all of this colic stuff to come on so strong. Pray that God will grant me strength & wisdom to know what she needs and the ability to stay calm & think quickly. Also pray for Marc as he's on the road all day. I'll update you all sometime tomorrow. I have hope that things will be better, but just wanted to share both the joys AND the realities of parenting. We'll be back with more cute baby pictures tomorrow, I'm sure. :)

baby shower pt. 2

Here is a group pic from the shower!


In front of the food! yum...


Thanks, ladies, for such a special time together. I will miss all of you so much! Please come visit me in Virginia! :)

musician's baby shower! (pt. 1)

So then I got all dolled up for church & for a baby shower this afternoon! Mommy's friends in the Lubbock Symphony wanted to throw us a baby shower so they could meet me & spoil me with lots of gifts! :)


Mommy opened lots of great gifts for me!


I got so many CUTE outfits and lots of things that I can use!


The cake even had my name on it! "Sweet Caroline..."

a day of ups and downs part 1

Well, today started so sweetly...

Caroline loved snuggling close to Daddy this morning while Mommy was supposed to be getting showered & ready for church. (but I couldn't help but snap pictures!)


And then, when Daddy started singing "Where is Thumper," (remember that song with your thumbs?) she started really smiling back at him! It was so wonderful and enough to make your heart melt!


Everybody wanted to nap with Daddy on the couch, even Jackie our cat! ha!

6 week growth spurt?

Nicole, I think you might be right about the 6-week growth spurt. Yesterday she slept practically ALL day...


And there was nothing we could do to wake this girl up!


Until Daddy gave her a bath in the evening, and then after that, she had a good wake time and was very alert!


Oh, and I think I forgot to mention, she LOVES looking at lights now!

out of sync...

Well, yesterday for some wierd reason I decided to sleep during the day more than normal. I even went down to bed earlier than usual, too! Mommy & Daddy were so excited that they had some free time to get some packing started, but little did they know that I would wake up at 4:00am and not go back to sleep until 6:00am...


So that's made me a little out-of-sync, and Mommy & Daddy are left feeling deprived of sleep today.


But how do you like my new outfit?! Auntie (Jill, Amy's sister) & Megan's mom, Tricia, got it on their shopping spree during my first days of life at the hospital and now I can finally wear it!


We are SOO thankful to Erin (former RUF student & friend!) for coming over today & babysitting for a few hours while we ran out for a hot date at.... Walmart! :) woo-hoo! It was so great to get a few things accomplished (like grocery shopping), so we really appreciate the help!

a word from caroline...

Let's see... well, first of all, Papa, I'm glad you're alright and that the surgery went well yesterday. I'm also glad you liked the balloons I sent to your hospital room! Get better soon!


And can you believe I'm already wearing 3 month clothes & I'm only a little over a month old? My hair is growing in more and people are telling me that I'm already looking different! Even my birthmommy Megan is amazed at how fast I''m growing from these pictures. You see, I'm still eating alot so that when I see her in a few weeks, she'll think that I'm a big girl! he he


And I'm definitely already a Daddy's girl... but I'm gonna miss him so much next week when he goes to Virginia! Me and Mommy are going to have lots of girl-time together. And Pop & Mamie are coming to visit me next weekend! I can't wait to show them how much I've grown since they last saw me!


Mommy wants to tell everybody thank you for keeping up with my life and continuing to pray for me and for her & Daddy. I think they've got alot going on right now between taking care of me and trying to move in about a month, so I'm trying my best to go somewhat easy on them right now... well, most of the time....

poop scare...

Warning: for those faint of heart or those who'd rather not read about our daughter's stool changes, :) please disregard this message.

Okay, so NO amount of higher education prepares you for the new, glorious world of poop when you have a child. Does anyone agree with me here? Who knew that I'd be spending my time researching POOP online?! But after our travels on Tuesday, (I'll spare you the graphic details here...) let's just say the poop changed to a totally different color in the rainbow AND texture, and it had us wondering. Seriously, who KNEW the wide array of colors this stuff comes in? ha ha


So after I (Amy) go online and start reading about this specific poop color & texture, (gosh, I can't believe I'm typing this for the world to see, either...) it starts scaring me when it's under the paragraph that says "WHEN TO WORRY." Well, great! So I called the doc's office first thing this morning and after actually having to go to the office and yes, HAND DELIVER the poopy diaper to them, they took a look and said, "Oh yeah, that's normal. Something's just going on in her gut, but it's normal." Wow. You really do learn something new every day.


But while we were at the doc's office anyway, we did an offical weigh-in, and guess what?!? At 5 1/2 weeks old, she's now 11 lbs, 8 oz!

meeting great-grandma & grandpa!

It's so great that alot of our extended family has now moved to Raleigh, NC, because it gave Mommy & Daddy a chance to let me meet them before we flew back home to Texas yesterday! I loved getting to meet my Aunt Susie & cousin Darla...


And my Great-Grandma & Grandpa Barnett! What a treat! They told me that I am their 8th great-grandchild!


Grandpa started singing an old barbershop quartet song about "sweet Caroline." I was so happy I could meet all of them for lunch before we went to the airport to fly back to Texas!


On the airplane, I loved snoozing in Daddy's arms while he took a nap, too. Mommy thought I looked precious & had to snap a picture. (of course!) I was on my best behavior, but on the very last descent into Lubbock, my ears started hurting, and I didn't seem to understand that sucking on my "paci" ("paa- see," aka. pacifier) or drinking out of my bottle would help that, so I just decided to cry for awhile & give Daddy & Mommy practice in calming me down... :) But now I'm getting settled in back at home in Lubbock and wondering where all these people went & why I'm not being passed around & bounced & held quite as much?!?

last day in carolina...

My last day in South Carolina was a great one...



Nanny took me on a walk...


And that night, when she would kiss my face, I started reacting by smiling!


I already miss my Papa, Nanny, & the Corbett family. I had a great visit in South Carolina and I can't wait to see you all again!

dress up time...

We got some good pics last night when we played dress up!