Caroline's Christening

(L-R) Aunt Jenny, Grandma Ottenbacher, and Great-Grandma Fitzpatrick

(L-R) Uncle Patrick (Godfather), my cousin Siobhan (Godmother), Caroline(Adorable baby), me, and Seth (Proud parents)

Look at that! No crying!

Still no crying!

All of us holding her Baptism Candle.

Caroline was christened March 19, 2011 at St. Anne's Catholic Church in Richmond Hill, GA.  I fed her as soon as we got to the church and she proceeded with her afternoon nap through the entire ceremony!  I was SO.FREAKIN.HAPPY!!!  Even when the priest poured that freezing cold water on her head, all she did was open her eyes a little and blow some spit bubbles before she passed back out.  It was so great.  Afterward, we had food and drinks back at my grandmother's house and it was such a great day.  The weather was beautiful, all of my family was together (including my Dad...first time since I was in 3rd grade) and it really was the best day I can remember having, aside from the day she was born.  I hope that little girl grows up knowing every day just how many people love her and how lucky she is!

Bath time

 

How cute is this baby??

Month 2

Hanging out. Loving my gym.

I like this picture because it shows that she does have some hair!

Making funny faces.

New "measuring stick."

So another month has flown by already!  Caroline's milestones for this month are: holding her head up on her own...and then smashing it back into the bed when she gets tired of holding it up (think headbanging..but into a soft bed); sleeping in her crib and not crying about it; sleeping for 6 hours straight most nights; Seth told me to add 'giving her Mom the bird', with his assistance of course:); turning her head and following my voice (particularly when I'm leaving her at daycare which REALLY hurts my heart)...and that's all I can think of right now.  She smiles a LOT and is babbling like crazy now.  There are times that she's on the floor babbling in her play gym when I get home from work and I want to watch the news.  Well, I'm not paying attention to her, so she babbles more loudly...so I turn said news program up a little louder...she babbles louder..tv..then she resorts to yelling at me.  It's pretty funny.  I talk to her while I drive her to and from daycare and she rambles on back there in response and I love it.  Poor Seth.  I think his regular days of peace and quiet are over for at least the next 18 years! ;-) 

In other news, her baptism is this weekend in Savannah.  This will be our first trip away from home with her.  God help us! :) I'm excited to see all of the families, though, and excited to share my little cutie! 

Crib Sleepin'

Tonight officially marks the first night that Caroline will be sleeping in her crib.  We set up the video monitor which will help prevent me from walking in there every 20 minutes to look at her.  The only bad thing about that monitor is that I recently watched Paranormal Activity 2 for the first time, so the night vision feature on the monitor makes me think that an evil force is going to slowly start pulling her out of her crib any minute.  Buuut other than that I am in LOVE with this monitor. 
In other news, Seth came with me to the daycare on his lunch break to drop off all of Caroline's stuff for her first day on Monday.  That's right.  I go back to work on Monday and I have SUCH conflicting feelings.  On the one hand, I miss the legal world and the satisfaction I get from being productive at work.  I miss working on criminal motions, researching, being in court, and helping people.  On the other hand, I am still having a hard time even imagining myself dropping her off somewhere for a total stranger to take care of her.  They won't hold her and love her and kiss her and hug her like I do and that literally breaks my heart in two.  But, the ladies that will be taking care of her seem really nice and I really like the daycare.  Lots of security measures involving finger prints and codes and such. 
Well, time for mommy/daddy movie night....with the video monitor in my hand. :)

Month One

Here's a brief look at Caroline's first month of life.  She had lots of adoring visitors and we spent most of our days eating, sleeping, and outputting.  She did get very good at following objects by the end of the month and has always been a very alert baby.  She just likes to look around and observe the world and I love that about her.  And by the end of month one, she started sleeping for about 4 hours at a time.  Hooray!  She spent her one month birthday with her Ottenbacher grandparents and Aunt Jenny and we all had a great time. 

Birth Story

So, yeah it's been a LONG time since I posted.  But, I'm going to get better soon because it is HARD remembering if I sent all the grandparents the same pictures and told them all the same story about the latest cute thing Caroline did.  So, I'll start with an abbreviated version of how she got her, more for my own memory when I think I want another baby one day...
I was induced at 5pm on January 11th, 4 days after my due date.  Still only 2 cm dilated and not making an progress at that point, I was completely miserable and begged to be induced.  So, they started me on Cervadil at 5pm and gave me an Ambien to sleep. Riiiiiight.  Contractions started shortly after and I couldn't sleep, so I stayed up watching tv for most of the night while Seth attempted sleep on the reclining bed/chair.  At 7am they broke my water (really gross) and that REALLY got the show on the road.  The pain was no joke, but I held out for the epidural until 5-6 centimeters and then life got a lot better.  Well, I kept dilating, but the little miss refused to move down, so they made me roll from side to side over and over to try and get her to move.  Well in that time I started feeling more and more pain as the contractions grew closer together.  I finally got to 10 cm and they told me to push and I could feel E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.  I have never, ever felt pain like that before.  I kept telling the nurse, "Umm I don't think the epidural is working anymore because I seriously feel everything." Of course, she ignored me and told me the epidural wouldn't wipe all the pain away, blah, blah, blah.  I don't want to think about her right now because she was a nazi nurse.  Anyway, pushed for 2 hours and nothing.  Didn't move one single inch.  Doctor came in and offered for me to either continue pushing for 30 minutes or opt for the c-section...uhh yeah, I'm not pushing for one more single second.  So, they prepped me for the c-section while I continued to have contractions every other minute and felt like I was being ripped in half.  I get to the OR and the anesthesiologist waits for a contraction to start my spinal epidural...and says,"Oh wow, your epidural came out. No wonder you've been in so much pain." Yeah. That's right.  I was pushing for 2 hours with NO epidural.  So, he numbs me (best feeling in the world) and they bring Seth in, cut her out, she screams and screams and screams, Seth gets to go look at her (while I cry because I want to see her!), Seth brings her over and I cry more, he takes her away to the nursery and I cry ever more because now I'm totally alone, and they staple me up.  NINE POUNDS TEN OUNCES.  Did I mention I tried to push that for 2 hours?  They brought me to the recovery room where my teeth literally chattered so hard I thought I would break them.  I had lost a little too much blood and was freezing and pale and scary looking.  Anyway, the recovery was rough, but she was born healthy and happy and that's all I ever wanted.  She is perfect.  The end.