Blessing Karoline

May 2nd, 2010. What a perfect day! There are so many things that typically don't go as planned on blessing day. The baby develops a terrible case of baby acne just days before, she then poops up the back just moments before, spits up all over her white dress, and then proceeds to scream during the entire blessing. We were 0 for 4-no acne, no poop, no spit up and a purely content little girl all day. Sigh of relief.

What really made the day so incredible was the amazing blessing Tucker gave our sweet Karoline. It is reassuring to hear those words of guidance and to know she will be watched over. I felt my heart grow a little bigger and my testimony a little stronger as I recognized how wonderful His plan is for our eternal family. How lucky am I to be so blessed with three beautiful and healthy children and the husband of my dreams?

The fact that we had so much of our family here to celebrate such an occasion was beyond wonderful. Tucker's brother came with his two daughters from California and Tucker's sister came all the way from Texas! We definitely felt loved. Tucker and I both feel as though we have the best families and it's because we do-thank you everyone!

Here is a look at our day full of family...

Roman and Eli patiently waiting for some seriously go

od food including Normandie Bakery cookies, breakfast casseroles, cinnamon rolls and fruit (we had to include something healthy!):

Aunt Tiffy-it was so nice to have her here because she knows a thing or two about having new babies-because of her we discovered how much Karoline likes to be laid down just to play!
My brother Rob and his two little boys Spencer and Kaleb-I know, you have seen plenty of them before, but could you ever tire of looking at that little boy?
Tucker's brother Tanner and his wife Drew-so excited for them to have a baby girl in July-a cousin for Karoline!
Uncle Tyler-I was seriously impressed that he brought his girls all by himself!
It was a good thing too, because he was a hit the entire weekend with Roman:

His girls Ava and Lily:

My parents-thank you! Between my mom and mother-in-law, I had nothing to worry about regarding the brunch-they took care of everything! I know, I am that spoiled!
Karoline is going to be so lucky to have a best friend right in her backyard! My sister Cheri and her husband Cody are due in August with a girl too!
The girls in my fam, Jesse, Cheri, Karoline, me and my mom (Capri was way too busy playing).
Tucker's parents Keith and Susie-again, THANK YOU!

Me and my new precious girl in white:

The star of the show!

Karoline has the longest fingers and just like Capri did, always holds them so daintily.

Cuteness...

And one more of cuteness...Our family of five!

We are a happy family...

Karoline doesn't cry too much, but if she does, it means that she is either hungry, has a bubble in her tummy, or needs to go to sleep. One of my favorite things of being her mom is getting her to go down for some zzz's. You simply need to swaddle her up tight, walk around or rock her, and sing songs. That last part is very important. Unfortunately, I have a terrible voice (just ask my fellow choir members...Maren-that's you!) so I try to sing easy primary songs such as "We are a Happy Family." That way too, Capri will join in and break up the pitchiness of my voice! As we were just celebrating Mother's Day, I realized how loving and happy my family is. I cannot believe how well Roman and Capri have been with the arrival of Karoline and I am so proud of them. They have relied more on each other for entertainment and have also become so interested in their baby sister. Just today, in fact, Roman got in the car and immediately asked, "Where is baby?" She had been at my mom's and he was so relieved to see her when we got home. I feel incredibly lucky to have such a sweet and happy family!

Here's what we have been up to:

Playing in Karoline's crib is a new favorite of Capri's...
Capri making Karoline smile...

Playing outside as much as possible (seriously, what is with the weather!)...

They absolutely love their new house...

A new favorite for Capri, an old favorite for Roman, riding bikes...

I love our street and Capri's hair in this pic...

Roman's new cheeser smile...

Karoline as a newborn...

When I look back to when the twins were newborns, I realize that those first weeks were kind of a blur. This was most likely due to the fact that I was a first-time mother of two babies, not an ideal scenario for sleep, but also because I didn't write it down (and seriously, if I didn't have time to sleep, I definitely didn't have time to blog!) . So here I am letting you know what life is like with Karoline as a newborn so that I will never forget the sweetness.

Those first two weeks seemed long, but not in a "when will this end" kind of way, but in a "I don't want to do anything but this (lounging around with Tucker and the kids while holding my new baby) for the next good while" kind of way. Karoline was a sleepy newborn and I was a grateful mother. With Roman and Capri waking up every 2 hours, and often not at the same time, it was so nice to have such a big block between feedings. It also made it possible for me to sleep in my bed, something I wasn't able to do with the twins until they were 6 weeks old. Beds definitely beat couches and rockers as far as sleep is concerned!

So, two weeks had gone by and I was thinking, wow, those moms that have just one baby at a time-I can handle that no problem! But I did have one problem and that was breastfeeding. Just like the twins had done, Karoline latched on with our first attempt which I was grateful for. However, just like the twins, Karoline would fall asleep within just a few minutes of feeding. Thankfully she was a bit stronger and was able to be woken up to keep eating. Even though she would be taking an hour to eat (with her intermitten naps!) I was so worried she wasn't getting enough to eat, especially because she was dealing with jaundice and eating was one way to get rid of it. I ended up taking her in when she was one week old and surprise, surprise, she had surpassed her birth weight and the jaundice was completely gone. Hooray! She continued to grow and when we took her in for her 2 weeks appointment, she had gained even more weight and stretched another inch and a half in length.

Over the next couple of weeks, Karoline started to "wake up." Rather than me having to wake her up for her next feeding, she would wake up on her own. We loved watching her become more alert while holding her head little head up. It has only gotten better as she is incredibly responsive to others talking and singing to her. Even the swing produced a reaction at only a month old. As soon as I placed her in the seat, she would start to look up waiting for me to turn on the mobile and music. At first I thought it was a coincidence, but after she did it three times in a row I knew she was genuinely responding! Karoline loves to use her little legs and tries to support all of her weight on them. Tucker scared me a bit when he quickly let go to see her stand...she has got to be too young, right?!

Smiles started popping up (and the real ones-not just from gas!) around 5 weeks and all of a sudden you don't care about the 2am feedings. I loved the concentration and focus that went into such a feat. Her blue eyes would sparkle as she did everything she could to get her mouth to follow suit. We even got her to smile for Roman and Capri soon after and though Roman didn't give it much thought, it was quite a reward for Capri. "Mommy! Baby smile at me!" A little piece of heaven!

Feedings still took an hour up until she was 5 weeks, but at least I knew she was getting enough to eat. I relied on the Baby Bjorn to carry her around while I cared for Roman, Capri, and the house and thank goodness she was content in there. That's what we kept thinking about this sweet little girl, how incredibly content she was. She did have a case of the tummy problems at 4 weeks or so. She always wanted to be upright with me bouncing her around holding her under her armpits so I was thinking it was acid reflux like Capri had dealt with. The doctor let me know that a lot of the time the problem is simply an underdeveloped digestive system that can't be cured, but that we could definitely try with acid reflux meds, change in my diet, etc. Well, there was nothing to worry about after all. I had to deal with a fussier than normal Karoline every evening for a couple of hours for a week. Then it turned into a fussier than normal Karoline every other evening, and now just once in a while! I probably went through a bottle of Mylicon drops every week or two with the twins so, again, much easier this time around. Having such a content baby has made the transition from two to three kids much easier. My mom always said that if you can handle three kids then you can handle six, so here we go! Just kidding, there is no way I can do six...Tucker, you can start breathing again.

Karoline has already created a great routine of waking up, eating/burping for 35 minutes, playing with mommy or in the swing for an hour or so, and then going to sleep. Repeat every three hours. Now, however, she will sometimes skip a feeding at night and so we get a solid 5 hours of sleep. These are the days that I wake up feeling like a new woman! She loves being held, cuddled, and talked to, but I guess all babies do! I swear I love it even more, to hold her, feed her, sing to her, and then cuddle in our big red rocker and take a nap together. I hope to do that every once in a while in the future because there is simply nothing like it! I also love the act of putting her to sleep. She will start to get fussy and so I swaddle her in a baby burrito fashion-really tight. I then walk around and sing to her until she falls asleep. It's so funny, but it seems as though Karoline doesn't want to go to sleep in fear she will "miss out" on all the fun. As I sing to her she will start to close her eyes and then quickly wakes up to smile, holds it for a second or two, and then falls back asleep. She does this over and over until she finally gives in. Precious.

I love her hands and she rarely has them still. Karoline has beautiful long fingers that are always formed in such delicate positions which reminds me so much of Capri. Too, when she is eating, she holds them right up to her mouth. I also love her new rolls and dimples. She now ways close to 11 pounds and they are everywhere!

As far as stats go, we just went to her 2 month appointment and they are as follows:

Weight: 10lbs 12oz placing her in the 50th percentile

Height: 23.2 inches placing her in the 80th percentile

Head: 15.7 inches placing her in the 85th percentile

The doc said she looks perfectly healthy!

She still looks a lot like me, but I think she has a lot of Capri in her. She still has all of her hair, perfect skin (obviously not from me), and blue eyes (also not from me, but we will see if they change!). She is absolutely perfect and I am so grateful to be her mom!

Our new store!

Tucker and his family have joined the glass business as they are now owners of multiple Techna Glass stores. Here is our first one located in Spanish Fork:It actually looks a lot better now that we have signs up, landscaping completed, and furniture in. We really wanted to create a family-friendly environment with nice leather chairs, a flat-screen playing kids movies, and making it the cleanest auto-related store you have ever seen! Plus, Tucker's brother is going to be managing the store you know we will have excellent service! We are so excited about this new business endeavor and so wish us luck. :)

We are the only ones excited-these two were in heaven at "daddy's store."
Disneyland wouldn't have been any better-just look at this kid and his expression of joy and excitement in "daddy's big truck!"
Three generations of TechnaGlass:
Even Karoline came to join in the preparations:
We have our Grand Opening on May 22nd, but have already opened the store and started drumming up business. So, if you or anyone you know in the Spanish Fork area needs their windshield repaired, come on over!

Sisterly love

Meet 5 week-old Karoline. She is loved by all, even her sister who wasn't too sure about this new addition.Now Capri loves to hold her new baby sister and give her kisses, plays with her hands, and tries to tickle her toes. These acts are often accompanied by Capri telling me, "How cute, look at her tiny hands," or, "She has pretty blue eyes, they match my eyes," and the most common, "When I was little..." I am loving this new sister relationship because I know how much I have loved having a sister as my best friend.
Can't wait to see them grow up together!

Do Roman and Capri need some attention?

I really can't believe how well Roman and Capri have adjusted to the new baby. Considering the fact that Capri refused to even look at Karoline in the hospital and now is "Mommy's little helper" with the baby, she has done quite a bit of maturing. In fact, both Roman and Capri have done things that would melt your heart in caring for Karoline. They are little tasks such as Roman rocking her car seat when Karoline started to cry, Capri trying to feed her with a bottle (I just hope it hadn't been sitting out for too long!), both giving Karoline binkies (whether Karoline wants them or not), getting her to smile, and Capri constantly comparing her to when she was little. She will tell me that she wore this and that when she was little, that she would be in the same swing when she was little, that she used the car seat when she was little and it is all very cute.

That being said, we have not gone without some serious moodiness, temper tantrums (that have definitely worsened in type-rather than just collapsing to the floor, Roman now acts as if he is having an exaggerated seizure of some sort), and overall emotional chaos. I am sure they are just reacting to our new addition and the fact that they aren't getting as much attention. But don't worry, they have their ways in finally reaching me...

Case in point#1 Roman's "art piece" that is officially worth close to $8. You see, these aren't just any old stickers on the computer screen, they are stamps! He had them posted all over the computer, desk, chair and...himself!Case in point#2 Roman using my breast pump...and yes, it was turned on and everything. He is very curious about the whole breast feeding situation so I guess he wanted to try it out on his own.Case in point#3 Capri's regression. Capri was never a binky baby and yet I see her with one in her mouth almost daily now. She also loves getting in Karoline's bassinet and crib...

This time she actually fell asleep while in her dress-ups which, with the blanket in her mouth, really adds to the scene.

Easter

I know, Easter was so yesterday, and everyone in the blog world has already posted about it. But I have an excuse and she is the cutest excuse ever. So here I am, 3 weeks late, hooked up to a breast pump, and typing this up with one hand. I may be late, but I am determined!

Easter was a huge hit this year. The kids loved the egg hunt with their cousins and the candy was a definite plus, but by far their favorite part were their new toys. Capri was thrilled about her pink bubbles (that she thought were going to be pink when she blew them) and Roman, as well as my three nephews, couldn't have been happier when they saw their Nerf guns. Both items were only a dollar, but they might as well have been a million because they made the kids so happy all day. Don't you love such presents?

Being that it was General Conference, we started the day with our family's traditional scone breakfast. There was something really nice about the fact that rather than stressing about being in our Easter Sunday best, we were lounging about in our sweats and letting the kids play. Plus, there isn't anything that can bring your closer to the Easter spirit than listening to our Prophet, right? What doesn't help with the welcoming of the spirit? The guns I just mentioned, but we will take what we can get!

Playing outside with their Easter basket toys:
Daddy with Karoline on her first Easter:
Roman in heaven playing with the boys:
Dying easter eggs the night before with cousins:
We now have three Easter baskets!
Capri was pretty happy with hers:
As was Roman:
The Boys:
Capri and Grandma watching her new favorite show, the Three Mousketeers:
Trying to get a group shot: