Jenny's Birthday

Today is Jenny's birthday so I am celebrating her today! Just wish we lived closer together so I could celebrate with her. I love it that Jenny l.o.v.e.s. her birthday and makes no apologies for it.

J-- I couldn't ask for a better best friend. These last 10+ years of friendship have been a huge blessing to me. Here are a few of my favorite memories...

* Cheering together in high school.
* High school spring break beach trip. Back when you were too scared to drive across bridges...
* Living together in Gainesville (one of my most favorite times of life). Taking so many classes together AND working together. Lots of quality time.
* Late night studying at Perkins
* Tennis class at UF
* Seattle trip #1.
* Seattle trip #2.
* Visiting you in Boston. And Ohio.
* Going to the Biltmore house in Asheville.
* Baltimore to visit Courtney
* Many, many phone calls and long conversations.
* Laughing-- about just about anything... :)
* Gossiping-- a lot.
* Arguing and then getting over it.
* The fact that you will always be 100% honest with me. Everyone needs at least one person who tells it like it is :)

There are a ton more memories, these are just a few. I can't wait for more travels, more long chats, and more big and small moments that have defined this special friendship.

I love you friend :) Happy Birthday.

Two Months Old

(Look at that belly!)

Today Carver is officially two months old, and of course I can't believe how quickly the weeks have passed. Already I feel blessed beyond measure to be his mom. Carver is a precious gift and I only pray that I will somehow be all that he needs me to be. He has brought new meaning to my world and I am so incredibly thankful for the way he has impacted my life already. I'm a better person because he is part of my world. Each week he changes and grows and does something that completely melts my heart. May God protect him and grow him into the boy He wants him to be.

Carver,
Daddy and I adore you. We really, really do.

The above picture shows two of Carver's common practices these days. First, looking off to the left, both by turning his head and also looking out the corner of his eyes in that direction. This he has been doing pretty much since birth. New this week is his preference for sucking on his hands. He usually sucks on his entire hand and then scrubs his face with the soaking wet hand. Fun.

B is for...

Beauty Sleep: Carver woke up at 4:00 a.m. for his middle of the night feeding and I was exhausted. I mean really, really exhausted. He went back to sleep at about 5:00 and slept until 7:45 a.m. After bringing him to bed with me he actually went back to sleep until 9:30!!! I was SO excited. Of course I had to baby-proof my bed and remove all pillows and blankets so he wouldn't suffocate, but it did allow me to rest a little longer. (I can't actually sleep when he is in bed with me). This started my day off right which is a good thing because we had a very special visitor arriving today. (Note: in the picture above I covered him after I got up and could make sure he wasn't in danger of suffocating-- don't worry Mom!)

Brooke: YAY!!! Brooke came to visit today. I was thrilled to get to introduce Carver to his aunt Brooke and she was thrilled to get to meet him. It was so great to get to see her and spend the day catching up. We didn't even have plans we just spent the day talking-- which was absolutely perfect to me. She also held Carver most of the day which gave me a nice break. Not that holding Carver is a chore but it was nice to let her love on him for the day. She even clipped his fingernails for me. What a good aunt :) Brooke is family to me, and has been for the last 20+ years. I love it that she loves my child so much and that we continue to be close despite distance and time. I love that we both have kids and can share this new phase in my life. Sometimes family is not determined by blood.(Notice that he is sucking on her hand while she does this...)

Breakthrough: Right before Brooke left for the day she got Carver to sleep and put him in his bassinet. After I walked her out I went back inside and he was still asleep. I decided to crawl into bed and wait for him to wake up-- which he did about 3 minutes later. However, he was in a happy mood. He stayed awake, cooing and "talking" for over an hour! I still can't believe it. I was able to nap and every time I woke up and looked at him he was wide awake but content to just look around. This is an enormous step for him. I am hoping that this means we have had a breakthrough and Carver will now take naps on his own, or sit by himself occasionally. We'll see. It could just be that Brooke has a magical touch, in which case she may just have to move here...

All in all it was a fabulous day. I can't wait for more visits with Brooke, and I really can't wait for her sweet daughter to arrive in May and to get to spend more time with her and Wyatt. Such a sweet family. I am blessed to have her in my life.

Sleepy time...

Carver has had sleep issues pretty much from day 1. For about the first 4 or 5 weeks he would not sleep more than about an hour or so at a time. We spent that month in an exhausted blur. Daniel and I would have never made it through those first weeks without the help of my mom and Daniel's mom. They happily took nightly shifts so that we could get some much needed sleep.

After the grandmothers left Daniel and I had to figure out what to do next. What we needed was a game plan...

Eventually, we found a solution. Daniel would take a nap from around 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. while I gave Carver his last feeding of the day. Then I would pass him off to Daniel who would sleep with him in the guest room, give him a bottle for his next feeding and then I would take over around 4:00 or so and Daniel would go back to bed.

The next part of the game plan was swaddling Carver SUPER tight; first in a "miracle blanket" and then with a blanket over that for added tightness. Then Daniel furthered our progression towards night sleep when he found some "music" to play on his iPod. This music is actually water sounds and works like white noise. It typically works almost immediately to get Carver into the bedtime sleep zone. Unfortunately, it has to be played ridiculously loud in order to work, but at this point we'll deal with the noise in order to get a little sleep.

Daniel is a champ at swaddling Carver. I am not very good at it at all. Unfortunately for Daniel this means that I wake him up every time Carver has to be swaddled. I love the results of the tight swaddling though I can't help but feel a little sorry for him. Sometimes he looks really pitiful... I can't imagine trying to sleep when unable to move anything except my head--- nightmare. BUT, he seems to find it soothing, so we will keep it up for another month or so.

After a couple of weeks of this Carver was finally sleeping in two really good shifts, first until about 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. and then again until 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. Yay! It seems like we finally passed a major hurdle in this whole parenting thing. This week we all reconvened in our bedroom and it seems to be working out. We'll see how it goes :)

A few pics...

On the road again...

Since our first out of town trip with Carver went so smoothly we decided to travel again the very next weekend. This time we went to Winston-Salem to see Daniel's parents and for Carver to get to meet a lot of his extended family on Daniel's side.

A fun surprise came Friday morning when we were able to make plans with Ellen to meet her, Terry, and Emerson for lunch as we passed through Charlotte on our way to Winston. The visit was super short but oh so special! It was super exciting to finally get to meet precious Emerson and to see Ellen and Terry again-- it had been awhile. I love it that Ellen and I have kids so close in age-- it was special to go through this whole process with her. Also, Ellen is like family to me, which made meeting her daughter a very precious moment indeed. We hope to see them again soon for a longer visit.

Our weekend in Winston was special too as we were able to proudly introduce Carver to aunts, uncles and cousins who all loved on him and were so excited to finally meet him. Carver also enjoyed getting to see his Nana and Papa again-- they spent a lot of time cuddling with him and giving us short breaks from holding him :) We also were able to attend church for the first time since Carver's arrival. We felt very brave in even attempting to take him but he did SO well, sleeping soundly the entire time. Maybe we can join the "real world" again and resume some of our old life. Things get a little easier as each week passes.

Next month we will be traveling again, this time to Florida to see Carver's Grandmama and Granddaddy, as well as his aunts, uncles, cousins, and great-grandparents on my side of the family. I can't wait :)

Baby's First Road Trip...

Last weekend we decided to be brave and embark on our first road trip with child. Amazingly it was overall an astounding success! Carver likes to ride in the car which is a huge perk since we tend to make a lot of road trips to visit friends and family. This particular trip was scheduled so that Daniel could do his camp show in Nashville and we could finally visit Megan and Richie, see their "new" home, and introduce Carver to his "aunt" and "uncle."

Carver slept the ENTIRE way to Nashville on Friday afternoon, about a 5 hour drive. We were very proud parents :) Megan and Richie have a beautiful home and were fabulous hosts as usual. Friday night we went to dinner at Outback and headed to bed early-ish. The hardest part of our day was loading and unloading Daniel's truck which held half our home in it. I assured Megan we weren't actually moving in with her, even though it appeared that way. Babies require an incredible amount of stuff, even for a 48 hour trip.

On Saturday Daniel went to do his show and Megan, Carver, and I spent the day around Nashville. Megan made some GREAT chocolate scones for breakfast which I am now obsessed with. Not great for my diet. We ate lunch at a really good Mexican restaurant and Carver slept the entire time! Then we headed to the mall to see Daniel. It was Carver's first trip to the mall and the first time seeing his daddy working. He even helped out a little :)

Saturday night we went out to dinner and again Carver did so well. He far exceeded any expectations we might have had when traveling with a 7 week old. We had so much fun spending time with Megan and Richie. Carver was loved on and cuddled by his aunt Megan and even Richie took a turn holding him. I love it that Megan is totally at ease with Carver, even when he cries or spits up or pees on her rug (really sorry about that). She never once got overwhelmed or wanted to hand him back over when he cried or fussed. We can't wait to go back for another visit :)
Side note: BIG thanks to Rebecca for keeping ALL the dogs this weekend. Though I hate traveling without the girls I am so very grateful to have such a great place to leave them when we need to. The girls love Rebecca and Lily and I can go out of town and know that they are safe and being loved on while I am away :)

This and that...

There have been a few good photo opportunities lately. Most don't really have stories behind them, but I wanted to share anyway. Carver changes so fast that it is seriously hard to keep up. But, each phase is so precious that I am doing my best not to let any go by without some documentation.
Probably not the safest practice, but it was really cute :)


Carver and Baby Winston. Winston was a little confused by this whole picture taking process.
The boys in their "Gator Gear."

Delia in Carver's closet, laying on his "play gym." I found her here one day...