Two Posts in One Day...

...stop the presses!

Mimi and Aunt Marcie stopped by today to visit, and the result is [gasp!] girls day!

Baby Choppers

First there were gums. Nothing but smooth, drool-covered gums. Then there were slight bumps along the upper and lower gums. And then, yesterday morning, there were well-defined ridges. And then....today....we have the first tooth poking its little way into the sunlight, destined to one day fall out and be exchanged for some hard-earned cash (anybody got any idea about the current teeth to $$ exchange rate?).



We've started her on "real food" - applesauce and bananas. Probably should've started her off with something a bit more mundane, like peas or carrots, but what the hay. She's a little confused about it, but we think she loves the dancing show her banshee parents put on to get her mind off the unusual taste of the new food.



Otherwise, nothing much else extraordinary happening lately in our household. She had her first ear infection a couple weeks ago and after we learned the hard way she didn't like amoxcycillin, which she coyly informed us about by way of emptying the contents of her stomach - twice, we finally got her to take some omnicef - once a day at 6:30 AM and 10 days later she's fine. Here are some of the latest pictures we've got of "sweetums":

Bathtime:

More bathtime:

If you didn't think she'd have curly hair, it may be time to reconsider...:

Cutie pie on the floor, playing playing playing....:

Dad feeding and making faces with a mug that did anything but launch a thousand ships:

Foot sandwich:

Grrrrrr!:

Peekaboo at bathtime:

Here I am!:

Caroline "Le Artiste" asks "Did I do that?":

Mummy and Caroline:

Caroline and Poppa:

BABY!

I already emailed some pictures out the other day, so I guess this is superfluous. So what. What's happened lately? Caroline continues to grow. She's still on the small side, hovering in the 20% range, but she remains firmly on her own little growth curve even though she continues eating like a piglet. Where does it all go, you ask? I'm glad you did. Her mom and I view where it all goes on a daily basis, so we're not shocked. The phrase "...thru a goose" comes to mind. Anyhow, she had her 4 month well check the other day. She'll be 23 weeks Friday, so it's a bit late for her due to one postponement we had to make, then she had the flu (which was awful in and of itself, as all three of us got sick at nearly the same time). She was 13.5 lbs. I took her in for the visit, armed with Jessica's questions, and Caroline's doctor answered them all while holding Caroline to soothe her. After that was done came....the shots. One good tasting fluid to eat, then two needles in each thigh. Before the nurse gave them I rubbed her head while talking to her, and then when the nurse put the first shot in....Caroline's eyes flew wide open, there was a pause, then the deluge of crying until it was over and I was able to comfort her. To be honest, I couldn't stop laughing after I saw her eyes get so big. It was either that or cry with her. It's been pretty rough the past few days. When she gets her shots she can be very fussy for up to a week, including diarrea and irritability. With regard to diarrea and (in general) changing diapers, Jessica and I are both on the record that while yes, it's true that it's "different" when you are changing your own's dirty diapers...there is no escaping the fact that changing a dirty diaper, getting pooped and peed on while in mid-change, dealing with the mess, etc. is no pleasure cruise no matter if it's your own or not. Ah, it comes with the territory I guess, because when she smiles at you it makes things a bit easier. Some of those pics that make it worthwhile (already emailed out the other day):


At Dad's house before his birthday party...

Sleeping on daddy's lap early (and I mean EARLY) one morning

Breakfast at Lizard's Thicket

Sitting with Aunt Marcie at breakfast (check out that red hair)

Again with Aunt Marcie, showing off her smile

Feeding Machine!

The science of paleontology tells us that several million years ago there lived a giant shark, over 50 feet long, 35 tons of eating, feeding, teeth-filled muscle. Today, a new father tells us that there lives a little girl, over 2 feet tall, perhaps 13 lbs. of eating, feeding, gum-filled cheeky jowls...devouring all the rice cereal her parents can shovel into her mouth (assuming we're able to push it past the tongue she keeps sticking out at us).

Here are a few pictures of her enjoying, yes I think actually enjoying, her most recent introduction to our world - warm grown-up food. If you look closely off to the side, you can just make out her parents' dread of the stinky diapers they know are just around the corner.

It's clear she enjoys the food - she inhaled each tiny spoonful; and when her mummy wasn't getting it out of the bowl and into the same area code of her mouth, where she practically lunged for it, she'd start complaining.

Hope to get some video of it soon for later, riveting viewing.

Caroline Turns Four (months...)

Awright, my co-workers have shamed me into adding to this. Not that I didn't want to put up anything, mind you, but as I know they'll attest - a baby is the epitome of the proverbial "time eater." Our lives rotate now around what I lovingly refer to as "the little dictator." What time we go to sleep, what time we awake, what time we eat, whether we go out, whether we attend the Christmas party, how loudly we talk, what music we listen to, and the list goes on. I'll bet each person reading this has their own stories to share.

So anyways, Caroline has started putting on more weight. She'd plateau'd, we feared, a couple months ago at around 10.5 lbs. Since then she's started fattening up, perhaps around the time I started lovingly calling her a little piglet. She now tips the scale at...I have no idea, her next checkup is in a couple weeks so I guess we'll find out then. Mom is doing well and isn't as worried as she was, because Caroline is clearly starting to tack on the weight. Caroline is also - cue the hallelujah choir - tentatively, knock on wood and toss the salt over my shoulder...sleeping through the night. If you count going down at around 9 PM and getting up at 6:00 AM - and her mom and I sure do - then that's that. It's not permanent, she's broken our gentleman's agreement a couple times, but she is far better than just a few weeks ago when as surely as USC's football team will continue in its mediocrity she'd wake up once or twice for a 3 AM snack.

She also is sleeping on her back - a much welcomed change from time as far back as when we were in the hospital when that nurse who I'll never forgive cheerfully suggested we prop her on her side to sleep. That became her position until last weekend, when we put her on her back and she took it like a champ. Oh, one last thing...last weekend we also gave her some rice cereal for the first time, got the moment on tape, and also successfully gave her the pacifier. It's one of those ortho-correct, latex things, made by Playtex. Works like a champ. Score one for mom, as I told her it didn't matter what kind of pacifier she used. We men have lots to learn.

Other than all that, she's cooing, talking to herself, letting loose with the occasional peal of laughter, and generally acting like a four month old. Sigh, it's almost kind of sad, in that she's getting old enough to the point where we have to start talking how old she is in terms of months, no longer weeks. Pretty soon it'll be years, and braces, and the prom, and....ah, heck, no need to rush things along.

New Baby in this World

Caroline has arrived! September 28 at 2:13 AM Vitals: 20" 7 lbs. 1.2 oz. 8 out of 9 on the APGAR = healthy little girl Here is her first "professionally taken" picture (done at the hospital and on their website for the next few weeks). We took her in to the doctor yesterday, as she is slightly jaundiced (normal & common); this goes away in 5-7 days w/ regular exposure to direct sunlight and her normal poopie diapers - which she has started cranking out with startling efficiency and regularity. Today we are starting her on a regimen to get used to sleeping in the pack-n-play and co-sleeper; she's been fairly calm during the day, but gets active at night, so not only do we want to get her used to the idea those things are made to sleep in we'll work on getting her used to the notion that daytime is active time and night time is sleep time. Her first night home was rough, with none of us (Elisabeth is here to help us) getting much sleep and me making a 4:00 AM run to Wal-Mart for some anti-gas drops.

First family portrait, taken not long after delivery.

I've always liked taking pictures in b&w, and thanks to digital cameras it's so much easier. This picture was taken later in the day she was born. I think that's my mom holding her in the picture.

Soooooo sleeeeepy....although compared to what Jessica went through I suppose I had a pretty restful time. After she was born we didn't sleep more than an hour or so until the next night. So after waking up Thursday morning, Jessica at 4:00 and Barry at 6:00, we pretty much got 1-2 hours of sleep during a 40 hour stretch. Of course, what sleep we got after that was nothing to write home about, but we'll take what we can get.

Three generations of Caruso women. When we spend this Christmas in Florida with the Carusos and Granmere visits from Arizona, we'll have a picture with, count 'em, FOUR generations of beautiful Caruso girls! Caroline certainly has some good genes in her.
In the car for her ride home from the hospital...out of her first little world and into the rest of this great big one.
First steps into her new home.

"The Name" has been decreed

What started with the first page of "100,000 Baby Names" has been whittled down to one. This is what happened:

• 89 names from Jessica
• 78 names from Barry
• Dozens from family

We combined the ones that appeared on more than one list, along with the ones we (together) wanted to be "in the running", into a single list and began whittling them down.

• Round One - each protect 10 and scratch 5 (although I magnanimously allowed Jessica to scratch an extra one). The name we picked was protected by Jessica
• Round Two - same thing, except this time we both protected her eventual name
• Round Three - ditto, and ditto
• Round Four - we protected 10 each, but put the remainder up for discussion (ie: whacking); interestingly, I was the one who protected the name
• Round Five - the time arrived...Jessica scratched my favorite (Lydia) immediately, I cherished no illusions. Scratch, scratch, scratch on the way back home until only two are left: Gabrielle/Gabriella and....
• ...and then, last night, celebrating our Second Anniversary, we pulled the trigger.

Meet Caroline Marguerite Brandes, soon-to-be newest member of the Caruso/Brandes club. We chose her middle name to honor Jessica's grandmother (that's "grandmère" in lingua Franca). Now that THAT'S out of the way, let's keep on keeping on...just a couple months or so left to go until I can't sleep in on Saturday's any more. Sigh.