I can roll over now!

Carden is currently mastering the technique of rolling over and of course I had to document the occasion by taking lots of photos! This allows her to grab toys on her own instead of relying on mom and dad to hand them to her!

Four Months

It is hard to believe that Carden is already 4 months old. Her smile and baby talk just melts our hearts. She is doing very well at Miss Marcia’s, which makes dropping her off their so much easier! They tell us that she is the most laid back one in her class. I’ve met a couple of people that have babies that were born a few days before Carden and it amazes me just how different babies can be. I think all 4 month olds should be as tall as Carden but then when I see the little chubby 4 month olds I get concerned that she is too thin. I was talking to another mother that gave birth to a big baby (10 lbs 3 oz) and we both agree that our perception to judge other babies is way off since our kids were so big. I don’t know how many times I’ve confused a two month old for a newborn!


The Easter Bunny made a stop at our house and left some goodies in Carden’s Easter Basket (which required me to call every children’s store/gift shop in town to find.) Since Jason and I aren’t up to date on our nursery rhymes, EB brought a book of nursery rhymes as well at a book titled Someday by Alison Meghee and Peter Reynolds. I read this book in the store and it brought me to tears. It is a great book about a mother’s dream for her daughter--I highly recommend it to all you moms out there!


We are still unpacking boxes, but the house is coming along nicely. It is easy to get distracted having a baby to pull you away. Once we get pictures hung, I think I’ll feel more settled. Here are some pictures of Carden’s nursery. The painting was a present from Uncle Phil. He has a friend in LA that created it for the nursery.



May is going to be a busy and fun month, so I hope to do a better job of posting updates and photos.

Happy Easter

Three Months!

Where does the time go? I can’t believe Carden Elizabeth is Three Months Old!
I think Carden will be able to start her own construction business by age 2. She has been exposed to more decisions about building materials, granite remnants, light fixtures and knows more people that work at Lowe’s, Home Depot, City Lumber, and Parks Plumbing Supply than most general contractors.

The house is remarkable-I promise to post pictures soon. It is better insulated, has a new roof, endless supply of hot water thanks to a tankless hot water heater, beautiful soapstone counter tops in the kitchen, a great master bathroom and walk-in closet, more cabinets in the kitchen and the over all the flow of the space is a better fit for us. While it’s great to have a nice home, the shell isn’t nearly as important as the lives that are lived within and we are so excited about the life we have with Carden! Now if we can just get the boxes unpacked so we can start enjoying our new life!
My parents graciously put up with the two of us, a newborn, all of our laundry, and our two dogs during our renovation process, but I know they are secretly going to miss the chaos. I know they already miss seeing their granddaughter on a daily basis!

I started back to work on Monday, March 16 and it is quite an adjustment after being gone for 12 weeks. So much has changed since I’ve been gone, such as complete reorganization of our department that resulted in all new bosses/management and employee turnover, I’m just happy that I didn’t get lost in the shuffle and had something that I enjoy to come back to. Trying to live by a schedule was so burdensome in the past but is a necessity when you have a baby that you are trying to feed, get dressed, and dropped off at nursery school before going to work at 8 AM. Guess my days of hitting snooze to try get an extra 30 minutes of sleep are over!

Carden is getting more interactive every day. We could sit and watch her coo and smile for hours. I wish someone would have told me to go back to work when she was two weeks old and to take maternity leave about week 10. I hate to think of what I’m missing out on while I’m at work. She is rolling onto her side, sucking her thumb when we let her, likes to play with her hands, hair, ears, and Ike the pig puppet we got from Ikea. She has also managed to grab a hand full of my hair in her tight little grip—I for see a hair cut in my future!

We had to make a trip back to see Dr. Haley to get Carden’s Hib vaccine since they were out of them at her 2 month check up. Carden is growing so fast, she is now 26 inches long and 12 lbs 3 oz!

Two Month MD Visit

Today was Carden's 2 Month appointment. She is 24.5 inches long (95th percentile), 11 lbs 2 oz (approx 50th percentile), and a head circumference of 38 cm. She is tall and skinny--let's just hope she stays that way.
She did great with her oral vaccine and the first shot, but screamed while getting the second shot. We are going to have to make another trip to Dr. Haley's office to get her Hib Shot, unfortunately they ran out of it so once it comes in we'll have to go back. I did surprising well and didn't cry when she got so upset (or pass out when I saw her get the shot--I'm terrified of needles so this was a concern.) Dr. Haley and nurse Kim said that she may run a little fever and need some extra snuggling and attention. She has been curled up on me for majority of the day and then daddy was more than willing to take over once he got home.

Two Months

It’s hard to believe that Carden Elizabeth is two months old and I only have a few more weeks left before I have to go back to work. She has changed so much since we brought her home; I’m going to miss spending all day with her! I know it will be good for her to socialize with other kids and to get onto a better routine. Next week we start getting mommy acclimated to dropping her off with Miss Marcia for a few hours. We love watching all Carden’s facial expressions. She is starting to melt our hearts with her smile and her cute baby noises. She is very chatty, I know that is hard to imagine with Jason and I as her parents! Carden has discovered her fingers are a good substitute for her binky (aka pacifier). She has managed to get just the thumb in her mouth a few times. Next week is her 2 Month appointment, so we’ll get all her stats then. Here is the monthly picture with Matilda.


Carden loves bath time and we have found the perfect baby spa tub for her—one of her grandmother’s mixing bowls! I love this photo and had to share it.

We had Carden baptized at Kelley Presbyterian Church on February 15. Kelley is a small country church in Kelley Town, Georgia that my grandparents attend, my parents got married in, and just about everyone in the family was baptized in. She wore the same dress that I wore in May 1975 when I was baptized at Kelley. She did extremely during the actual baptism but got fussy toward the end of the service due to being hungry so Jason had to take her out of the sanctuary to feed her a bottle. I failed to take into account the change in timezones when I fed her earlier that morning. Afterwards we had a nice lunch with the family and Carden got to meet all her young cousins. She’ll enjoy getting to know them as they grow up together.

No trip to the Atlanta area would be complete without going shopping and squeezing in a meal at the Varsity.

Carden and I have become regulars at all the various home improvement stores in town trying to get those odds and ends for the house. We can see the finish line with the house! The soapstone counter tops are in and they look incredible. Now we need to put mineral oil on them to make them darker. The floor will be refinished next week and we are hoping to be in shortly after the floors dry and the final touch ups are completed! I’m so excited.

Progress!

We have seen tremendous progress with the house remodel the past few weeks. Tile is complete in all the bathrooms and the laundry room, kitchen cabinets are being installed, and the counter top guys are coming on Tuesday to make a template for our Soapstone Counter Tops. Not sure when the flooring guys will be back to start refinishing the floors, but since our contractor is having hip surgery the first week of March, he is determined to get our house completed before his surgery. This makes me SO happy. I cannot wait to be back into our house! Here are some pictures of the progress:




Carden is making progress as well. She is starting to sleep really well at night—4 to 5 hours! I’m still trying to feed her every 3 to 4 hours during the day to ensure that she is getting all the nourishment that she needs, which I’m still not exactly sure of what that is since every baby book says something different. I’ve come to realize that the baby books are designed to make new parents insane. You read one book and it will basically tell you that everything you are doing is wrong! Other parents have assured me that as long as she is gaining weight, not screaming, and is eating and making poopy diapers then we are in good shape! We are completely captivated by this little girl. She is starting to make great facial expressions and has even discovered her thumb as something to suck on other than her pacifier.