Monday, August 4, 2008

4 Months Old Today

Caroline is 4 months old today!!! I just can't believe it. 4 months is such a short period of time and yet I feel like I've known Caroline my whole life. It's a very weird feeling but I have a really hard time remembering what life was like before she came into our lives. I have always dreamed of being a mom (ever since I started babysitting when I was 11 years old...quick side note, who were those crazy parents who let an 11 yr old babysit their children...my daughter will not be having an 11 yr old babysitter ever, that's fo sho!!) so I knew I would really enjoy this whole parenthood thing. However, nothing could have prepared me for the joy, fullfillment, love, and excitement Caroline brings us every day. Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying the past 4 months haven't been challenging. Having a baby is not a fairytale and it's not "romantic" like some movies tend to portray. We have had many hardships and let me just name a few so you don't think I'm just saying that. Here goes: unplanned/emergency c-section due to high blood pressure, lots of feeding problems and Caroline didn't gain significant weight for the first 10 days of her life (not a problem anymore as you can see from the picture above :-), Caroline screamed pretty much the first six weeks of her life until we figured out she had a severe case of acid reflux, the sleep deprivation was almost unbearable at times, Caroline was not (and still is not) a good sleeper during the day which makes for many exhausting days (but I can't complain b/c she's sleeping 10-12 hours at night), Caroline had a terrible reaction to her 8-week shots resulting in a fever of 104.1, and let's not forget about the torticollis/plagiocephaly i.e. tight neck muscle causing a flat spot on her head that we noticed Caroline having at about 3-4 weeks (LOTS more on this in a post to come). BUT for every challenge, there are 100 ways that we are blessed by having this wonderful little girl in our lives. She appears to be developing an extremely sweet, sensitive personality (she seems to have more of her Daddy's personality) and smiles at us almost constantly unless we're around other people, she's hungry, or we have the camera out (of course). I can honestly say that despite all of the challenges, the past 4 months of parenthood have blown my expectations and have been more wonderful than I ever dreamed. Happy 4 month birthday, Caroline!!!
(I'll post her 4 month stats after her doc's appt. on Wednesday...please say a prayer that there is no reaction to the shots and that Caroline is protected if we decide to delay a vaccine)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

That is a very good description of the emotions of motherhood since those emotions are pretty indescribable. And I have to tell you that I still feel all of those things for my "babies" even after 30 years! Caroline will never stop being your baby. There is no other love like it in the world!
Love, Niki

Travis and Andrea said...

Happy 4 months sweet baby! :)

Emily said...

Hi Laura~
It was so good to hear from you. Thanks for the comment! Caroline is just precious! This is a great post. It's hard to explain how wonderful yet challenging motherhood is, but you did a great job. I've been telling some of my mom-to-be friends recently that having a newborn is the hardest and best thing ever! Good luck to you guys!!!