Sleeping Beauty

As is typical with most newborns, Caris is a people sleeper--that is, she likes to sleep on people.


Exhibit A: Daddy




Exhibit B: Aunt Ri-Ri

We can also post Exhibits C,D,E,F,G but we failed to gather the evidence.




If we do get her to sleep somewhere else, it can be short lived...


Because she usually startles herself awake.



She is always wide awake when her brother is holding her though--who wouldn't be excited to see that cool dude!

Swimmingly

I used the word "swimmingly" in the last post and I would like to correct myself. The definition of swimmingly is "with no problems or difficulties." Caris is still a lovely baby, but she does have her difficulties. They are not atypical and they are very reminiscent of Liam: she doesn't know how to fall asleep on her own, she has gas troubles that keep her (and her parents) up at night and she likes to eat all the time.

Overall, Steve and I make very similar babies. They look very similar (seems as though Caris will have similar coloring and cheeks to Liam), they act very similar (I am not sure who would out-eat who as a newborn), they even have the same blood type (A+ babies!). At least we can look back at the blog and realize that things do get easier. We have also told ourselves that the time when they are this little is fleeting and we should enjoy the moment instead of waiting for it to be over.

Now, for some pictures!


We took her on a walk the other day. Even though February is notoriously cold in DC, we have had a very mild winter so far. She was born on a day where it was over 60 degrees.




Big brother continues to be a charmer and a helper. He did, however, mention that maybe we shouldn't have any more after baby sister.




Sleeping on the walk. Doesn't get much better than this!

Coming Home

On Sunday, February 5th, Caris was introduced to her new home.



Here we are a couple days earlier. Liam continues to be a fantastic big brother and loves to help out whenever he can.




The day of the hospital departure. Liam is showing off his "big brother" shirt and Caris displays her "little sister" onesie.




Our house was nicely decorated by our neighbors for her arrival.




Makoto again was interested in the new addition, but hasn't followed her around like he did with Liam.




Before we came home, I was the only one privileged enough to see all the many faces of Caris. Michelle came over and helped me document some of the better ones:


The sweet face


The "I just finished nursing face"


The silly face

So far, everything is going swimmingly. She has been a good baby and sleeps for most of the day. When she is up, she is hungry. I would estimate she only has about 4-6 hours of awake time when she is looking around and alert...unfortunately, last night that fell between the hours of 9pm to midnight when we were trying to get her to sleep.

Baby Bump

For historical reasons, I wanted to make sure that Caris knows what she looked like in her mommy's belly. This is what Liam looked like. I put on about the same amount of weight. During this pregnancy, I was monitored frequently by ultrasound and it was estimated a day before her arrival that she would be 9 lbs 14 oz. I am glad that wasn't the case.

Welcome to the world, Caris

Caris Linnéa was born at 10:04 on February 1st 2012.  She's 8 lbs 14 oz and 20.5 inches.

Mom and baby are both doing great and Liam is embracing his status as big brother with enthusiasm.

He told her he would "love her forever" and kept looking for ways to help.