May 2013

            I’m glad we have received the advice that we should enjoy the time with the kids and not be in a hurry for the next phase of life because it goes fast enough. We have plenty of friends that have passed along this advice, so even in the busiest times, I try to remember that comment because it is truly a blessing to have Sarah and Allison, and it does go by quickly.  But, how should it go?  It can’t realistically go slowly since you are going 100 mph from one thing to the next, so you just do your best to not lose your patience and spend time together. 

Let’s see, how are things going?  Deb has been doing a great job with Sarah.  Along with that, I have only touched laundry on the weekends since she has stayed on top of that and she has had dinner ready each night when Allison and I get home.  She has painted the mailbox and the address on the front of our house, put our mulch down, updated all of our photos and photo books and kept us social by getting us ready for some cookouts.  She has had several visitors and friends she has met for lunch.  Also, she has worked out most days in our basement.  

Sarah is doing fantastic.  Her only issue has been an blocked tear duct, which we were referred to a specialist for, and the only thing we can do is wait to see if as she grows it clears itself up, which it normally does.  Other than that, she keeps Deb busy with diaper changes and needing her outfit changed at least once a day.  Sarah is up to sleeping maybe about 5 hours in a row at night and we hope that continues to increase.  Deb brought her to work to visit me and introduce her to my co-workers. 

Sarah’s Thing of the Month

She has started to be more alert and smile. This is always fun and Deb is usually the one that is able to get her to smile!

            Allison has transitioned to her new room at daycare and seems to really like it.  She seems to be dirtier when she gets home and is generally more worn out.  The first week was a little difficult in the evenings, but she enjoys the room enough to have no problems with being dropped off.  Deb and I attended a race day party, which was in the morning at her daycare, but quite the disaster when we left as she wanted us to take her home.  We have tried to get back into the mix with swim lessons at my mom’s pool, where she does alright.  We would like to see her enjoy the water more, but that just means we need to get her to the pool a little more often.  Overall, she has done well with the transition of a new sister in the house! 

Allison’s Things of the Month

She likes to sing the “Wheels on the Bus.”  But there are only so many things we can sing about, so we eventually move onto just about anything we can see when we are driving to and from daycare…and family and friends are included in that sometimes!  She also likes to help pick up sticks in the backyard and put them in our fire-pit. 

 

A few more items from this month:

·         We went and had dinner over at the Foulke’s house.  This was fun and enjoyable as it was one of our first opportunities to get out of the house and put Allison to bed later than her normal bedtime. 

·         We went to Gabrielle Nondorf’s graduation open house. She is one of our best babysitters and it was good to see some of my family. 

·         My mom had a knee replacement surgery and has been doing well at home.  We hope her rehab continues to go well and she is up and on her feet soon. 

·         We also went to a cookout at the McGrath’s on Memorial Day.  This was great because it was one of the first times Allison was off playing with the kids in the yard and we didn’t have to be next to her.

·         We enjoyed our Anniversary quietly this year, but we did make it out on a Saturday for a nice dinner at Fleming’s.  This was nice and we were able to enjoy a few quiet moments which have become hard to come by! 

April 2013

             As expected, this blog update is a little late as our hands are a little full right now!  As the previous blog post mentioned, Sarah Elizabeth was born on April 6^th.  After Deb went into labor, it only took a few hours and Sarah was here!  After our 2 days in the hospital, we went home on Monday around noon.  This was great, as Allison was at daycare and we were able to get settled in before bringing Allison home for our first night.  Hard to remember everything since it was a month ago and we have been pretty busy, but Sarah is a good eater and a decent sleeper.  At night, she has transitioned to the crib which is in the room next door to ours.  This is much better than earlier in the month when we would sleep and hold her in the basement.  We had her in the basement because we didn’t want to wake up Allison, figuring it was easier to deal with one child instead of two in the middle of the night.  She is eating very well and surpassed her birth weight after the first week.  Deb is doing well with her “2-hour naps” each night along with hopefully an afternoon nap.  We have had many visitors, meals and gifts brought our way.  Things appear to be calmer this time around with Sarah, and we don’t know if Sarah is just an easier baby or if we are just calmer about the situation.  It is probably a combination of both.  We are tired, the laundry is piling up and the grass is probably overgrown, but we couldn’t be happier with Sarah or with how the first month has gone!

The weekend after Sarah was born, we went to Charleston for Julie and Kyle’s wedding!  We went into the weekend with little expectations and didn’t know exactly what we would be able to attend, but our hopes were for Debbie to go to as much as she could and anything I could make it to would be bonus!  We arrived around 4pm on Friday afternoon and we got settled into the rooms.  We had 2 hotel rooms adjoining a suite that Randy and Anna had reserved, so I was with Allison and Deb was with Sarah.  A family friend came and watched Sarah as Allison slept on Friday night so I could attend the rehearsal dinner with Deb.  Saturday morning flew by and Deb was busy with Sarah so I found myself showering in my hotel room while Allison was eating lunch in my bathroom.  Deb made it to the wedding and I showed up with the girls at the end of the ceremony for pictures.  After the wedding, we were back at the hotel and Deb took a nap while I went out to find some food.  Anna had organized a babysitting service for the kids at the reception and we pulled one of the babysitters to watch Sarah off and on all evening, which allowed for me to make it to a lot more of the reception than I thought I would.  Once Allison was down for the night and Deb had fed Sarah around 8:30, we went down to the reception and were able to dance and enjoy ourselves.  We appreciate all the help we were offered and given this weekend to make it memorable for us! 

 

Not to be forgotten was Allison turning 2 at the end of the month!  We had a party at our house on her birthday and it was a great time.  We enjoyed some deli sandwiches and cupcakes.  She got several fun gifts, with many clothes, books, a potty chair, an outdoor table, a basketball goal and a gymnastic class.  She is getting very good at opening presents and enjoyed the attention!  She had a doctor appointment and is about 34 inches tall and 27 pounds.  It appears she has flipped a switch and is getting more stubborn and difficult at times.  On the other hand, she is talking a lot more, which has her singing and saying new phrases all the time, which is hilarious.  She has been great toward Sarah, wanting to kiss her all the time and very concerned when she cries, telling us to get her “out” of her crib or bouncy seat. 

Allison still doesn’t play by herself very well, but it is probably because she is rarely alone at daycare and Deb and I have always been there to play with her.  Randy and Anna came for Allison’s birthday party and stayed a few days into the next week to help out with Sarah.  They kept Allison home from school one day and went to the zoo! 

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah Elizabeth Carroll

We welcomed Sarah Elizabeth on Saturday April 6th at 12:09pm. She weighed 6# 10oz and is 19 3/4 inches long. She has a full head of brown hair and has blue eyes. We aren't quite sure who she looks like yet but her frown right before she cries looks just like Allison's.

March 2013

             March has come to an end and we are still a family of 3!  We are down to the final 2 weeks left and weare excited and nervous at the same time. Everything went pretty well with Allison’s delivery and we can only hope to have the same experience.  People have started to ask if we are “ready” and the only way I have to respond to that is the same way I responded to that question when we were getting close to having Allison.  Maybe.  I mean, you can sit here and make sure you have a nursery ready and plenty of diapers and clothes.  You can cook meals left and right and get as much ready as you can.  However, I’m sure during the first few months we will have some lows and highs that no one can be “ready” for, so we will just wait for the arrival and take it one day at a time.  I say that now…let’s see how the April blog sounds when we have a 2-3 week-old newborn. 

At the beginning of March, Pete threw Laura a big 30^th Birthday party in Ohio.  I left on Saturday morning and I was back by Sunday a little after lunch. Beth rented a limo for Laura to be surprised after she went shopping with mom.  She was greeted with a limo full of family and friends and we drove around for an hour or 2 before we went to dinner!  I was glad I was able to make it, as I was able to celebrate Beth and Laura’s 21^st and 30^th birthdays over the years. 

During the month, several of Deb’s friends continued a tradition of taking the mom who is having her 2^nd or 3^rd child to lunch and pedicures.  It was a surprise and she really enjoyed it.  She was tired since she worked that morning, but I think she enjoyed being out with the girls and having some laughs.  I went out with the guys that evening to Broad Ripple and then we played some poker.

            We observed my Dad’s 2 year anniversary of his passing carrying on the trend fromlast year, where we enjoyed Dad’s favorite foods.  This year, we went to a Chinese Buffett!  Beth, Matt, Mom, Pat and Paul were with us and we enjoyed the many foods offered! Allison’s favorite was bananas dipped in strawberry sauce.  It was a messy meal for her!  Deb and I took Allison home and put her to bed and then I went back out to Beth and Matt’s condo to share some stories.  There is plenty to distract me from this anniversary right now, but I had a hard time with the good and bad memories on that day.  Deb and I took Allison to his grave and she said the word “grandpa” and that was especially difficult, but I was glad to hear it. 

 Easter was the past weekend and we celebrated with family in Indianapolis.  The Vandervaarts, Wahmans (minus Chelsea),the Dodson’s, Mark and Mom were around on Friday to celebrate Claire’s and Chris’ birthdays.  It was fun to see Allison interacting with her cousins and playing “ring around the rosey.”  We were over there again on Saturday evening and Sunday morning.  We searched for eggs from the Easter bunny and Allison really enjoyed it! 

 

We took Allison out to breakfast at Cafe Patachou where she really enjoyed the cinnamon toast.  Later that day she rode a tricycle for the first time!!

A few more items from this month:

·        I went to a Timmy Global Health Fundraiser at the Conrad. Beth hosted a table and filled it with her friends and family.  It was quite a night and a good time. 

·        I went over to play cards at Wahmans on a random Friday night. Chelsea and Chris were home from school from spring break and it was good to see them. 

·        We had 3 more swim lessons in March.  We are going to switch to 1 per month starting in May with our instructor.  Our hope is that on those days, she comes back over to our house and babysit and then Deb and I can have a pre-scheduled date night.

·        The Depps came for short day-visit in late March.  It was great to see their daughter and catch up with them.

·        Deb and I went to the daycare for an Easter egg decorating party.

 

·        Deb beat me AGAINin our NCAA bracket challenge.  The sad thing is, the tournament isn’t even over and our brackets are done! 

 

 

February 2013

             February has come and gone and we are starting to realize that our world is about to beturned upside down.  We realize that manypeople in this world and before us have had more than one child, but thereality that we will be a group of 4 is exciting and scary all at once!

Randyand Anna came to visit toward the end of February and we were able to get a lotdone.  Anna and Deb went through all ofour baby stuff and cleaned all of the toys, wiped down all of the differentthings we barely believe Allison ever fit in and did several loads oflaundry.  We moved some furniture and gotthe nursery nearly done.  We have a fewsmall things to do, but for the most part, we are in good shape.  I spent my free time over the weekend puttingup some blinds and doing some other small projects.  Randy fixed some damaged hardwood in ourkitchen.  We really appreciated themcoming as it helped us get ready for the addition without having to do it allourselves and watch Allison. 

              Allisonis doing really well.  We transitionedher bed into a “toddler bed.”  Now, asfirst time parents, we have put a twin bed rail on the outside of it.  The funny part about that is that is takes upthe entire crib…so we don’t really know if she could get out if she wanted to!  She has done well with it and even herweekend naps have started to be a little better (knock on wood!).  She is babbling all over the place and we canmake out some of her words.  We can’ttell if she is talking to us or just telling herself a story sometimes.  She loves singing, especially in thecar.  Her favorites are the ABC’s,Twinkle Twinkle and Mary had a little lamb. We have started to discipline her a little, with time-outs and make sureshe says she is “sorry” for hitting or throwing food.  It isn’t much, but we are assuming it be anecessity over the next few months.
 
             Debis feeling normal for someone who is 34 weeks pregnant.  Not that I would know, but she is holdingtogether pretty well, but sleep is becoming erratic and her energy isdecreasing.  She is having some legpain/numbness, but she doesn’t complain much and is still able to keep up withAllison most of the time. 

 WhenDeb was at this same point in her pregnancy with Allison, my dad passedaway.  Some of those feelings andthoughts creep in as you revert back to “what did I do last time this happened”when comparing the pregnancies.  I feellike I’m in a much better place and am hoping I can be more excited this time,as I struggled with that last time. 

A few more items from thismonth:

·        We started privateswim lessons for Allison.  One ofAllison’s babysitters, Stacy, also teaches swim lessons for infants.  We contacted her and she meets us at my mom’spool for lessons.  We have had 1 and shedid well.  Mom and I took her anothertime and she did well for us.

·        For Valentineday, we did our usual heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy’s.  I went to Allison’s daycare to decorate acookie and she really enjoyed the icing. 

·        I went withJeremy and Ben to a Purdue game vs. Michigan State.  We enjoyed getting there early and havingsome signature drinks at Harrys, a Baltimore Zoo and a Long Island!

·        We watched theAbby and Ella Watkins while Ben and Julia looked for a house this month.  We had a good time and I was glad to see thatmy humor translates well to 6 year-olds. That must mean that Allison will like me for at least 4 more years. 

·        Nothing toodramatic this year for Lent.  I havegiven up the radio in the car and I’ve decided to limit my caffeine while Debhas given up talking on her cell phone while in the car. 

·        I attended adinner for my aunt and uncle’s anniversary thrown by their daughter.  This was on my Dad’s side, so it was good tosee some relatives I don’t see all that often.