Caroline Comes Home!

Here she is!

Miss Caroline is 12 days old today, and it has taken her mom, dad, and big brother Sam a while to string together enough spare moments to upload all her pictures and do a blog post. Her adoring fans will have to accept our apologies. Hopefully a post full of pictures of this sweet face will make up for it!

Caroline came home from the hospital on Easter morning. Chip and Phy brought big brother Sam to the hospital so that the four of us could ride home together as a family. I must admit it was a very sweet ride home :) Here's Caroline saying goodbye to the hospital and wearing the adorable "Easter bonnet" that one of the very thoughtful nurses at Baptist South made for all the Easter babies.
First moments at home...

Sam has been SO GOOD with her. He gives her lots of hugs and tries to share his toys, rocks, and food with her, and is learning that he has to do so VERY GENTLY. :) He already loves her and wants to help take care of her. What a relief! We couldn't be any prouder of this little man and how well he seems to weather every transition...especially this life-altering one!

Since we came home on Easter morning, one of our first orders of business was to check out Sam and Caroline's Easter baskets! Sam got lots of things for playing outside...a bug net, his very own watering can (he loves to water the flowers), some seeds to plant, bubbles, sidewalk chalk...and LOTS of Play Doh! Caroline got a Sleep Sheep, some pacifiers, and a baby book :)

We had one day at home just the four of us, and then Nana and Papa came to meet Caroline and provide some much needed help! Caroline started her first full day at home with a long, long nap...

Then she and Sam spent some time snuggling with Papa.

The whole family took a trip to the park, where Caroline and I chilled in the shade while Sam played on the slides and showed Papa the sailboats. I am feeling about a million times better than I did at this point after my last delivery, and it is SO NICE to be able to get outside and play with both kiddos so soon.

Just a couple more sweet photos from Caroline's first week at home...

We celebrated Caroline's one-week birthday by having CamiCakes with Nana, Phy, and Aunt Meredith. Guess who liked this birthday celebration most?...here's a hint :)

Sam had never had a whole real cupcake before, and after the way he reacted to this one we may not let him have another one for another few years! He was CRAZY! He had a blast playing, though, and we all enjoyed celebrating one wonderful week with Caroline.

Nana left late Monday night, but not before she got a few last snuggles with both grandkids!

And now it's just the four of us. We're doing pretty well so far...just very tired! We feel so tremendously blessed to have such a sweet little family, and we just can't wait to watch these two grow up together. There are so many adventures in our future, and we just couldn't be more grateful.