Our family recently welcomed home a new addition...Miss Caraline Marie Southern. She arrived on December 18th, 2010 at 8:06pm at Troy Beaumont Hospital. She weighed 6lbs 4oz and measured in at a petite little 18.25 inches.
Its been fun trying to pick out features in each of us that we see in her. She has my eyes, Kate's mouth and we think a mix of our noses. Its yet to be determined if she's going to have "Southern Ears". Emma and Carter do the same. They each see parts of them in her.
The kids have been transitioning well so far. This Christmas, Emma got an American Girl doll that looks just like her. Its been interesting to watch. She's found a renewed interest in an older American Girl baby and tends to her more now than she has at any point in the past. It is almost as if she's learning how to deal with another baby in the house, by playing with "her" baby again. Watching her play activity has been insightful. This is not to say that she doesn't do anything with Caraline. She's is quite the helper with changing diapers and such. We haven't quite let her do anything on her own yet, because Caraline was so little (she actually went down to 5lbs 10oz in the week after she was born), but she has such a sincere interest in her. Emma is going to continue to be an outstanding big sister.
Carter is, well, Carter. He's been a non-stop quote machine. Some of his best are: "Does she have a robot brain?" "Does she have teeth and can she talk?" "Her head is like a peach...its soft and fuzzy." He wants to kiss her on the head literally every chance that he gets. I wondered how he would be with her as he's seemed to relish the role of "the youngest". He's been a little gentleman about her.
Kate and I are doing well too. She will be home though the first week of February. One of my favorite things to catch her doing now is taking a nap with Caraline. The little one is quite the snuggler and is always the most content when held as close as possible to her Mama. Kate is quite simply, the happiest I've ever seen her.
Caraline has been out and about a little more this past week than in the first two weeks. We've
been to church a couple of time and made a few quick shopping trips. Yesterday, she even indulged her Mama and Daddy by letting us take her to the movies with us to see "The King's Speech." She enjoyed it by sleeping almost the entire way through!
I start my internship at Henry Ford Hospital in West Bloomfield in about a week. I'm really looking forward to it and can't believe that I'm almost done with Grad School completely. Now I just have to find a job!
In summary, this has been an exciting month. The Michigan Southerns have their newest addition and things couldn't be any better than what they are. We're happy. An old and wonderful friend of mine told me in a message today that we just fit together as a family. I think that is a great description. It's easy to fit together when you truly belong together.
