One Week

What a week it has been, too....
July 15: Pongo sniffing the baby. He's been a good kitty and only curious about her. He sniffed her the first few days and now he's back to his normal routines (if you can say that about a cat). No naughtiness like his "big brother" Bailey when Julia was born, thankfully (peeing in the corners, etc. :P)!!

So nicely sleeping, but time to eat...

Big kids are glad to pester a little...

July 16: We went on our first family outing (not counting the pediatrician on Tuesday). First we brought Caroline (and the rest of the clan) to Brian's office so he could introduce her to his coworkers. Next was off to Target for a birthday present for Austin's friend. Stopped for lunch at California Fresh where I got my free birthday smoothie. We ran into a friend we haven't seen in years, so it was fun catching up with her. Then we went to Costco. And that was plenty for one day!

They always have samples at Costco. Well, this day, they were offering vanilla soy milk and Winnie-the-Pooh animal crackers at one station. We are not exactly sure why, maybe because he wanted to be first to get the sample, Austin hit Julia. Which by the way, we did not see. All of a sudden we heard him crying, because she hit him back. The sample lady said to Austin, "Here, you can have some extra cookies because you're crying." Then the sample lady talked to Julia. "Oh Honey, you should not hit your brother. Next time you need to use your words and tell your mama. You are a such a pretty little girl, you need to act as pretty as you look." Julia started sniffling herself (I knew she was embarrassed for being singled out) and told us that Austin hit her first, and the lady kept going on about how Julia was a pretty little girl and needed to be a nice little girl. Julia had had about all she could take; she burst out, "IIII AM NOT!" Which completely caught Brian and me off guard. I immediately started laughing because that is so unlike Julia to shout at an unfamiliar adult like that! The sample lady didn't quite know what to think (and finally was quiet, I should add) and then shoved a bunch of cookies into Julia's hand. "Here here, Honey, you have some more cookies too. We don't want anyone crying." Brian said in the next aisle that he'd had enough of that sample lady too, because she was going on and on about how much better soy milk was for a person than regular milk. He said he thought about telling her he grew up on a dairy and I don't know what all else about milk, but he knew. Later I asked Julia what she meant by "I am not," and she said that she was not a little girl. LOL

First thing in the morning. This is pretty much what she did the whole time we were out and about.

July 17: Caroline's one-week birthday! That has gone fast! Brian went into work about 10 today. I made pancake batter and he cooked them up and did the dishes. I swept and vacuumed and did laundry. The funny thing about that is a few weeks ago I was thinking how we had quite a bit less laundry in the summer, with the clothes being smaller (less fabric in shorts and tank tops and few socks than jeans and long-sleeved tops). And now I am doing more laundry again with the baby stuff added in. All the big kids painted, Julia did sun catchers and Austin and Lauren painted pictures. The younger two were driving me nuts, taking full advantage of being stinkers when I was stuck in the chair nursing. Pestering each other and wrecking each other's play at the time. Austin made a mine with a big quilt, forming it into tunnels that he'd drive his mining cars through. Lauren would come along and squish his quilt mine tunnels. He'd make them again. She was doing her wood puzzle, and he stole a couple pieces, saying he didn't have a pick for his mine; he needed a pick (and of course those hook-shaped pieces were the perfect shape...). On and on it went. Austin roped Lauren with a jump rope outside and she hurt her foot. Lauren threw a fit because she couldn't see Baby getting her bath. I was glad to put those two to bed for naps!

Caroline likes her baths! Her cord stump fell off last night, and I am so glad to be done with that. She hated having it cleaned, and it was just hanging there by a thread anyway at the end. Here she is, fresh and clean.

And a couple set-up pictures, because, well, you're not just one week old every day! ;) Actually, before Lauren was born I saw where someone had taken their baby's picture every week on the weekly birthday for their first year. I liked that idea so much that I did it with Lauren and plan to do it with Caroline. They change so much during a year, but when exactly does it happen? It's fun to look back on Lauren's weekly pictures and see how she grew.