More Visitors

Paw-Paw made a special detour from his Northwest Adventure Tour to meet his newest grand- daughter Scarlett! He (like everyone else) thinks she looks an awful lot like her big sister!

3 Generations of Stover's

Our good friend Elizabeth came over to meet Scarlett too! She was so sweet to help us out by watching Caroline (she had the first shift until my SIL Laura could make it over) the night we went in to be induced! She teaches with Patrick, and we really like her and her hubby!

Scarlett with Cozy the bear

She really is a dead ringer for Caroline here!

Scarlett is a great day sleeper (we are working on the night still:)

check out those cute lips!

weekend wrap up

We had a fun (and busy) weekend. Friday night Patrick and Caroline went to the high school football game (where Patrick teaches). Saturday, Scarlett and I headed to a baby shower for our dear friend Jen, who is due at the beginning of November while Patrick and Caroline spent Saturday afternoon watching football and getting ready for the tailgate. I picked Caroline up from the tailgate so Patrick could go to the game, and the girls and I had a quiet night at home! Sunday our friends Wade and Jessica came over to meet baby Scarlett. Caroline loved spending the afternoon with their two boys Wyatt and Sawyer!

Caroline in her super cute new yellow dress (my best friend Claire sent a super thoughtful gift box of goodies this weekend with diapers, all my favorite snacks, and lots of fun suprises for Caroline...She's the best!!!)

Scarlett and daddy watching football on Saturday

Wade and Jess with one of their boys (Sawyer) and Scarlett

busy busy

We have had a really busy fun filled week with Grandma here! Who has time for rest with so much fun stuff to do! We went to the Children's Museum, a movie, 3 trips to the doctor for Scarlett, and a shopping extravaganza (Grandma and Caroline also snuck in trips to the park and walks to McDonald's)! It was so nice to have Grandma here to spend time with her newest granddaughter, help us get lots of Caroline special alone time, clean, cook, do laundry, and all the things that grandma's do to make things run just a bit smoother! We are already so sad that she is gone, but we get to see her and the rest of the family (both sides) very soon! Thanks for coming Grandma, we LOVE YOU!

Grandma and Caroline doing puzzles at the museum

Grandma and I took the girls to the Lion King 3D movie on friday afternoon (Caroline's 2nd movie and Scarlett's first:) and both girls did really well! Scarlett slept and ate through the movie and Caroline did great (with the help of a bag full of snacks)! She was so cute singing along to all of the songs!

Caroline in her 3D glasses (too bad they came off right after this picture!)

Scarlett and Grandma

Scarlett continues to be a great baby! She mostly sleeps all day, is a super good eater, rarely cries, and has even started sleeping really good at night (she wakes about every 3-4 hours to eat). She smiles every now and again in her sleep, here is the first picture of a sleepy grin!

Aunt Laura came over today to say goodbye to Grandma and brought over a fun clown nose that Caroline modeled for us!

Scarlett's first bath

Scarlett had not had a bath since her arrival on Saturday night, so last night she was long over due for a sink bath! I cannot wait till we can bathe her in the bathtub, hopefully she likes that a bit more! Scarlett sure smelled good when we were done though!

Sisters

I thought for sure Scarlett was a boy, but now that she is here I am so so happy to have two little girls at home. I always wanted a sister, and am so glad Caroline and Scarlett will have each other to share so many fun memories with. Scarlett seems to resemble me a bit more than Caroline did, but they clearly look a ton alike and we cannot wait to see as they grow how much they are alike or different!

Caroline loves Scarlett and wants to hold her all the time, we are still working on gentle though, this is an example of the "football hold"!

I love saying "my girls"

Caroline loves giving Scarlett lots of hugs and kisses

a few funny things that this BIG SISTER has said over the past few days:

*Friday night while I was giving Caroline a bath I was telling her how when she went to bed mommy and daddy were going to the hospital to have the new baby. I told her that the doctor would be taking the baby out of mommy's tummy, kind of like magic. She got really wide eyed and said "Mommy does the doctor need my magic wand?" It was so cute!

*Saturday, a few hours after Scarlett arrived, Aunt Laura brought Caroline up to the hospital to meet her new sister. After visiting for a while, Scarlett got hungry. I started feeding her and all of a sudden Caroline lifted her shirt and said "Mommy now it is my turn for Scarlett to drink out of my nipple." WHAT?!?!?! We have no idea where she learned that word, so funny!

*Since we didn't know if Scarlett was a boy of a girl we have been talking about both options for a while now. Caroline is still a bit confused about the titles and several times she has introduced Scarlett as her big brother or her big sister which gets quite a giggle.

memory keeping

One thing that I wish I had done with Caroline was take a picture of her every month for the first year of her life. (I know I actually have a million pictures of her every month, but wish they were all in the same outfit, same background....etc) So, I have discovered a new favorite thing...onesie stickers! This "Just Born" sticker will be the first of her monthly catalog of pictures documenting how fast she grows and changes!

help has arrived!

Grandma arrived yesterday and it is so nice to have her here to help! Patrick always says that upon my mother visiting Caroline gets 6 months smarter over a week's time! These girls are so lucky to have such a hands on grandma! When I picked mom up at the airport we headed straight to Scarlett's 1st doctors appt (she had lost more weight than they expected so they wanted to follow up on that as well as a string of events that occurred due to my new apparent allergy to penicillin). Scarlett checked out ok, but we do have to go back tomorrow just to make sure her weight is moving in the right direction.

Scarlett and Grandma waiting on the doctor

not at all concerned about her check-up :)

Scarlett, Caroline, and Grandma

Grandma's friend Marie bought Scarlett a few cute outfits and even included a memory game for Caroline (Thanks Marie, that was so thoughtful)! Caroline loved playing her new game with Gram (Caroline's new nickname for Grandma)

Scarlett continues to be a laid back baby! If only we could get her to switch up her day's and night's, life would be perfect!

Home at Last

When we arrived home I started to unpack and settle in. I came out of the bedroom and found these two sleepy heads!

Caroline loves having her very own doll to play with. She continually asked tonight "what does the baby want?" and then suggested things like new socks, a blanket, a bottle, just so she could help! She is such a great Big Sister!

Caroline even wanted to share her new special jewelry with Scarlett

Patrick's dad (Paw-Paw) had to leave town last week and before he left he brought over a Stover family speciality, Chalupa! It was wonderful tonight to have a yummy home cooked meal without having to do the work!

While Patrick was giving Caroline a bath we got a knock on the door and a really fun surprise arrived! The Snell's sent us a cookie basket in honor of Scarlett, but also included a Big Sister cookie for Caroline! We loved it and are so blessed to have so much love and support!

going home

We are HOME! It was so nice to have a few days of getting taken care of and getting to bond with my new baby girl (Patrick spent the nights and a good portion of the day's at home with Caroline) BUT, it sure is nice to settle in at home as a family. Patrick dropped Caroline off at Nada's this morning and headed over to spend some time with us before we got discharged. The three of us spent a quiet afternoon watching TV and crossing things off the list to go home. Caroline was super excited to have her baby sister home and could not give her enough love!

Scarlett and Daddy watching the game before we left

I put Scarlett in the going home outfit that Caroline wore, and I'll be honest it is really hard to tell their pictures apart! *I will try and post them side by side later!

Welcome Home Miss Scarlett, we waited FOREVER for you, and are so glad you are here!

Visitors

We are getting ready to get discharged from the hospital today and are looking forward to getting settled into our new life with two little princesses!

Yesterday we had some wonderful visitors stop in to meet Miss Scarlett!

Dr Alperin (a good ole GA boy who delivered both Caroline and Scarlett) came by to check on us and talk football!

The Michael Stover's hopped in the car and drove over from Yuma to meet their new cousin/neice. It was so special having them here! Caroline loved hanging with the big boys and Scarlett got lots of snuggle time.

Aunt Laura with her 2 favorite AZ nieces!

Uncle Michael gets a turn to love on Scarlett

Caroline and Scarlett are just about the same distance apart in age as Michael and Laura

Ben needed a little reassurance, but did great holding Scarlett!

S and Aunt Joanne

Jim and Jen also stopped by to congratulate us and meet Scarlett

only two more months before these two are holding their own new bundle of joy!

We made it through out first day, and we feel so so blessed to have Scarlett here!