We made it!

We made it through our first night! Last night was rough, but we made it through...hopefully each night will be a little easier! Daddy is Caroline and I's hero, he did most of the night shift, he really takes good care of his girls!

Here is a pic that the photographer at the hospital took

Home Sweet Home!

Well we are HOME! We are so so happy to be settling back into our house with our little doll, here are a few pics of her coming home outfit!

Hospital Visitors!

Caroline is so blessed to have so many people in the world that love her already! Here are some of our little girl's first visitors! Caroline's NANA
Patrick's fraturnity brother Nate

Nate's wife Emily and my dear friend One of Caroline's favorite Aunties....Auntie Laura

Caroline's PAPA

My work partner Crystal (my partners David and Gil were there too, just a bit camera shy!)

Patrick's good buddy Jim (he came armed with darling ASU outfits, including her first Cheerleading outfit...GO DEVILS!)

My good friend and walking buddy KATIE

Uncle Michael

Patrick's friend Damon (the best man at our wedding)

BRAD, one of the guys Patrick coaches football with, stopped by as well but we missed catching him on film!

It was fun to introduce you all to our new addition!

Caroline Elizabeth Stover

WHAT A DAY!

Julia and I were lucky enough yesterday to welcome Caroline Elizabeth into the world! The sweetest little baby ever came into the world at 7:03 last night weighing 7 lbs 1 oz and measuring 20.5 inches. We never thought that we could be so lucky and can't help but smile everytime that we look at her. Julia did a great job pushing, the Doctor and nurse did an outstanding job and I just stood there in amazement of all of them :) Mother and Daughter are doing well and we will keep you posted. Thank you all for your text messages, voicemails, and phone calls, Julia and I had a great time spreading the great news!! Welcome Caroline!!! Mom and Dad are already proud!

Our first visitors, our dear friends Emily and Nate, brought me the cutest wine glass called Mommy's Sippy Cup! My SIL Laura came to meet Caroline soon after with a fancy bottle of champagne.....both were much needed and appreciated! CHEERS Caroline!
Caroline's first kiss.....so fitting that it would be with her number one guy!

The new family with the best labor and delivery nurse KIPPY!

Our first family picture!

Engineering Degree Anyone?

This morning we went to Mass, went to watch Patrick's cousin James play hockey, and then decided it was finally time to get the car seat in my car! We have been putting it off for a while knowing that it would probably be a frustrating process!

So.... after the hockey game we went to the car wash so the car seat would have a clean fresh place to hook up! We attempted for a while, and then finally decided to take it to the fire department (every single baby class we took told us the fire department was certified to ensure that all baby seats were put in properly). Of course the one fire department we went to was not certified, so we decided to make a go at it again ourselves! It took us a bit (I am sure being first time parents we are totally being overanalyzing neurotic fools) but I think my back seat is baby ready! Our good friends Jess and Wade with the same car seat are hopefully going to give it the once over this week just to be sure! Here is the finished product with the proud daddy (this is just the beginning of many "assembly required" projects I have a feeling!)
We just got back from a really fun date night at a new pizza place/wine bar, just trying to pack in some "US" time before our lives get crazy! Funny thing though (I mentioned above how we went to the car wash) we came out of the restaurant and realized we had parked under a tree......that must have been filled with LOTS of birds.....my car was covered in POOP!!! ARGGGGGG!!! Oh well!

Grateful!

Was bad about taking pictures yesterday, but we had a wonderful day filled with family and lots of good food! We celebrated Thanksgiving at my SIL Laura's house which was beautifully decorated....she was the hostest with the mostest....AS ALWAYS! Joining in the food festivities this year were: Susie (MIL), Smokey (FIL), Joanne (SIL), Michael (BIL), nephews James and Ben, Aunt Kathi (Susie's sister), Uncle Danny (Susie's brother), Danny's son James, and Patrick and I!

It has been a really tough few weeks of the baby countdown, but yesterday really made Patrick and I stop and reflect how thankful we are this holiday season! We are so lucky to have each other, what a wonderful gift to get to spend your life with your best friend! We are blessed with two loving families and many many wonderful friends that support us and make life much more fun! We are lucky to have two jobs, which we both enjoy, a roof over our heads, a GOD that we can trust in, AND a growing baby that we cannot wait to introduce to all those we love.

Here is a pic of my growing self.....enjoy it will be the last pic of me PREGGO!