Family of Four

Charlotte Elaine was born on February 19, 2010. She was 8 pounds, 15 ounces and she is 20 3/4 inches long. We decided to induce labor a week early after doing a sonogram on Thursday. Charlotte's head was already measuring at over 40 weeks gestation and they were guessing that she was in the high 8s and that she could be up to one pound up or down from there. After the very long and very hard labor with Carter, who was 9 pounds at 40 weeks, we decided that the best thing would be to induce labor since I was already dilated to a 3. We were both so ready to meet Miss Charlotte and wanted to avoid a giant baby delivery if possible. We got to the hospital at 7 am and I was finally hooked up to the pitocin by 9 am. It took a while for contractions to get going and then I asked for the epidural. I went very quickly from a 5 to a 9 and they called the doctor in the early afternoon. When she got there, I started pushing and Charlotte arrived before I broke a sweat. I think I only pushed about 5 or 6 times. This experience was vastly different from my hours and hours of pushing with Carter! It was so fast that Shelby just kept laughing and saying that she couldn't believe that she came out so quickly. Charlotte's head is so round for a newborn and her hair is so full and dark. I just knew that she would look like her Aunt Tierney and knew that she would have dark hair!

Charlotte has been a pleasure in every way. She is feeding well and sleeping well too. Charlotte has begun to cry a little today, but she prefers a good whimper over a scream or cry. She loves to look around and she seems interested in her big brother. Carter has been interested in her and has greeted her on more than one occasion. He even seemed excited that she would be at the hospital again today. We are just crossing our fingers that he is excited when she comes home tomorrow! Carter has been an amazing trooper through all of this and he has been happy to leave us at the hospital to hang out with his wonderful grandparents. We are so happy and thankful that Charlotte has arrived and that we have a healthy family of four! Here are some photos from today!

A little grumpy from being moved around

Carter is hugging his little sister

Yes, I have already put her in a bow

Charlotte's Nest

We are getting EXCITED about Charlotte! It is officially February and it is looking pretty inevitable that the DuBrocs will be a family of four before the end of the month. I will be 36 weeks pregnant on Friday and so we are in the home stretch. Carter seems to understand that Baby Charlotte is coming, that she has a room and that she is in Mommy's tummy. We will see how his perspective changes when she is actually sharing his space and the attention of his parents. Carter loves to play in Charlotte's room already...mostly because he is rediscovering his infant toys with excitement and a very messy enthusiasm. I am so loving this girly thing. I had so much fun painting Charlotte's room and letting the pinks flow with abandon. I am not usually very girly, but I think this could be dangerous now that I get to dress a girly baby!! Here are some photos of the nursery...hope you enjoy the pictures and I hope Charlotte enjoys her room! The vanity in the room is part of the bedroom set that Charlotte has inherited from my grandmother. It was Allie Flo's bedroom furniture when she was girl and so it is very special to me that we get to share it with our little girl.

Our Christmas

Here are a few photos from our Christmas. I think that it is pretty obvious that we are 1. terrible about taking pictures and 2. when we do take pictures, they are only of Carter... We had a great Christmas and loved spending time with all of our family. It was so much fun to do the whole Santa thing with Carter this year and he seemed to kind of understand the idea. He LOVED all of the Christmas decorations all over town. Carter knew exactly which stores had which giant decorations and he would insist that we go see them every time we entered the stores. Carter could spot a christmas tree or a snowman across a parking lot and was just amazed by our tree at home. Carter still asks to see the Santas and other decor at stores and we are having to try to explain that he has to wait a year to start the process all over again.I have a feeling that our Christmases will only get more entertaining and fun-filled as Carter and his soon to be sister get older and more involved. Having a kid around absolutely makes Christmas a lot more fun!!!

Carter is expressing his excitement about his Christmas presents!

Santa brought Carter a train, train table, a drum and a Yo Gabba Gabba boat for the bathtub! He was so excited!

Carter is learning how to smile for the camera and was so happy to celebrate Christmas with my family and Philip's reindeer on the wall!

Carter is 2

Well, Carter actually turned 2 on December 21st and we celebrated the weekend before Christmas. Carter had an amazing time at his party. What is not to love about having 25 adults adore you and shower you with attention and gifts??? Carter was so excited to be surrounded by all of his favorite people. When we all started to sing "Happy Birthday" his face totally lit up and he realized that we were all singing to him. After we finished, he looked around and requested "Jingle Bells" from what he assumed to be his personal carolers. Carter has definitely made the past two years the most amazing and fun years of our lives! I can't believe that this past 2 years have gone by so quickly. Thank you to everyone who helped Carter celebrate his birthday!

Thankful for our big guy!

As Carter's 2nd birthday is fast approaching, I am struck by how big and grown up he is becoming. He amazes me every day. Carter is expressive and opinionated and funny and sweet and so capable. I can't believe how fast these 2 years have gone by. We had a great Thanksgiving weekend...here are some pictures (in no particular order). In the next few weeks, we will have Carter's 2nd birthday and Christmas, so we should be pretty busy and Carter should be pretty excited about all of his presents:).

Carter and Jack gathering acorns. No Carter did not push Jack down...it just looks like it.

Thanksgiving with Uncle BeauBeau

Throwing a ball (read: run at Daddy with the ball and then hand it to him.)

Carter is literally hugging this tree at our park!

Better Late than Never

Well, it has been an embarassingly long time since my last post and frankly I have no excuse except that we are busy! Since my last post, we have announced that I am pregnant and due February 26th. We are having a girl and her name will be Charlotte Elaine DuBroc. We are so excited about her arrival! Carter is growing up so stinking fast and he amazes us everyday. Carter has started Mother's Day Out and loves it. We are working on helping Carter understand the whole baby thing and he says that we are having a baby and knows her name...we are just not sure that he knows what "baby" means. Carter talks more and more everyday and cracks us up. Carter will walk into Vaughn's office and say "Whatcha doin' Daddy?" and can sing all of "Baa Baa Black Sheep". He is just so happy! Here are a few recent photos of Carter.

Carter actually turns 2 years old in less than a month and I just can't believe he is already such a little person. He makes jokes and cares about others. We can't wait to see him become a great big brother. I vow to post more photos of him and will for sure get his 2nd birthday done as soon as we celebrate!

Carter's First Day of School

Carter as a not-so-enthusiastic Elmo

Carter has found my wooden clog collection and loves to wear them around the house!

I like stuff on my face...

Carter has been given a great deal of freedom lately in the area of food consumption and delivery...the following are the results we often get.  The first picture is the night Carter learned how to "dip fries in ketchup"...he was soon just using his fingers as the ketchup tool.  The second photo is an ice cream cone with homemade ice cream...we all wished we could have eaten it with such enthusiasm.