March 2007

Needless to say, with Whitleigh's arrival in the first week of March, it was a busy month! Labor and delivery went very smooth and after 2 long days in the hospital, I was very ready to be home. Ty was able to stay home with us for 5 days which was amazing! My brother was our first visitor. He flew in to Raleigh that weekend for a visit and to help us out. He did a wonderful job of keeping Carter busy while I caught up on some rest and took care of little Miss Whitleigh. Ty and I both forgot how many diapers you really do change in the first week- 86 in 11 days to be exact! Between feeding her, changing her, sleeping and feeding myself- there wasn't much else I accomplished in day. Ty's parents came out the day my brother left and stayed for 6 days which was again very helpful especially with keeping Carter busy. And did he ever keep them busy! He had Grandpa Walsh out playing soccer, riding bikes and throwing the Frisbee every afternoon! He kept Grandma Walsh occupied playing every game in the closet and putting the puzzles together- over and over! He's a very busy kid so needless to say he wasn't the only one that took a nap every afternoon! We all had a good time having our family come after Whitleigh's birth, it was rough the first week without them. I knew it was going to be challenging, but never have I felt so unorganized in all my life! I have always been a very scheduled person and it was hard to get back into a routine- it took several weeks of chaos before I ever felt somewhat in control of our days. We all survived!

The weather started to warm up, so playing outside was Carter's thing this month. He started flying his new kites, learning to ride his bike and introduced himself to the 6 other kids in our cul-de-sak. After 4pm every afternoon the drive ways turn into basketball courts, the yards are baseball diamonds and the cul-de-sak is nothing but a race track for the bikes and scooters. All of the kids are under the age of 6 so they all play really well together and have such a fun time. This month he also learned how to use the painting program on the computer. Ty and I were pretty impressed that he could handle the mouse the way he did. It rapidly progressed into wanting to play on the Playhouse Disney website and before we knew it, he was logging onto the computer, opening up the Internet, pulling down the favorites folder to picking out Playhouse Disney and then starting up the web page. CRAZY! As far as what he thinks of his new little sister... he loves everything about her and is amazed daily at her noises, the way she moves her arms, everything! He asks her all the time if she'll come with him to do things like go potty, play airplanes, and ride his bike. The biggest adjustment for him was the decrease in attention that he had been used to. He didn't understand that when he wanted a drink that he'd need to wait while Mommy finished feeding Whitleigh. It was just hard on him because he never had to wait before- it was just done when he asked. But his love for his little sister was amazing to see and really warmed our hearts!

Whitleigh has been such an amazing baby! She really has a mild personality compared to what we remember about Carter. The only time we really get a good cry out of her is when we change her clothes or get her undressed for the bath. She doesn't like being cold at all. She loves to be held and is a wonderful nurser, which makes my job very easy. We think that she has a lot of Carter's features but seems to have her own look too. I see a lot of her Daddy in her and can't wait to see how much she changes over the next few months. At her 2 week check-up she weighed 8 lbs 10 oz which was about 2.5 lbs heavier than Carter was at that same age and was also an entire 2 inches longer than he was. Two completely different babies- it'll make me a well rounded Mother.