Please meet my very two best friends Laura and Tasha.  This is the frist time each of them got to hold our sweet girl. 

Here is a wonderful letter I received from a woman that knows my road a little to well.  Lorri Brown is the proud mama to four beautiful children and three of them were preemies (one set of twins).  She has been a wonderful inspiration to me and reminds me often I can get through this.  Lorri and I have actually never met each other because she lives so far but our bond is strong and soon enough we will get that chance to meet.  She and I became close friends while I worked for FAS she was one our vendors.  I am lucky to have had the chance to work with such a great woman and I am glad to call her my friend.  Lorri, thank you for your kind words and continued support you are amazing!  Love you!


PS Caroline is up to 4 bottles, 5 lbs and 3 oz.  Our sweet girl is working hard to come home!  Half way there!




Casey, Tom, and not so itty bitty Caroline:
I have known you Casey for over a year now, although we have never met in person we have an amazing bond and friendship many states apart. I have seen you grow so much as a person in this last year, from your meeting of Tom, a very exciting and eventful pregnancy, to the amazing miracle we have all grown to love, Caroline. I am so blessed to know you and love you and so proud to call you my friend. You have been there for me through some tremendous milestones in my life, and I have followed yours. You are so wise beyond your years and offer such great insight and advice that has helped me overcome a lot. I am so thrilled for your family at how well "our" Caroline has been doing. She has by the way become all of our little girl, in a very special way. I will forever love you and cherish our friendship. I am so glad that you created the blog to keep us up to date and sharing such a special, private and intimate moment of the life of your little angel. Tom has proved to be an amazing man to you, and you deserve it, you deserve the very best, you compliment each other so well. It is rare to find your perfect match, and yet you have been so blessed to do so. Thank you again friend for never judging me and being there. We may not talk every day or even every week, but that goes to show how strong our bond is that we never miss a beat. You always speak your mind and from your heart and I value that. I love you dear friend for who you are, always real, I love you Tom for taking such wonderful care of my friend and loving her as she deserves, and Caroline oh Caroline, I love you beyond words, you are a perfect addition to all of our worlds, you have made my life a brighter place and I cannot wait to give you sweet kisses one day little bit. Thank you Caroline for fighting the fight and making your mom and dad oh so proud, and showing mommy unconditional love. You were born into the lives of 2 of the most amazing people ever, you could not be more loved or wanted little one. I love you guys!

Hello my name is Caroline and I...

Like to pull out my tube in my nose...

and...

I like to get it put back in...

Here I am with my mom...

Here I am with my dad...

OH AND PS I CAN NOW WEAR BIG GIRL DIAPERS...

AND I WEIGH 5 LBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY MOM AND DAD ARE SO EXCITED BECAUSE IT MEANS I CAN COME HOME SOON! 

We had a great day!  All of these things and she is taking 3 bottles a day now.  She took a bottle at 2pm today and then at 5pm (both her scheduled feeding times) and she breast fed for 20 min at 5 too!  My big girl only needs to get to 8 bottles or breast feedings per day and she gets to come home!!!  I am so very excited.  Today her pack and play came in so we are getting our bedroom setup and ready to go.  She has to do a car seat study but we are probably going to need to buy a new "preemie" size car seat.  I will see if she fits in the pretty one Tom's parents bought us but I think she may be a little too small length wise.  Our NICU is very specific on what it takes to discharge and we of course will follow their directions.

I will tentatively be having my shower do over on Saturday July 28th at Laura Herrin's home.  I have had people ask what I need so here are my thoughts.

I will not need many preemie items because she's such a chunk!  I have purchased quite a few preemie out fits so I think they will get me through until she grows into newborns.  Diapers of course are always great.  All sizes.  I am sure we will need them.  Receiving blankets and cloth diapers for burp cloths will be great!  I am still registered at target and walmart.  I may have to update it some.

A great day for Caroline and a very happy mama and daddy!  Lots of love and as always thank you for the support and prayers.

xoxo,
Casey, Tom and Our Sweet Caroline

Strangers in the NICU... Caroline Meet Grandma and Grandpa Anderson!

Tom's parents came up to see our sweet girl last night.  They were ecstatic to get to hold her!  Thank you to both of them for all they have done from helping with watching Mikayla and Kirstin to driving us around.  We would have been lost with out them!

BATH TIME!

She weighs 4 lbs 13 oz!

So the road goes on forever but this party will end.  Tom and I are very proud of our chunk.  Caroline is 5 weeks old, growing and doing good with bottle feeding.  As you can see from the pictures I got to give her a bath yesterday.  She loves the water but is not crazy about washing her chubby parts.  She is a very laid back baby and doesn't cry much.  She's not crazy about diaper change or taking her temperature but hardly ever fusses past that. 

She is up to two bottles a day!!  We are looking at about two more weeks if I were to guess with the progress she is making.  Every time she gets the bottle we practice breast feeding too.  She wears out very quickly and it's important for her to get all of her food via bottle so we can get her out of there so I only breast feed for a short period first.

Our sweet girl is growing big and I can't wait for all of you to meet her.  We have decided that for my shower it will not be a meet the baby type event but I am shooting for a guest appearance for a very limited time.   It will depend on how long she has been home and how many people are there.  She can not be around too much noise and it is critical that she not be around anyone who is sick.  We will have to play this by ear but I hope that she can come for a very short period of time.  I will however be happy to have visitors to the house a few days after we get her home.

I am excited to say that I am doing very well too.  My c-section wound is almost completely closed and with out my wound vac I am doing 500 times better.  It did it's job but darn it was a pain in my butt... or belly in this case.  I feel like a person again.  I'm even wearing pre-pregnancy clothes again too!  YEH!

Thank you all as always for the support and prayers.

Love,

Casey, Tom and Our Sweet Caroline

Photo Bomb!

Hello everyone!  I don't have much of an update so I think I'll just photo share.  Caroline is doing great!!  Just growing which is exactly what she needs to do to come home!  A few more weeks and she will be home!  Keep up the good work baby girl!

Tonight's star... Well always Caroline but also Judy aka Mama aka Grandma (Not sure what she will call her yet) Our first person to get to hold her beside Tom and myself.  She has done so much for us and since this is her first grand kid we wanted her to be the first to hold her.  She couldn't look up for the pictures because she just couldn't take her eyes off our sweet girl.

Here is Caroline in her open crib.  Go baby Go!!!  Holding her own temperature!

Mama and her 4.57 pound chunky monkey! 

Baby girl getting her first bottle!  She took the whole 41 ml... most babies only do about 10 on their first time.  Tom uploaded a video on his facebook page where I tell the nurse... "I told you she would take the whole thing.."  Like duh she's my fiesty kid!  She's got her mama's will and her daddies smarts!  She's ready to come home and cuddle!

So in the next few weeks I need to decide on a shower and or get approval from her pediatrician/NICU doctors for a meet and greet type shower.  I of course canceled my shower on the 9th of June because I was a little busy :).  I'll have Laura and Hailey (My awesome hostess) let all of you know the details.  Be sure to watch for an invite via facebook.  I am not sure we will send out full shower invites a second time. 

Thank you as always for the continued support and prayers.  Caroline is rocking the house in NICU 3.  Keep growing baby girl!

xoxo,

Casey, Tom and Our Sweet Caroline

Holly smokes it's hot outside!
Well to start with my dad broke both bones in his lower right leg last night.  : (  OUCH!  Had to have EMS come to take him to the hospital where they sent him HOME!!  Splint and a pat on the back that said good luck.  It came time for him to go to the orthopedic surgeon and he had to have more help getting in the car.  Fire dept call number two... two fire men later and he was in the car for the doctor to send him home to suffer until Friday where he will have a rod in place.  So poor Daddy.

Here is an update on Caroline... She on the other hand is doing amazing!   They have move her to NICU 3 where this chunky monkey weighs...


3.14 lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


As I have said before go girl get your chunk on!  So from 3.11 yesterday to 3.14 today she's 50 grams away from getting to come out of her current bed to a normal crib!  The joys of NICU 3 is that we can come and go more freely and take her in and out more on our time.  I am sure that they will still be closed during shift change but this will help with my tough schedule.  The unfortunate thing about my dad's leg is that my mom will now be tied up with helping care for him so I have lost one of my main supporters.  I am not sure how that will effect us but we will work through.  I have had some people come through for us lately and help with dinners or taking the girls and even some rides for me!  I still have one spot on my visitation list... any takers?

More to come soon.   Keep an eye out on my facebook for more pictures of my super sweet beautiful girl.

xoxo,

Casey, Tom and Baby Caroline

"If you raise your children to feel that they can accomplish any goal or task they decide upon, you will have succeeded as a parent and you will have given your children the greatest of all blessings."

Brian Tracy

Look at my pretty head band...  I'm growing so big I can wear big girl things!

Mommy caught Daddy cuddled with one of my scent clothes.  Mommy carries these around tucked into her bra and my nurses place them by me when I sleep.  It helps me remember what my mommy smells like!

THREE POUNDS ONE OUNCE... Yeah I squashed that goal...   Today I weighed THREE POUNDS FIVE OUNCES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm getting out of this place as soon as I can!

I tinkled on Daddy... I wanted him to know how much I love him so I made it in the shape of a heart!

These are pictures of my big girl room... I can't wait to come home!!

Hello visitors!  This message is brought to you by a much happier mama!  I am struggling with PPD and have been given some medications to help with all of the things on my plate.  Although I am not normally a fan of taking medications, this is 100% needed if I am going to keep up with my beautiful daughter.  I am also trying out something that will help with milk production.  So far so good.  I am staying home a bit more now although super hard to leave her I need to be here and resting too.  Monday, Wednesday and Friday I spend all day at the hospital.  The rest of the week I try to visit twice a day.  It's ok for me to be gone because I know she is there and growing!  Tomorrow we meet with the speech therapist... hopefully Caroline will get to start taking a bottle soon!  She evaluated her already but Caroline isn't quite ready.  Soon though!  We have a had a much better end to our week than we started.   More to come keep the grow prayers coming!!

A special thanks to Kelly (the girls mama) she came down and has done so much for us.  She went to Costco and helped stock our fridge, bought me a boppy pillow, took us all to a nice dinner out, spent time with the girls and all of this on top of the beautiful flowers she brought me the day I delivered.  I can not say that our relationship is normal because when people hear she is so helpful they ask "that's his ex wife?"  The answer is yes and I will scream it from the roof tops that we are a village raising children.  Our friendship started because of the girls but I can say that she has given me the gift of step daughters and never once given me a hard time about being "The new girl".  I wanted to say thank you so everyone knows how much it means to me that we can count on each other.  So thank you Kelly from Tom and I both!  Congrats on your engagement,  I know Richard will be amazing in your life!