In early May of 2006, we found out that we were expecting number 4. We were pretty excited. We had planned the whole thing due to my systematic way of doing things ;) so we now would have 2 birthdays in September, 2 in November and this new little addition would make 2 birthdays in December. It was going to be a crazy time in the Stuart household with all of the Fall and Winter holidays but that's how we roll. All or nothing with our family . . .
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| Coming home from the hospital |
We were still living in San Antonio and Joe was just finishing his third year of Residency. The pregnancy went well. I did get sick for a couple of weeks but other than that, things were progressing smoothly. I was busy chasing my other 3 children and we had a cute little energetic Beagle named Bandit that kept us hopping.
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| What a big helper and good big brother! |
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| My two C's |
Starting in July, Joe had a 3 month rotation planned at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Our plan was to go with him for 6 weeks of it before school started at the end of August. We decided that with a new baby coming and a long trip coming up, the best thing would be to sell our dog. We sold Bandit to a young cute couple and hoped that they would give him a good home.
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| We are exhausted! |
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| My girls |
I finished up my doctor's appointments and ultra-sounds announcing that we were having a girl (Yay! another systematic way to even out our family) a couple of weeks before the trip. A few days before we were set to leave, I got a call from the hospital saying that they wanted to do another ultra-sound. The previous images had shown that the baby had a heart defect and they wanted to double-check and make sure that she was okay. They told me that I had to cancel my trip and stay around town for precautionary measures. Of course, I was freaking out that another one of my children had a problem. I went back in for more extensive ultra-sounds but everything looked all right. They told me to go ahead and go with Joe but that I would have another one when I got back and gave me all of the information for the OB department at the Academy, just in case.
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| Let me see those glasses, Grandpa! |
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| Double Trouble |
We headed to Colorado Springs and everything went fine for the rest of the summer. When we got back to Texas, the ultra-sounds were perfect and our baby looked healthy and was growing rapidly. Things went smoothly during the fall and my due date on December 4 was approaching quickly. I wasn't contracting very often and knew that this little girl was going to be late. I remember walking up and down along the curb around our neighborhood with my "Young Women" during our Christmas activity. When they weren't giggling at me, they were joining me in the up and down motion.
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| Like Brother, Like Sister |
One funny story right before I had Carlee was when Clark tricked Uncle Charlie. Charlie was always calling Clark on the phone pretending to be a radio DJ and if Clark answered a question correctly, he would win a prize. This happened a few times before Clark caught on to the trick and then turned it around on him claiming that Uncle Chuck had won a million dollars! The best time was on Sunday, December 3rd. Clark called Charlie and told him that I was in labor and that he needed to come get the kids because Joe was taking me to the hospital. We had no idea that Clark had placed the phone call so we were quite surprised to open the door to Uncle Charlie on Sunday night. He was even more surprised to see that I wasn't passed out in labor but smiling when I came to the door. It was a great joke and Clark definitely raised the bar in their little competition.
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| Bunnies scrunch their noses like this, Mom! |
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| Can you do this? |
On Thursday, December 7th, I woke up at 4:00 a.m. to contractions and back pain. I knew that it was time. I woke Joe up and while he showered I packed a bag and waited downstairs for him. It was the longest shower of his life! Things were getting rather intense and quickly. When we arrived at the hospital just after 5:00 a.m., he dropped me off and I slowly walked to the elevator, rode up to Labor and Delivery and waited for him to meet me. I was sitting on the end table with really strong contractions while he called the nurse to come open the door. She came, took one look at my face, and said that I had better hurry and get changed so the doctor could check me.
When the doctor checked me, I was dilated to 9 cm and ready to go. They wheeled me into delivery where the anesthesiologist was already waiting. I rolled over, got my epidural (which actually worked!) and immediately didn't feel the pain anymore. I rolled back over and was ready to push. Two pushes later, Carlee came out at 6:20 a.m. It was the easiest and quickest delivery that I had ever had and she looked fantastic weighing 8 pounds 13 ounces. Luckily my water didn't break this time or we might have had a baby in our car! We had to give her name that started with C because Clark wanted to have someone else in the family with a "C" name. We already had 2 J's and 2 K's. Again, very systematic. The choices were Cassidy and Carlee but Carlee won and it fits her to a tea.
Carlee is definitely a diva and has been since she was born. She was also different than my other 3. She loved to be held all the time. There were many times that I was cooking dinner with a baby on my hip. She was my most fussy baby and was only happy when I was holding her. She was my only baby to have a pacifier and she only used it about 6 months (thank goodness!) when I couldn't hold her or get her to stop crying. She was a great sleeper though just like my other 3. She started sleeping through the night at about 6 weeks just like her brothers and sister. Carlee loved attention and started showing off for the cameras at an early age. She is a busy-body and I constantly had to watch her. She was not content to sit and play with her toys like my other kids had been. She loved to be moving and checking everything out.
She is still my little shadow and loves to do everything that I do and go everywhere that I go. She helps me with dishes, cooking, laundry, and errands. She used to ask to go to Target every day. Now she asks to just stay home so we can play Barbies, read stories, color, or make something. She is a great cheerleader for her siblings always yelling loudly for them at school functions, sports games, performances, or recitals.
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| I'm hungry! |
Carlee is very animated in her facial expressions, movements, and speech. She talked really well at an early age. When she was about 18 months, she could articulate sentences and most people could understand her. She has a creative imagination and loves to ask questions. She loves to answer the phone and is my little secretary when we are home. She also loves to call Daddy all day long even when he can't talk to her. She will keep calling him until he answers or sternly tells her that he will call her back when he isn't with a patient.
Carlee loves to play dress-ups and paint her nails. She loves to play with her friends and put on make-up. She wears sparkly shoes to the stores and fills purses with all kinds of treasures that she "needs" for shopping trips. She loves to tell people what to do and give them her ideas. She also loves to kiss people. We are working on this since Luke and her are practically married due to all of her kissing on him. She loves to snuggle but can't sit still long enough to actually snuggle. She talks non-stop with questions, stories, pretend play, and just telling us things.
Carlee definitely keeps us going in our family. She is such a sweetheart and we love her so much. Everyone laughs at her and she just basks in the attention. We are so blessed by her sweet spirit and personality. We love you, Coco!
