What's in a name?

Many people have asked me how we choose the name Corbin William Caruso.  He is primarily named after his nana's side of the family and, in part, named after his maternal grandfather.  John's mother's maiden name is Corbin, Ruth was an only child and naming one of her grandchildren Corbin seemed a great way to pass along the Corbin name.   

Using William as a middle name, was a great way to honor several members of the family.  My father is William Howard Rybolt, John's grandfather was William Richardson Corbin and his great grandfather was William Eugene Corbin.  

Corbin doesn't yet realize the importance of his name, he is too worried about his first trip to the doctor for a weight check at 6 days old.  He did 'fail' his first weight check dipping down as low as 7lbs 10 ounces, but finally at 10 days is starting to gain weight again.

One Week Old

On Tuesday Corbin turned one week old.  When we tried to take photos of Corbin to celebrate, Julia did not want to miss out.   

Coming Home

We are happily settling in at home, the second child is (so far) easier than the first primarily because its not as scary to have a newborn and we know the exhaustion is only temporary.  

Julia is adjusting very well to Corbin.  While I was pregnant she referred to him as "baby brother", now if we call him "baby brother" we get immediately corrected to "baby Corbin" (just "Corbin" isn't allowed, she insists on calling him "baby Corbin").  She likes to hold him and tell him in a high pitched-motherly voice that he is 'so cute', but after giving him a little bit of attention she moves back on to her normal play without smothering him too much.

Corbin all settled in for his ride home from the hospital

Meeting his older cousins, Jack and Ella, for the first time.  .

When we arrived home with Corbin, he quickly got to see what's it's like to have an older sister and older cousins.  Ella, Jack, and Julia were wildly and loudly running all over the house and we quickly had to take him off the floor because Jack kept trying to poke him.

While we are celebrating the new addition to our family, today I want to also remember my mom, who passed away 14 years ago today and would have been thrilled to meet and hold her fourth grandchild.

Our New Family

John, Corbin, and I are home from the hospital enjoying our new life as a family of four.  Julia, so far, is adjusting well and is interested in 'Baby Corbin' but not smothering him or jealous of him (yet).  We have taken lots of photos and will try to post more over the next few days, right now Julia and Corbin are both sleeping so Mom and Dad will lay down for some much needed rest.

Our First Official Family Photo

Julia and Corbin

Corbin peacefully sleeping

Hello, Corbin!

Here's Corbin saying "hello" to the world by sticking out his tongue!

Welcome Corbin William Caruso!

Corbin William Caruso
Born Tuesday, September 13, 2011
11:30pm
8 lbs 9 ounces
20 inches long
Photos to come!!!! Yeah Sara and John!!!!!

Operation Baked Potato is a go!!

Sara and John have been calling their unborn baby "two potato" so
"Baked Potato" is their code word for Sara going into labor.
There at the hospital now and Sara's just started on pitocin to induce labor.

Sent from my iPhone

Baby Tomorrow?

Two Potato may actually make an appearance tomorrow!  I now have a scheduled induction tomorrow morning at 7am, if he won't come out on his own we are going to force him out.  Originally it was thought an induction wouldn't be possible because of my previous C-section, but all the stars have aligned and now the induction is possible.

Unfortunately now his actual time of arrival is still up in the air, it could be tomorrow or not until Wednesday, again only Two Potato knows.  The latest update from my appointment today is he is estimated to weigh around 8 pounds.

My sister, Lisa, will occasionally post updates on the blog tomorrow as possible.


Our last outing as a family of 3 was yesterday to local plant nursery to get mums and pumpkins.  John and Julia then had a fun afternoon of planting the mums and digging for worms.

Monkeying Around

It's looking like Two Potato is not much for deadlines, since it is
highly unlikely that he will arrive before midnight tonight.

Julia doesn't know we hoped her baby brother would be here by today
she is just happy to monkey around.

Where's Julia

Two Potato still has not made an appearance, now Julia is getting in
on the hiding game.

Names

John and I still haven't settled on an official name for Two Potato.  Yesterday, we had Julia practice saying the names we are considering just to see if she could pronounce all of them.  After she said all the names, I asked her which name was her favorite.  She proudly said "Tangled".

While that wasn't one of the choices, I guess we have to add that to our list.

Tying Ties

Julia has become an 'expert' at helping daddy with his ties for work.  She helps him pick out and put on his tie every morning.  What she doesn't know is he only actually needs a tie on about once a week, so John leaves the house with her chosen tie on and now has a collection of ties in the glove compartment of his car.

Just Hanging Out

39 Weeks

I am officially 39 weeks pregnant and convinced at this point that Two Potato won't be out until Christmas.  Julia keeps asking if baby brother is ready to come out yet and I just have to say, "not yet" and her response is usually "he is still sleeping and growing".  Yesterday she asked when he was coming out and I told her he would be out in 8 days, she responded "Thursday", so her guess is that he will be born Thursday, September 8th.  

Julia loves to tickle baby brother.

We also got to have a "Poop Party" with Julia on Saturday with Grampa and Grammy Carole.  Julia is potty trained but was still having issues pooping on the potty, so we promised her a poop party when she consistently went on the potty without accidents.  She said she wanted cupcakes, party hats, and friends at her party.