Introducing Cailin Imani

Cailin Imani born at 3:30 pm on May 29, just 11 minutes after making it to the hospital.
Our 1st family portrait.

Cailin's 1st bath

Cailin all soapy during her first bath. She was very unhappy at being wet and cold. It felt good hearing her cry though. I can't believe we have another baby!

Cailin getting her hair shampooed.

big sister, Ariel

Ariel loves her new baby sister. She is incredibly gentle and always wants to hold Cailin. When Cailin starts crying, Ariel beats me to going to the baby. She talks and kisses Cailin frequently. Ariel's latest word that she uses very often is "adorable". Everything Cailin does is adorable. One of the nurses taking care of us, tells me of her having a son and daughter that are 12 years apart in age. Although the son is so much older than the daughter, they have always been very close and the son looks out for his little sister. I believe Ariel will look out for her little sister.

4 Days Old

Cailin is the most alert baby I have ever seen. When she is awake, she spends time just looking around at her surroundings. During her fussy times, if you bring her close and start to talk to her, she instantly quiets down and gives you the most perplexing look. She gives you a look that seems to ask, "What are you saying?"
On this photo, Cailin reminds me so much of Ariel- they share the same head shape, eyes and nose.

Smile Cailin

For the last couple of days, we've been trying to catch some good shots of Cailin when she is awake. On this day, I tried to get a few pictures of her before bed, but she wanted to eat and go to sleep. She cried in every picture except this one. On this picture, her eyes are closed because Jerry forgot to turn the flash off.

Park Pets

This is the park near our house. It has a big pier were you can go out and look over the lake or I have seen people fishing there also. Ariel likes to play at this park because it has a huge playground.

This park is bordered by a lake. My mother and Ariel were in the park walking the track around the lake when they spotted an alligator. Ariel then called to tell me that they see an alligator in the lake. We have heard stories from neighbors that there were alligators in the lake, but we just didn't believe they could be very big. After they came back, we grabbed the camera and went back to the park. I couldn't believe my eyes, right on the edge of the lake was this huge gator! Ariel and I stayed back and Jerry, as you could have guessed, ventured closer for a picture.
(make sure you click on the photos to enlarge the picture)
More people came to watch the alligator, which probably disturbed him because he swam off and disappeared underwater. It was a sight to see! Jerry proposed that we go and get raw meat to feed the alligator. I am sure you can guess my response to his proposal.

Bird Watching

After the alligator went underwater, we then began watching the birds along the edge of the lake. We were hoping to get a shot of the alligator feeding.

St Pete Yacht Club

Ariel's Level 4 Gymnastic Awards Banquet (she now is a level 5 gymnast) was at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club. The team was awarded individual plaques by their coaches for winning 1st place at the State Meet in Daytona back in December. This was a first for the gym. Ariel was one of the gymnast that "swept" (took 1st place in all four events, including all around gymnast) for her age group. Congratulations Ariel!
Her team was also presented with a big banner that has each gymnasts name on it and will be hung in the gym were they practice.
Ariel with her coach, Carlee and two other gymnast from her team.

11 more days to June 5

May 24- At Ariel's Gymnastic Award's Banquet and 12 more days (11 more days at the time of this post) until we meet little Cailin Imani. I look at pictures of me and can hardly believe I am this big. I'm thankful that I don't always feel this big though. As we near the end, I can't believe that the time is nearing and we will have another kid in the house. It's been a really long time were we have been a family of 3- just Jerry Ariel and I. We are all excited though! And I am thankful that this journey is almost over.

Swimming Time!

After the award's ceremony, it was swim time!