a week ago today...

i gave birth.

i gave birth to a beautiful, perfect, sweet baby boy.

seven days ago i became a mommy, something i didn't think i was ready for but soon came to realize that id really been waiting for my whole life to be.

before carter was born, i was so worried that id be one of those women who don't love their baby immediately or that he'd be an "ugly" baby. i could not have been more wrong.

as soon as i laid eyes on carter brian, i memorized his face and was in awe that kenny and i created such a beautiful life. okay, maybe i'm romanticizing it a little bit--or rather, don't really remember how it all actually went down in those first few minutes, but there are a few things that i remember for certain and hope that i never forget:

(1) my first glimpse of carter: his mohawk

(2) laughing in between pushes and praising the epidural i'd received

(3) watching my stomach as his body left my body

(4) the softness of his skin

while i was laboring at home with kenny, i told kenny that he better enjoy this baby because there was NO WAY that i was going to do this again. about a minute after carter was born, i informed kenny that i would do it again, as many times as he wanted, now that i've experienced childbirth with an epidural, and now that i've seen, smelled, and held something only him and i can make.
it hasn't been all puppy dogs and rainbows, but it's definitely been worth it. i want to keep this post all positive, so i'll save my breastfeeding woes and sleep deprivation for another post.

one of my most favorite things to do with carter is to smell his yawns. i know it sounds crazy, but i've never smelled something so sweet in all my life.

here's carter and daddy celebrating carter's "one week birthday". it was all daddy's idea, which makes me smile and count how lucky i am for having such a wonderful husband and great father for our son.