Caroline/Bekah and singing

My girls are growing up in a quasi musical household. Music is in their DNA...or at least in half of their DNA. You see, Tammy grew up in a musical home - no question about it. Her dad was the band director for Southeast High in Bradenton, FL for decades. He had a Ph.D. in Music before such things even existed at most universities. Everyone in her family sang, played an instrument, or both. The Jackson Family was a modern day Partridge Family - and proud of it!!!

This is in direct contrast to my upbringing. In the Norwood family, we struggle (note the present tense) to fight our way through "Happy Birthday" each year. Not that we don't like music - we just typically find ourselves comfortably seated in the audience at concerts, not on the stage. even though I am increasingly moving closer to the stage by deepening my guitar playing skills, I am still much more confident sitting in the audience.

Forgive the trip down memory lane...but I distinctly recall one Christmas when I dating Tammy and her mom packed everyone in the van and took us around the city singing Christmas carols. This would NEVER happen in the Norwood family. N.E.V.E.R. To this day I still think that Christmas day was part of a Jackson family hazing ritual or weed-out process to see if I really loved Tammy.

Anyhow...back to Caroline. So she's growing up in a quasi musical family. She is constantly surrounded by music - either from her mom singing or from her daddy who is listening or playing the guitar. Over the last few weeks, Caroline has begun to sing along with us. In the car, her favorite song to sing along with - hands down - is Hosanna by Hillsong. As a father, it is nothing short of AMAZING to hear her sing "Hosannnnnnna, Hosannnnna! Hosanna in the highest!!!!" Tammy is also head-over-heels for "Last Train Home" by FM Static...and Caroline sings along to the chorus on that song too. At bed time, Caroline has learned the first and last verses to Amazing Grace (something that daddy has taught to both girls) and sings along loudly right before bed.

For posterity's sake...

Bekah's first song that she sang in the car was "hey there delilah" by Plain White T's. I remember how blown away I was to hear her sing that song for the first time. I think I almost wrecked the car turning around to see her sing for the first time!!! today Bekah sang Defender during church. It killed me to praise God side-by-side with my daughter this morning.

Proverbs 23:24-25 - The father of a righteous child has great joy; a man who fathers a wise son rejoices in him. May your father and mother rejoice; may she who gave you birth be joyful!

Caroline Faith Norwood

After three solid weeks of on-again/off-again false labor and pre-labor, Tammy perfectly timed Caroline's birth - 3:12 PM on Saturday, September 13, 2008 - Caroline's EXACT due date!

Furthermore, it was shortly after the USF-Kansas game and in a perfect span of hours when her sisters (Jami and Teri) were able to join for the birth.

By the stats, Caroline weighed in at 8 lbs. 7 oz. and 21.5" long. She came out with a full head of dirty blonde hair, very similar to Bekah.
On to the pictures!

Still Waiting for Caroline; Wait is finally over for football!

So it is Thursday night, and Caroline is still holding tight. Tammy is still having occassional contractions, but nothing consistent. We even went on some long walks and ate spicy food today to no avail.

Tammy goes back to the OB tomorrow, so we should get an official update on her "statistics." Stay tuned for tomorrow's update...

In an unrelated update, the College Football season starts tonight! Praise God! The period of months between the NBA Finals and the start of college football is hands-down the most unevental time of year (at least for those of us not into MLB). To celebrate the start of the college football season, we bought Bekah a Gator jersey! Pics will come after this weekend when she gets to sport her new Gator outfit when the Gators beat Hawaii in the Swamp!

Waiting...

Last Friday, 8/22, Tammy had her 37th week visit to the OB/GYN - supposed to be a routine weekly visit leading up to her due date on 9/13. Well, surprise, surprise! Tammy was 3 cm dialated and 50% effaced. I'll spare you the details on the compliments that the Dr. gave Tammy on her cervix, but needless to say, the 9/13 due date was looking highly improbable.

On Saturday Tammy had irregular but frequent contractions - they weren't "painful" but they were "uncomfortable."

On Sunday the small contractions continued although Tammy got some rest and did her best not to bring the birth on just yet. The Dr. wanted Caroline to wait at least until 38.5 weeks.

Monday was a non-event...the only time the contractions were significant was after Tammy did some relatively heavy lifting after shopping.

Stay tuned - Caroline is getting ready...