Trouble!

I know I've said this before, but Caroline is getting into everything!! She loves to find a basket of stuff and pull everything out! She has such a cute little personality and I'm constantly grabbing the camera to catch her in the act. Here's some proof!

Quick update: Caroline weighs 20 lbs now and my arms are getting a serious workout everyday! She is saying "doggie" (still no mama), dancing when one of her toys plays a song (basically bouncing up and down) and trying to clap (putting her hands together and looking at them as if they will clap by themselves!). She is such a happy baby and giggles at everything!

Bath Time!!

Caroline LOVES her bath time! She splashes and laughs and has a great time. One of her first bath toys was a little yellow fish that squeaks when you squeeze it. It's still her favorite, but now she holds it in her mouth so that she can have her hands free to splash. It is so funny to watch! She also loves when I put some bubbles in the tub and tries to eat them.

We've come a long way! At one week old, she wasn't much of a fan of bath time!!

Meeting Santa

On Sunday afternoon we went to the Operations Group Children's Christmas Party. Even though Caroline is way to young to enjoy the activities, or even remember it, I wanted to get her picture with Santa. The party is really fun for the older kids. Santa arrives in an F-16 (he almost fell trying to climb out!!) and hands out toys to all the kids, there is a bouncy castle, games, cookie decorating, etc. I volunteered at one of the activities and Sean took care of Caroline. Even though she couldn't participate much, she really enjoyed watching the kids run around on sugar highs.

Caroline's first meeting with Santa went pretty well. First she smiled at him and sat in his lap for a few minutes. Then she decided that she'd had enough, started crying, and reached up to Daddy hoping he'd rescue her. I was a bad mommy, and laughed and took pictures of her crying. I know she'll enjoy looking at them one day!!!

Getting into everything!

Caroline recently discovered that there are more interesting things outside of the living room (which is where we usually play). So she has been exploring as much of the house on her hands and knees as she can. I finally baby-proofed most of it and closed the doors to the rest. It's fun to watch her check it all out. Today she crawled over to the front door, looked around, and was like "cool". Then crawled away. Atleast, in my mind that is what she was thinking :) Here are some pictures of her adventures.

Let me in!

Just visiting the dogs!

This next one is so funny! Tonight I was sitting on the couch trying to take a couple quick bites of my dinner in between feeding Caroline and getting her ready for bed. I looked over and saw this...

I still crack up when I look at it! Guess you had to be there :) (Ignore my dusty picture frame, gross!!)

Caroline Update

WOW! Caroline has grown SO MUCH in the last month! She turns 9 months on Dec 13th, but so many changes have happened lately I felt the need to give you an update a few days early!

When we left for Thanksgiving Caroline had three teeth, she now has SEVEN!! She cut three of them during the week of Thanksgiving alone! I think she's working on an eighth too!

On Nov 24th she officially crawled for the first time! Gigi Penrod and I were the only ones to witness! Unfortunately, we traumatized Caroline by clapping, cheering and jumping up and down, and she immediately started crying. It took her a while to do it again, and when she finally did she stopped and looked at us to see what we would do. Now, she is crawling all over our house and getting into everything!

Caroline now weighs 19 1/2 pounds! She is eating more and more finger foods: (all of these torn into little pieces) grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken, pancakes, toast, pasta, etc. Recently, I made beef stroganoff and pureed it a little and she LOVED IT! Gigi Penrod gave us a great book called "100 Top Baby Purees". It is divided by age, and the last stage, 9-12 months, isn't actually pureed. It's more soft foods like pasta and rice dishes. It's really inspired me to expand Caroline's diet (hence the introduction of beef stroganoff). Yesterday, I made a mango and yogurt recipe from the book and she loved it! I even had a little taste and it was yummy! I think Caroline eats better than Sean and I!

On a not so exciting note, Caroline has her first official cold! I thought it was just teething, but she's been very congested, snotty (yuk) and fussy. Maybe it is the tooth, but she's never felt this bad before. I feel so bad for her! (and us, she isn't sleeping well at all!!)

Here are some pictures of our BIG baby!

Getting into trouble. You don't have to just sit in the exersaucer to have fun!

Then she got stuck and it wasn't so fun anymore!

Showing dada her new lovey..a sweet little lamb. She holds this when I'm rocking her to sleep, and sometimes cuddles it while she sleeps. So sweet!

Thanksgiving!

We had an AWESOME Thanksgiving in San Antonio with Sean's parents! It was a much needed vacation and it was great to spend time with family!

My first Aggie t-shirt

One of the first gifts I was given when I was prego, was a baby Aggie t-shirt (of course!!!). It was a gift from my dad, class of '71!! It was 6-9 months, but I remember thinking that it looked HUGE compared to all of the newborn and 0-3 months clothes. It ended up working out perfectly for this season and Caroline wears it on saturdays while we cheer on the Aggies (although it obviously hasn't been much of a good luck charm this season!!!). Here is a picture of Caroline wearing it 2 weekends ago. If you look closely you will see that it BARELY fits over her big belly!! It was difficult even getting it on her! I'm not sure if it's going to make it to the big A&M vs. t.u. game over Thanksgiving, especially since she gained 2 pounds over the last 2 weeks!!! I may have to order a new one!!!

Trip, part 3 (last!)

On November 2nd, Caroline and I woke up bright and early (4 am!) and drove to Jacksonville, FL to catch a 12:30 flight to Houston! This was a very special part of our trip because we surprised my dad for his 60th birthday!!!

My mom picked us up from the airport and we hurried home before my dad returned from his weekly Sunday golf game. We hid in the guest room and waited until my mom came to get us. My dad was sitting on the back porch and Mom asked “Are you ready for your present?”, then she walked out carrying Caroline! He was surprised to say the very least! That night we went out to eat with MY grandparents, aunt and cousins. It was so much fun spending time with these wonderful family members who we don’t get to see very often! We were only in TX for 2 and ½ days, so I apologize to everyone we were not able to visit! We will be back at Christmas for a much longer stay!!

Caroline and the birthday boy!!

Caroline with her great-grandparents

Mom and Dad

Me with my aunt Laurie (people often think we're sisters! I didn't have sister, so she pretty much was!!)

Caroline sat next to her great-grandpa, Pawpaw, at dinner and she was so facinated by him! She kept grabbing his arm, it was sooo cute!!!

Caroline, Tyler and Thomas (second cousins)

Thomas feeding Caroline. They really got along!!!

Caroline is 8 months!!!

Caroline is 8 months old today!! She is getting so big and everyday there is something new! A new tooth popped up yesterday (her third) and she continues to get closer and closer to crawling. WOW!!!

Trip, part 2

After meeting up with Sean's parents in North Carolina, we headed south to Niceville, FL. We visited our good friends The Lords. Kate and Kevin were very good friends of ours when we were assigned to Spangdahlem AB, Germany. Now they have Jack (almost 2) AND they just welcomed baby Elizabeth (she was still in the belly while we were there)! It was such a great visit and Caroline just loved playing with Jack!! We were there on Halloween so the kids got to dress up. So much fun!!!

Caroline in her pumkin bib on Halloween

Jack eating the ghost cookie I bought him. I think more ended up on his mouth than in it!!!

Caroline was less than thrilled in her flower costume, but she looked really cute!!!

Walking with Kate and Jack

Jack reading to Caroline. He's going to be such an AWESOME big bro!!!

Thanks for having us!! Welcome baby Ellie!!

Our trip, part 1

On Oct 24th Sean left for Las Vegas for a two week TDY (temporary duty). I decided that Caroline and I had been hanging around our house for way too long, so we packed up and headed out for a two week trip that included seeing FOUR different states!! It was some serious traveling, but well worth it!!!

First, we drove up to Montreat, North Carolina. It is a very small town about 20 minutes away from Asheville. We met Caroline’s grandparents, Gigi and Grandad Penrod (aka Susan and Mike), at the home of a friend who was nice enough to let us stay there by ourselves. It was this family’s second home, but very well outfitted with everything we could ever need. The house is up in the mountains with tons of windows that look out on the beautiful views of changing leaves. It was very cold while we were there and even snowed a little on our last day!! We had fun catching up and playing with Caroline in front of the fireplace. It was soooo relaxing; I didn’t want to ever leave!! But we had more places to visit and people to see! Here are some pictures from part one of our travels!!

Eating lunch at the Bistro on the Biltmore property

Susan and Mike at the Biltmore (Caroline was asleep)

Cuddling with Grandad after her bath in front of the fire

With Gigi

Seeing snow for the first time!!!

Warming up in front of the fire after playing in the snow

Caroline's first tea party at an English tea room in Asheville. We had afternoon tea and Caroline loved tasting the cake, scones and cream!!! Such a girlie girl :)

Thanks Mike and Susan!! We had such a great time!!

Caroline update

So sorry we haven't updated in a while!! Caroline and I just returned last week from some serious traveling! I will post some pictures from our trip very soon.

Caroline is growing so fast and is changing every day! She has mastered sitting up for long periods of time and can pick up toys and play without falling over. We are now encouraging her to crawl and she is determined!!! Just last friday she began pushing herself up onto hands and knees and rocking a little bit. Then on Sunday during naptime (well, she was supposed to be napping but was playing instead) I went to check on her and she was sitting up in her crib!! This was the first time she had sat up from laying down herself!!

She is no longer my little baby!! In fact, she weighs 17.3 lbs which is a great improvment for us!! She is starting to grow out of some of her 6-9 month clothes!! She turns 8 months on Thursday...where has the time gone!!

BIG milestone!!

Caroline has been working hard at sitting up on her own. She can sit by herself and play with a toy for a minute or two, before she wobbles and falls face first. We are also encourging her to crawl, but she chooses to roll around the living room instead. She gets into everything that is ankle to shin high!!! I've seriously had to babyproof everything at that level!! Anyway, so tonight she REALLY surprised me!!

I was sitting on the floor next to the coffee table, and she was sitting in my lap. She spotted the remote control on top of the table (she's obsessed with that thing, go figure!). She then proceeded to grab the side of the coffee table, and PULL HERSELF UP TO STANDING!!! I couldn't believe it! I was so impressed! I guess I'm surprised because I assumed she would master sitting and crawling first before standing, but I was wrong!!

Good job Caroline!

Pumpkin Patch

We visited a small, local pumpkin patch over the weekend with our friends Dana and Ryan (16 months). It was fun to see Caroline trying to figure out what these big orange things were!! It was also interesting to see Ryan and Caroline interacting for the first time!! They were both playing with the straw (Caroline was trying to eat it actually) and Ryan offered her a few of his pieces. So cute!!!