Father's Day, Swimming, Birthday Party...Oh My!

We've had a busy week! We celebrated John's 1st Father's Day by going to eat at The Blue Crab Crabhouse where he got to eat steamed blue crabs by smacking them with a hammer. It's something he's always wanted to do! Thank goodness for Google on my iPhone that we used to make sure he was doing it correctly. :-) Caroline was a really good girl during our long dinner, even though she had a little cold. On Wednesday, one of my best friends from grad school, Melanie, and her 2 boys came up for a visit. We had a great time hanging out! Wyatt, her 4 year old, was so good and sweet with Caroline. It was so cute to watch him playing with her, and she was totally in love with him. Hudson, her 9 month old, wasn't feeling too hot...well, I take that back, he was feeling very hot because the poor little guy kept running a high, mysterious fever. We did get to go swimming with my friend, Melissa, and her roomie and niece on Thursday before Mel had to cut her visit short. Today we went to a birthday party for my friend's little girl, Maddie. It was a lot of fun! There was a big pool, kiddie pool, water slide, and bouncy house. Too bad Caroline is still too little for all the fun stuff! But I had a great time hanging out with some more friends from work and all of their kiddos! Wish I could rest up tomorrow, but I'm getting my hair done (I know, I know--poor me! Ha!). We've got a super busy week coming up. Stay tuned!

all ready for John's Father's Day dinner (yes, that is her first official bow in her hair...didn't last too long since it was barely hanging in there!)

John and his baby girl :-)

Hudson & Caroline--had to give them our sunglasses to get them to cooperate for the picture!

Maddie, the birthday girl, and her mommy, Karin

so super impressed with Karin's cake!

Michael was trying to help Caroline figure out this whole crawling thing

6 Month Check-Up (& some more fun things!)

Caroline had her 6 month check-up yesterday, and I think has officially decided she does NOT like going to the doctor. She pitched a nice, loud fit when Dr. Mary was examining her! She does not like to lay down (unless it's her decision to do so) and does not like to be messed with. Thankfully, Dr. Mary has 6 boys of her own, so she's used to loud little ones. Caroline practically leapt into my arms the moment Dr. Mary helped her sit up. I was a proud mama when the doctor said she could tell that Caroline is read to a lot because of her ability to carefully track the pen Dr. Mary was moving around while we were talking. I have always been an avid reader and hope that Caroline will be as well. As soon as I got my rocking chair in the nursery, I started reading to my belly, and now we read in the bathtub and before bed every night. My friend, Amy (another speech therapist), laughed and said that Caroline paid more attention to books than the kids she works with! Here are her growth updates:

Weight: 15 lbs 9 oz (25th percentile)
Height: 27 in (90th percentile...taking after her Daddy!)
Head Circumference: 16.6 in (25th percentile)

Oh, and she cried SO hard when she got her shots! But got over it pretty quickly and was very glad to get out of there!

I also wanted to include a couple more 6 month facts:
*When you hold out your hands to pick her up, she will reach for you.

*We've finally found a couple of foods she'll eat--carrots and pears. Trying sweet potatoes tomorrow.

*I bought some puffs, yogurt melts, and teething biscuits to try out. She's not too crazy about the puffs or melts but loves the super messy biscuits.

*As of Thursday, Caroline can push up onto her hands and knees and rock back and forth. I think crawling is in our near fuure!

band-aid picture from her shots


having lunch outside--yummy carrots!


munching on a biscuit

6 Month Photo Shoot with Danita

We had Caroline's 6 month pictures made by our wonderful photographer, Danita, on Saturday. We went to a couple of parks in San Marco and were very lucky there was a lot of shade and a little cloud coverage beacuse it was HOT! We started off with some family pictures with beautiful trees as our backdrop. Caroline loves to be outside, so she was a happy camper...until she face planted in the dirt! She was sitting on a red and white pillow, looking as adorable as ever, and I was holding her Gymbo puppet to get her to look at Danita. Well, I should have known this was going to happen: our little mover decided she wanted to come get the puppet, leaned forward, and ate dirt. Literally. She had dirt in her mouth, in her nose, between her fingers and toes, on her carefully ironed outfit...poor baby! She cried and cried. She had a tiny boo boo on her chin, and her gum was bleeding a little where her new teeth are coming in. I was really proud of myself--I remained calm and was really glad I had packed a bottle of water. We washed out her mouth; cleaned her nose, hands, and feet; and brushed off her outfit. She recovered pretty quickly, which was good becuase we had many more pictures to take! The ones of her sitting on the bench are the first ones made after her fall. What a trooper! Danita is so great and fun and has awesome ideas and props. Caroline handled all the costume changes well and proved to be a natural little model, even tilting her head for some of the shots! John keeps saying we need to get her into modeling. :-) Maybe I should look into that...then I wouldn't have to work any more! Ha! Hope you enjoy looking at the pictures as much as we did!

www.danitabrooks.com
Click on "website", then "clients", then enter the password "caroline2"
PS--If you check out her blog, you can see some pictures from our maternity and newborn sessions too!

6 months (and 1 week)

This has been the best 6 months of my life! Even though we've had a rough couple of days this week (thanks to those new teeth!), I wouldn't trade this job for anything. Speaking of a job, I started back to work this week. I'm glad to say it wasn't as hard as I thought it might be. We have a great sitter, Kelley, that comes to our house to watch Caroline. Thankfully, I'm only working 2 days a week. It will be nice to be around some adults during the day.
We started our Level 2 Gymboree class yesterday, and Caroline loved it! She was almost always a little fussy at some point of each of our Level 1 classes. I think my little wiggle worm just didn't like laying down and hanging out for the songs. In our new class she gets to play on all the equipment in the gym--slides, mats, boats, all sorts of new things!
We have her 6 month doctor's appointment on Friday--not looking forward to more shots. :-( Here are a couple of new pictures and fun Caroline facts:

*She is a master of sitting up now. She loves to sit on her alphabet mat and play with all of her toys.

*This kid will be crawling before long! When she's sitting and wants a toy that's out of her reach, she will lean forward until she's on her belly and tries her best to get where she wants to go (and then gets frustrated when she can't get there!).

*We are having some trouble transitioning to solids. She has tried avocados and apples and doesn't seem to be a fan of either. She does ok with oatmeal, and we're going to try green beans tomorrow.

*She's working on drinking out of a sippy cup.

*I think she is going to be a spunky little girl. You definitely know when she's mad about something and will cry and get frustrated when something's not going her way.

*She has 2 teeth! Her 2 bottom ones have started to make their appearance.

*She is trying to pull up. She will grab my leg and pull onto her knees. In Gymboree, she was sitting in the little boat, grabbed the bar in front of her, and stood right up.

*She loves Max (our dog) and Baby (our cat), but they are not interested in her at all!

*She absolutely loves to be outside.

trying to eat the sign


loving her new water mat!

Love these photo challenges!

I took this picture in Savannah when I took my mom there for her 70th birthday present. I was impressed with how well it turned out since it was taken with my iPhone.

Fun photo contest

This was one of my best friend's wedding. Ali and Jay got married in the Dominican Republic. I love how happy she looks as they begin their new married life! This was also a new experience for me--my 1st destination wedding to attend and my first trip without my 6 month old daughter.

Photo challenge

I saw this challenge on McCall's blog and thought it sounded fun! I know I'm not the world's greatest photographer, but I love this picture of Caroline's 1st splash in her new pool.

Oh, how I wish I was creative...

I used to be, honestly. I'm not sure what's happened. I've really felt the need to find a creative outlet. I've considered cake decorating or learning how to applique. Any other suggestions or volunteers to teach me?? When I was visiting my family in Hernando, it happened to be the weekend of the A Fair. What is the A Fair, you might ask...well, it is a wonderful arts and crafts fair that happens every May. Booths are set up around the courthouse square filled with some of the cutest things you'll ever see and you can smell the delicious food they're serving up (yes, I did partake in some super unhealthy, but yummy, treats--a huge corndog, a funnel cake, and some fresh squeezed lemonade). There are also people that you know everywhere you look. I got to catch up with 2 friends from high school and meet their cute little ones. I remember going to the A Fair every year when I was growing up—including making a ton of balloon animals for our junior year fundraiser and working in our youth group's food stand. I have so many great memories of this fun event, and it definitely did not disappoint this year. Caroline and I got to spend the day with my 3 sisters, niece, and mom. It was wonderful! But, back to my original point, I wanted to share the great things that I bought that caused the creative bug to bite me!

Super cute pillowcase dress

Gator bow that Caroline won't be able to use for awhile. I also ordered a Gator outfit for next summer.

Diaper bag that hangs on the handle of the stroller

Love, love, love this picture frame!

My 1st Mother's Day

Since we were going to be out of town and away from Caroline on my 1st Mother's Day, we celebrated a week early. We pigged out at the Cheesecake Factory, and John gave me patio furniture for our back porch. He also surprised me with a card from him and one from Caroline on the actual day. I loved reading those cards (and one from my mom) but wished I was with my little girl on that special day. But, I will admit, if you can't be with your baby on Mother's Day, being at a resort in the Dominican Republic is a pretty good place to be!

my Mother's Day mimosa :-)

What a busy month!

Sorry I've been MIA for awhile. May was a crazy busy month! John and I took our first trip without Caroline (to the Dominican Republic for Alison & Jay's wedding), Caroline and I visited MS (super long drive to get there & a flight with an Atlanta layover to get home--she did great!), we took Caroline to the zoo for the first time, & Caroline had her last Level 1 Gymboree class (plus a few other things thrown in). I'll let the pictures tell the story of our fun month of May!

Oh, how she loves to swing!


Beautiful bride, gorgeous wedding!


Cocktail hour after the wedding


Caroline with her aunts (Roro, Alicia, & Andy), Grandmama, and cousin Erin at the A Fair.


My niece, Meagan, graduated from Ole Miss...and she's going to be a Speech Therapist! I'm so proud of her!


My friend, Nancy, and her new baby, Lauren with me and Caroline


1st clover necklace


Caroline's 1st mohawak!


Caroline wasn't so crazy about her 1st time in the big pool...can't say that I blame her--it was COLD!


Trying out her new sippy cup.


This is what happens when you blow raspberries into a spoon full of cereal...


We loved feeding the giraffes! Caroline really liked being so close to an animal.


Hanging out with the gorilla statue (thanks to the nice lady who jumped in and helped get Caroline to look at the camera!).


Loving her new giraffe we got at the zoo!



Here is Caroline and her buddy, Hunter. She is 3 days older than him, and they started class on the same day.



I put together Caroline's high chair yesterday. I thought feeding her cereal to her might be a little easier now (she's been on a cereal boycott since we went out of town).