the "WAY OVERDUE" catchup post on Caroline

i figured that i've waited long enough to update on Caroline's doings....last time i posted anything was over 2 months ago. in baby years, that's like 478 years. so, i'm a little behind. :)


*sleeping in her crib (not her carseat). we even are using the pack and play on trips now

*at 4 months, she was 14lbs and 8ozs, exactly double her birthweight. we haven't weighed her recently, but she's a CHUNK now

*she'll turn 6 months old this thursday

*tried cereal on 11/4. made some crazy faces.

*now doing veggies and fruits as well. her favorites so far: squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, and apples. the only thing she hasn't really liked is peas

*everywhere Caroline goes, she makes friends instantly. she smiles at about anyone who will pay attention to her. she is definitely a social baby!

*she's still a lefty...she'll grab and scratch with her left hand primarily. other times, she'll just sit and study her hands....it's like she's thinking: "hey, i'm moving these things! awesome!"

*she loves being startled....she seems like she'll love roller-coasters one day!

*she got to meet Papa (Rick's dad's dad) at Pigeon Forge the first week of November. she was a hit at Thanksgiving, and got to meet alot of her cousins (especially Carolena!).

*now she's eating 4 times a day (7:00, 11:00, 3:00, 7:30). we put her down at around 8:30 most nights, and she'll sleep until 6:30 am before starting to rustle. thank goodness she's such a good sleeper!

*she easily rolls over now....that's her primary mode of transportation. if she sees a toy, she'll roll to it. she was almost 5 months old when she first rolled over, and she rolled both ways that same day (front to back and back to front).

*she loves books. she's getting good at "pat-pat". she'll pat the floor or books or anything for that matter. her big thing is scratching stuff to hear and feel the texture. like last night at church, she was patting the book i was showing her, and she found the seam in the middle of the 2 pages, and started picking at it with her left pointer finger.

*we had Xmas pics made, and she did great! most of the smiles were from us making faces at her, but one of them was from singing one of her favorite songs (Zaccheus was a wee little man....). she just stared and smiled for the whole song!

*we've traveled like crazy with her this month. Brooke's Nanny passed away, and Caroline went with Brooke to Decatur to be with the family. Caroline was an angel!!! she did so well, was smiling for everyone, went to everyone easily, and helped brighten up a sad day.

*as we're compiling this list, Caroline just got up in the crawling position (hands and knees) and rocked front to back a few times. she had NEVER done that before just then! something new everyday!

*she had her first Xmas! she got 3 Baby Faith DVD's and 2 new books for church from Santa. her Baba got her 1.5 million things.....maybe not that much, but it felt like it! she got a bunch of new toys and clothes and books! she's so blessed! and it was a WHITE Xmas! it was Daddy's first white Xmas, too!

*she just got up in the crawl position, AGAIN!!! she might just crawl while i'm typing this. :)



we can't believe she's almost 6 months old! we're so thankful for her. thanks for keeping up with us, even when we're so sporadic! :)

More of Caroline Laughing

seriously, she could have kept laughing for 30 minutes!

Whispering is SOOOOO funny!!!

Caroline's doings at 3 months

we have been so blessed with our little girl. she really is amazing. i know every parent thinks their child is the best baby ever, but i can produce a pretty strong case for ours so far:

*i have to give alot of credit to using Babywise as our guide for her. it has helped us be on a schedule of feeding, wake time, and sleeping during the day. that has really helped us figure out her cries and needs.

*she started sleeping most of the night at week 5. at this point, we do a ritual most every night. i give her a bath at 8:45ish, dry her off, put on her pj's, and pass her off to mama for her last feeding of the day. last night, we put her down at 9:45, and i'm here typing at 5:45 am with her still asleep in her room! i can't imagine how tired we would be if she wasn't such a good sleeper!

*Caroline is a really happy baby. she smiles at us alot. we have made it a point to talk to her constantly. for example, usually after a feeding, we burp her and take her to her room to lay on her changing pad. we'll change her diaper (if needed) and then just sit and talk to her. she'll smile and coo back....this is where we've practiced Dada, Mama, Baba, Pepaw, Mimi, Pa, I love you, etc. it just melts my heart when i can come home from work and get down on the floor with her, and she'll recognize that it's me and just smile!

*here i go jinxing myself, but she hasn't really gotten sick just yet. she's been snotty some with the weather changes, but hasn't had an awful cough or a fever or diarrhea or an ear ache. we've tried to be preventative with her.....like using the humidifier if she's congested. i'm sure it's just a matter of time, but she's done really well so far.

*it's looking like Caroline will be a very social person....she can entertain herself on her play yard mat, but she'd much rather be sitting in your lap talking with you. it's not that she really whines or fusses when she's not with someone, but you can tell how interactive she wants to be with people. we love that!

*she loves when we: blow raspberries with our lips, smack our lips, blow on her face, show her herself in the mirror, clap her feet together, clap her hands together and say "Yay!", make her dance, cradle her to get to sleep with her passy.

i hope there aren't too many typos up there. i just took some meds about 30 minutes ago, and i'm getting drowsy again. so forgive me for any obvious errors. :)


here's a picture from her 1 month photos. we're planning on some more photo shoots soon. she's already changed so much!!!

Caroline says Dada!!!

listen really close at the very end.....i get right in her face and say, "can you say Dada?"......and you can totally hear her say it!

Caroline Laughing!

Caroline Update - 3 months

so sorry for the hiatus. i've slacked on my home improvement projects as well. so i promise i'm not just neglecting my blog. i'm neglecting everything except my family. :)

little Miss Caroline is amazing. she's such a good, happy baby. we've been using the BabyWise book as our general guide, and we've had great results. it's helped get her on a schedule of feedings and sleeping. that's saved us alot of headaches trying to figure out what's causing her to cry (which is usually not that often at all).

in the past month, she's really coming into her own. she's smiling ALL THE TIME. after eating, we usually will take her to her changing pad and talk to her. she will try her best to talk back to us, but all it sounds like right now are babbles and high-pitched squeals. :) but she will talk up a storm. after talking for a while, we usually put her under a play yard on the floor where she can watch and play with some toys. she has been reaching with her LEFT hand! Baba is so excited (a fellow lefty).

she's recently found herself in the mirror, and she'll just smile and make faces at herself.

we went to visit my mom's parents in Fort Deposit a few weeks back. we got a 4 generation picture while we were there.



Caroline loves cheering for Alabama in her jersey that Aunt Laura gave her!



Daddy is so silly! i think Caroline was a little scared here. :)



okay, when i said Caroline loves football, i wasn't joking. she'll lay on her stomach or on her side watching football just like this every Saturday. and it's mainly just football. she's not really a big TV person otherwise. here she is, watching Bama put a whoopin' on Florida! Daddy would have been in the picture, but he was at the game live! :)



i took this picture of her today while Mommy took a nap. isn't she just the sweetest little girl ever???? :)

Caroline - 2 months highlights

in case you can't see all of the embedded video, you can click here.

you must watch this video....

like it says on the YouTube page, if you don't cry a little after watching this, you have no soul. :)

Click here.

I don't believe in jinxes, but i think i might....

just when we get excited about how things are going, we post about it on Facebook or here on the blog, and poof, it backfires. :)

it's not big things, but just little things. like, the first time we let her sleep until she woke up in the morning, she slept like 5-6 hours. we bragged on her on Facebook, and the very next night......i think we may have each gotten about an hour and a half.

then, we get excited about how well she's doing on a schedule....eating and sleeping like she should during the day, then boom! she starts refusing to eat on time, and she gets her sleep/wake cycles off during the day.

on Sunday, an older gentleman at church asked if Caroline had been sick yet. we replied, "not yet!", to which she promptly developed a cold that night. so we've been fighting that all week. we think she's finally getting over most of it.

so that might explain why we're pretty lax at updating on here and on Facebook. :) i really don't think that saying, "we're doing great.....think we'll be sleeping through the night in no time!" will make Caroline freak out at us and purposely rebel. but it seems like that's happening more and more.

okay, enough whining. i am so proud of how Brooke is doing with Caroline. she has done amazing! she takes such good care of Caroline all day and all night. i've told her this many times, but one of the reasons i fell in love with Brooke is because i knew she'd be such a good mom. that being said, she has exceeded my expectations!

here are a few of our favorite pics so far:

VIDEO: Caroline - Napping

VIDEO: Caroline - Coming Home

Picture Time

Caroline's first 2 weeks

we can't believe that Caroline is already 2 weeks old! our new life with Caroline has been interesting so far:

1. Sleeping - so far so good. she's sleeping well at night overall. we let her get good and full from the last feeding of the day, then wrap her up in a double-swaddle, and put her in her swing. most nights, she'll go 4 hours before we have to wake her up to eat! then, after her overnight feeding, she'll usually go right back to sleep until morning. we've also found that she prefers to sleep on her stomach, but we don't let her do that overnight. we'll let her sleep on our chest during some daily naps, and she sacks out!

2. Eating - so far so good again. Brooke has done a great job with nursing Caroline. she'll eat every 3 hours during the day on the clock.

3. Diapers - also pretty good. a few times, we think she's been a little constipated. it's so funny how excited we get about poopie diapers now! ah, the life of a parent! Caroline isn't the biggest fan of getting her diaper changed. she's not really fussy from dirty diapers, but doesn't like getting changed.

4. Baths - not a fan at all! she's bad enough when we have to strip her down to change her. she's even worse when she's totally stripped down and getting a sponge bath! her cord hasn't fallen off yet, so we can't get her fully wet just yet. maybe she'll get into it more when she can splash around some.

5. Smiling - getting better every day. she hasn't smiled at anything we've said or done yet, but she will smile on her own after feedings. it just makes that dimple on her left cheek jump out! plus, she does giggle some when she's dreaming. we can't wait until we can make her laugh!

6. Outings - awesome! we took Caroline out to church on Sunday (July 11th) for both services, and she did wonderful! we fed her right before we left, and she just sleeps in her carseat (which she seems to like so far). we even got to go out and eat with our church friends after church Sunday night, and she just hung out! she also got to go to her first VBS last night at Shades Mountain!

7. Visitors - Brooke's mom (Baba) stayed with us for most of the past 2 weeks as we got acclimated at home. she was SUCH a BIG HELP!!! she would hold Caroline, sing to her, help get her to sleep, let us sleep, let Brooke get a shower, and be a HUGE encouragement to us. thank you, Baba! we also have had so many visitors from church come see us! so many have brought food and gifts! we are so blessed to have so many good friends and family!

8. Hiccups - most every day. she had them alot in the womb as well. and it has carried over to outside the womb. it seems like it would bother her, but she seems fine....just annoyed. maybe she'll outgrow those soon. :)

i'm sure i've left off something, but hope it gives you an update on our new life! we've been so blessed with such a sweet, contended little girl, and we thank God everyday for letting us raise her!

stay tuned. i promise we'll post as much as we can.

More pictures of Caroline

more pictures are on our Facebook pages. she continues to be just a super-good baby! eating well, sleeping well, and even a smile every now and then (from a full belly). we couldn't be happier!

Caroline Taylor

she's here! 7 lb 4 oz. 20 inches long. mom and daughter are doing great!

So much for July 10th!!!

we found out at our Dr appt Tuesday that Brooke had progressed alot! she was 3-4 cm and 60% effaced. so, Dr. Barron said, "When do you want to have this baby? Wednesday or Thursday?" :) so we chose Thursday (because i was scheduled to be off that day anyways).

so, i was expecting to come home and be anxious for the next 2 days with Brooke, when she greets me with "i think i'm cramping..." well, the cramps started getting regular, but not severe. so, we called our after hours on-call number, and they told us to come up to the hospital for observation.

so, we get to the hospital, and Brooke is thinking that this was a major false alarm. i go and park the car, and when i get back to the room, Brooke is hooked up to the machines. after about 30 minutes, the nurse says, "we want to keep you overnight to watch you". little did we know, the fun was just about to begin. :)

not long after, Brooke started having stronger and stronger contractions. soon, it was on like Donkey Kong! at about 2:00 am, Brooke finally got her epidural (after she had progressed to 5.5 cm and 80% effaced). now, she's feeling so much better!

so, we're hanging out at the hospital. it's 3:45 am, and Baba and Pepaw (Brooke's parents) just got here. Kelly has been here since close to midnight. we're hunkering down for the morning!

keep watching our Facebook page for updates. thank you for your continued prayers!

R,B,&C

Nursery Pics

{above and below} AWESOME paintings by our sis-in-law, Cindy-Lou








so sorry for the long delay! we got the finishing touches on Caroline's room last week when my Daddyboy helped me put up the crown molding. that girl had better LOVE her room after all we've done to it.

plus, you might be able to notice that these pictures might seem to have a different quality. we invested in a new digital camera (with which we took these pics). our old camera ate AA batteries like Brooke eats Snickers Ice Cream Bars these days. :)

as you can see on the right of the blog page, we've got less than 2 weeks till Caroline gets here! we've got another Dr. appt on Tuesday. we'll do our best to keep everyone updated, either here or on our Facebook pages. thank you for your continued prayers!!!

R&B(&C)

Church Shower for Caroline

we were so blessed to have a baby shower on Sunday for Caroline from our church congregation. that girl racked up!!! she got tons of clothes, diapers, toys, and accessories. thank you so much to everyone who helped organize the shower and to everyone who gave our little girl such great gifts!

here's a video cataloging everything we received (except the car seat....that's in the kitchen for right now).



thank you so much!!! we have one more shower next week in Decatur. i don't know where we're gonna put all of the stuff Caroline is gonna get! :)

Catching up!

here's the updates on our crazy life! since we last posted (April 8th), we've had a lot going on! let's see:

- birthing classes
- Brooke finished her pharmacy school project and presentation, and subsequently graduated!
- Baylee and Ella spent the night with us
- Brooke went and visited her best friend from high school in Arkansas
- Dinner with my old college roommate and his wife
- Visited with my mom and grandparents for Mother's day
- Haleigh, Baylee and Ella's recital
- multiple showers for Caroline
- i hit 2 homers in one night in church softball
- upstairs guest bathroom remodel (in progress)
- Brooke accepted a part-time as needed fill-in job with Publix as a pharmacist (after she passes her boards in mid-June)
- my peach tree i planted last year has about 50 baby peaches on it!
- Spring Gospel meeting with Cecil May

phew! i'm tired just typing all that! here are some various pics from the above craziness!




28 weeks


30 weeks


32 weeks


Schaeffer Shower

More Belly Pics!!!

^^^^ at 24 weeks




^^^^ at 26 weeks



you might recognize the 26 week picture.....go back and compare how she looked in that green dress a few weeks ago!

we have gotten our carpet laid! we're really happy with it. so we've essentially got everything done for Caroline's room now.

and now, i've started remodeling the upstairs bathroom (a guy's gotta have a project, right?). today was demo day....i've almost torn everything out. hope i can get it back in working order for when Brooke's mom comes to help with Caroline.

we'll try to post some pictures of the nursery soon. we're almost done with all the finishing touches. :)

Stripes on the wall, stripes on the wall....

looking really good with the stripes on the wall. :) we have painted the back wall of Caroline's room as you see above. big shout out to Teale Yeilding for the design. check her blog here.

we got the bedding in on Tuesday night. we love it!!! we've also gotten the crib and changing table and glider. so we are literally just waiting on the new carpet before we can set everything up!

here are the samples of the pattern for the bedding, and some random decorations:



it's getting really real now! :)

Belly Pics

1st ones we took at 12 weeks


maybe a little bigger at 15 weeks


definitely showing now at 18 weeks


now at 20 weeks



just taken last night at 22+ weeks.

isn't she so cute?!?!? :)

Painting Bedrooms

guess what we did this weekend?

-scrapped popcorn off of ceiling
-patched minor cracks on ceiling and walls
-painted 3 ceilings
-painted 2 coats on trim in 3 bedrooms
-painted 2 bedrooms (all except detail trim)
-wore ourselves slap out

that's about it. :)




^^ original wall colors


^^ Caroline's room color


^^ Upstairs guest bedroom color


^^ Remodeling maniacs!!!

Freaky Eye Wednesday

*****DISCLAIMER: THE PICTURES BELOW WILL LIKELY GROSS YOU OUT BEYOND BELIEF. IF YOU ARE AT ALL QUIRKY ABOUT YOUR EYES AND ARE FREAKED OUT BY WEIRD EYE STUFF, DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND SKIP THIS POST. THANKS, MANAGEMENT*****






















so, i haven't had a Freaky Eye post in a while. brooke said i had to post about my patient today, so here goes:

16yoBM at Roebuck today. i had seen him last week for a full eye exam, and he was back today for a first time contact lens fitting. well, this young man was very motivated to wear contacts (because he hates his glasses), but he was scared of letting me put contacts in his eyes...a common occurrence. i could tell he was apprehensive, so i explained how easy it would be and how i would not hurt him, etc. so everytime i would try to put the lens on his eyes, he would squeeze his eyes so tight that i couldn't hold his eyelids open. and i'm pretty good at holding people's eyelids open. :) i would stop, explain to him that when he squeezes his eyes it makes it really difficult to put the lens on successfully, and then try again. after 15 minutes of coercing him to NOT squeeze his eyes, i finally got both lenses on. his vision was great with them....they fit well....they were comfortable...everything was going great.

so i take him to our contact lens training room to start practicing how to take the lenses out and put them in properly. our office manager helped teach him how to do that and care for his lenses. in the meantime, i go check a few more patients. right as i am about to go in with another patient, i hear a blood-curdling scream coming from the contact lens room, followed by our office manager screaming "DR. WILLIAMS!!! DR. WILLIAMS!!! DR. WILLIAMS!!!" i rush into the room, thinking he had accidentally scratched his eye while trying to take his contact out. instead, i saw something like this:



it wasn't EXACTLY like this picture. it was only his left eye. i calmed him down, got him to sit back down and relax, and the eye went back into his orbit like it should be.

for all you nerds out there, here's what happened. remember i told you he would squeeze his eyes? well, as he was trying to put his contacts in, he pulled his eyelids far apart to insert the contact. as he went to put the lens on his eye, he squeezed his eyes, trying to shut his eyelids while holding them open. funny, right? that internal pressure he exerted temporarily pushed his globe forward a few millimeters. once he calmed down, he relieved that pressure, and the globe retropulsed back into it's normal position.

and here's the funny part: he actually put the contact on his eye right before it popped forward! once he touched the lens to his eye, he squeezed so hard that it popped the eye forward. but he got it on! :)

that was the first time i've had to deal with a patient doing this. fortunately, i didn't have to physically push the eye back in. i've had a few of my classmates have to deal with that already.

Peek-a-boo!

brooke wanted to share this little video with everyone. it's like she's playing with us. :)

It's a.........

yes, we're having a girl! everything is checking out wonderful so far! thank you for your prayers!