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: