Weekend fun!

We had a wonderful weekend! We spent some really good, quality time together. It's weekends like this that we realize just how quickly our little girl is growing up. One area that is really develeping is Caroline's vocabulary. It is growing everyday. Here are a few of her new words:

1. I ont some (I want some)
2. ride
3. gooness (goodness)
4. woopC (oops)
5. det down (get down)
6. empty
7. fises (fries)
8. tums up (thumbs up)
9. cola (color)
10. diper (diaper)
11. obedence (obedience)
12. pAchent (patient)
13. mochins (motions)

Sometimes this communication thing isn't so good. She doesn't give up easily when she doesn't get what she wants. :0) That leads to the next thing... She doesn't like when she doesn't get her way. The girl already knows how to throw a fit! We are working on it. We are using words like "control your emotions." To which she replies "mochins." We are also talking about being obedient as well as patience. When we use these words, she likes to repeat them to us. I hope that in time, she will begin to understand what these words truly mean.

Here are a few pictures of our wonderful weekend.

Caroline loves to sit on the potty. She has yet to actually use it but she loves to potE.

Washing her hands (Aunt Claire, she loves her stool)

Caroline entertained herself while Granny ironed clothes, I put up clothes and daddy worked in the yard. It really was the best of both worlds.

Caroline loves to share her food with Lucy. They are great friends!


Caroline enjoyed playing with Emma!

Emma was "taking care of business"

This is what I found after her nap Sunday. It was too funny for words. I couldn't get upset with her because I was laughing so hard!

Look carefully...

Everyday is a new adventure, some better than others. It's interesting that what was a challenge yesterday is funny today. What a blessing it is to be a mommy! :0)

who needs sleep anyway?

Well sweet pea decided she needed a little loving this morning about 4:45. Granny's here and of course immediately went in. Granny laid her back down around 5 or so and she decided she needed a little more loving. So I went in and picked her up. Of course she wanted to make sure we had luvey. (luffeee) I turned on her music and we rocked. Now she stretches from my shoulder past my waste. As I rocked I thought, man where did time go? How did she get so big? Her sweet little fingers were playing in my hair and every once and a while she would take a deep breath. My heart melted. At that very moment she could have gotten away with anything! It was as though I couldn't get enough! I knew that I too needed sleep because it would be a long day. However, I couldn't put her down. I loved running my fingers through her wiggy hair and touching her soft face. I loved how every once and a while I would catch her looking up at me. This is what life is about.

Since becoming a mommy, I have really thought about the relationship I have with our heavenly father. I would do anything to see Caroline smile, to hear her laugh. I would give her the world if I could. And honestly, if you really think about it, she does very little in return to "make me love her." I love her because she is my child. I love her because I want to be the best mommy I can be. That is what Christ does for us, he loves us no matter what. Yes there are times when we make mistakes but he still loves us and forgives us.

I remember hearing people say that you can't describe the love you have for your child. I can honestly say I now know what they are talking about... Who needs sleep when you can hold such a sweet angel?

Discipline...

Over the last few weeks I have really been trying to figure out the "funk" I've been in. Just when I think I have it figured out, something else comes to mind. This week while praying over it, I realized that I lack discipline. Discipline with my time, food choices, chores, work, etc. I realized that some things just aren't fun but we have to do them anyway. AND when I choose to do the right thing, our household runs so much smoother. Thursday afternoon I came straight home and got busy. I started a load of laundry, washed the dishes in the sink, picked up the den (although Caroline destroyed it shortly thereafter) and worked on our family reunion stuff. I made a yummy dinner while Andy worked on cleaning the garage. That night while eating dinner we enjoyed some quality time watching Mark Driscal's (sp) sermon on "Hell." It was amazing how great it felt to know I had gotten so much accomplished. It was crazy, it was like I felt way more energized than I do when I do nothing to "get" energy.

I will keep you posted on how things go...

one word-blessed!

enjoying being outside... on the way to get poor Lucy who tried to run away!

Hey where did this towel come from? Oh who cares, I found an extra paci laying around! What a great treat!!!!!

snuggle time with daddy

Happy 60th Birthday Mom!

Today we celebrated the life of an amazing woman-my mother. My mother is one of the strongest women I have ever know. She was at every softball game, had a warm home cooked meal on the table every night (sorry Andy and Caroline...), we always had clean, ironed clothes, and the list goes on and on. My mother always put others first and always thought of herself last. She's had a lot of curve balls thrown at her recently but I think we are finally on the mend.

We wanted to show her just how much we love her and appreciate all that she has done for us. We invited friends and family to help us celebrate. Mom didn't have a clue! When she walked in the door, all she could do was smile, she was speechless!! It was a great moment to see her so excited!

the smile we love so much!

WOW, look at all her presents! My favorites are the pretty flowers!

Mom's cake and some pictures from way back!

Caroline trying to get in on GG's action.

Do you think he is happy to have her in his arms? She knows a good thing when she see's one...

I love this one... Caroline and Uncle Ed look so serious!

Recap of today!

the beautiful stain glass my Uncle made and donated!

Thank you for your prayers. If felt so good to be out helping again. The girl scouts from our church decorated our tent and did a great job! It was good to see a lot of friends and make connections with people from our church. My mom came up for the event and was a HUGE help! It was a little emotional as we watched the survivors take their lap and then the caregivers take their lap. However, my sister-in-law brought up a good point, just think of the laps Daddy's taking in Heaven! :0)

We wanted Caroline to decorate the luminary bags for Pops and Mema. She wasn't interested in coloring so we decided on finger painting. This years theme was "celebrating birthdays." We cut out balloons and decorated the bags. It was so cute! I was very happy!

Daddy was a HUGE help!

The girls are ready to relay!


our tent


our survivors


our tent and luminaries (we had 18 luminaries in memory of daddy)

Mom and I got home a little after 10. When I got home, I checked the monitor to see how Caroline was doing. She always looks so peaceful at night! YIKES, the kid mooned me!! She took her diaper off and her precious little hinny was shinning in the air! Oh my, it was so cute! I would post the picture, it's precious, but I better not...

It's time to relay...

I think I have finally figured out a part of the rain cloud that has been around this week. It's Relay week... Tonight I will join thousands of others at the track to walk for a great cause-The American Cancer Society. This morning as I got dressed I thought about my daddy and how much I miss him. We enjoyed 4 years of Relay as a cancer survivor. We knew the last year we took the lap on the golf cart would most likely be our last one... The ugly disease was winning the battle. However Daddy fought an amazing fight! Although I didn't meet my goal this year, I hope that the money raised will help other families enjoy their loved ones a little longer.

If you read this today, would you please say a prayer for me tonight? Pray that I would rejoice in the memories from the past and look forward to the future research with the ACS.

thinking back

Today I had the dreaded doctors appointment us women all love to attend. Yep, you guessed it, my yearly checkup with my girly doctor. :0) As I sat there and waited, I watched many pregnant women come and go. Occasionaly there was a husband who tagged along for the visit. I started thinking back to my visit two years ago. Oh how I longed to be the one coming with my hubby for OB check ups to see how our little angel was doing. It made me a little sad that Andy and I never experienced that.

Then I immediately thought about all the visits that I made with our birth mom. What a precious time for me. I loved every single appointment. I couldn't wait to see how our little girl was doing. Due to the high risk pregnancy, we got to see our baby girl a lot. Thankfully she was ok and perfectly healthy. I can't help but think that was the Lord's way of letting us feel a little bit closer to her. It also reminded me of God's perfect plan for us and the amazing woman B was and still is.

Although Andy and I never experienced those moments together quite like I thought we would, we sure did share an amazing journey with B. We don't speak to B as often and I am thankful she is moving on. She has a wonderful man in her life and she is so happy. We will never forget the amazing women that she is!! :0)

PS-This appointment was only a check up, no baby in the picture for US! :0)

working mommy

Sorry it's been so long since I have posted... I am back to work. However, I only have 33 more school days until I am at home with my sweetie pie. Her little personality continues to change every day. I will try to update and post pictures soon but for now, here's a glimpse of the silly, crazy, fun days we now call our life...

1. On spring break, while we were working on giving up her paci, she was really upset one morning. She finally went over to the toy box and picked up her baby doll. Just so happened her baby doll had a paci. She put the paci in her mouth and walked around with the baby doll hanging down.
2. She's been taking her diaper off during naps and at night. Mrs. Jerri has been sitting her on the potty before putting her diaper back on. We are sitting her on the potty before her bath each night. She thinks it's great and wants to sit on the potty, but hasn't done anything. I think her favorite part is the tissue. She gets her tissue, blows her nose and then wipes her little area. Last night, she wanted to wipe her nose again. YUCK!
3. She loves reading and looking at books. She will sit and look at the pictures for a while. She loves "Moo, Ba La La La." She can say the sounds each animal makes when we point to it. It's so sweet!
4. She has several Leap Frog items on the fridge. One is the alphabet one with letters and letter sounds. Although she doesn't have a clue what she's doing, if we sing from A-F, she will say G. If we say one, she says two.
5. She is beginning to use more than one word at a time. She can now say wove you, what dat and see ya.
6. She is such a good eater. She will eat just about anything you put in front of her. Celery, black olives, carrots, etc.

I think this pretty much sums up where we are right now. More to come later I promise. Hopefully it won't be such a long time. Thanks for hanging in there.

Sick on Saturday

Well this isn't quite the ending of spring break that we were hoping for... We have had a fabulous week together. I have enjoyed every single minute with my little angel. We have enjoyed lots of snuggle time on the couch reading the same books over and over! We have enjoyed dancing in our pjs and lunch out with our friends. I know that there will be tough times ahead, financially and physically, but I can't wait to be a full time mommy or household executive!

So back to our unhappy ending. Thursday afternoon Caroline woke up from her afternoon nap with a little bit of a fever. She looked weak but nothing major. She slept well but woke up Friday morning with 103.5 fever. With the help of Motrin and Tylenol, the fever stayed right around 100, give or take. Last night she woke up a couple of times burning up. However, when she woke up she seemed a lot better. She played with her toys and enjoyed her swing outside. Around 11, she wanted to play but only cried. This is totally out of character for her... We took her to Urgent Care and found out that she has fluid on her ears, poor thing. She was pitiful at the doctors office, even made the nurse cry.

Her afternoon has pretty much been the same as her morning. We hope that she has a great night and is feeling better tomorrow morning. We really want to enjoy Easter Sunday at Church, such a special time of year!

Easter

Caroline was sick this weekend but felt good enough for Church today. We enjoyed the day with our family. We had lunch with Andy's family and then celebrated Jake and Emma's birthday with my family. Caroline was exhausted so we headed home early. I pray that you enjoyed celebrating with our Lord and Savior!

The Easter Bunny made a visit to our house...

Caroline and Grace

GG, Mom and Caroline (poor kid didn't feel well at all but was such a trooper)

Our sweet little family

Caroline loved the Jeep

Coupons, Cleaning and Caroline!

helping mommy with the laundry

Today was our 3 C's day. I clipped coupons, attempted to clean and enjoyed my time with Caroline. Nothing like trying to do those things with the help of an almost 19 month old. :0) Caroline really thought she could help mommy organize the grocery list and fold up towels. We headed out about 9:00. We managed to hit CVS, Walgreens, Target, Hamrick's and BiLo by 11:30. I saved some major bucks and was so proud. I think I am finally getting this coupon thing to make sense... However, I think the reason it was so successful is because I had the TIME to do it. We met the family for lunch and then came home. Caroline was asleep within minutes of going in her crib. Caroline woke up from her afternoon nap feeling a little warm so we hung around close to home and put her down a little early.

We've had a very busy but productive day! :0)