Six Months (a little late)

Caroline was six months old on February 8th. I can't believe it! She is sitting up like a pro and finally rolled over for the first time the day before she turned six months, though she hasn't done it since. :) We went in for her shots last week, and she weighed in at a not-so-whopping 13 lbs 6 oz. She's itty bitty! That's about the 5th percentile. She's dropped down to the 20th percentile in length (25 inches). The doc said she's probably just petite (hmmm...have you seen me or Phil?), but ran some blood test just to be sure nothing was amiss. Having shots is bad enough; having blood drawn from those tiny arms was the pits! After a couple of failed attempts at the pedi's office, we ended up having to go to Children's South and let the nurses there do it. They were great!

Edited to add: All tests came back normal! Praise the Lord!

We just started solids, and she loves them! So far she's had rice cereal, sweet potatoes, avocado, butternut squash, pears, apples, and bananas. She likes them all, but pears are definitely her favorite! Yum! I'm making her food and freezing portions in ice cube trays. So easy and cheap! Maybe these extra calories will help her pack on some pounds...or ounces!

Stephanie photographed Caroline at her home for her six month pics. They turned out fabulously! She even taught me some of her editing techniques in Photoshop. Thanks, Steph!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Trip to Pensacola

We made a visit trip down to Pensacola to see Nana and Grumpa a couple of weeks ago. We had a very fun and busy weekend! We drove down Friday morning without even having to stop the entire 3 1/2 hours...hooray! We got to hang out with Grandmama and Grandaddy (Philip's grandparents) at Nana and Grumpa's house and eat a yummy dinner together. On Saturday, we drove out to Pensacola Beach so I could enjoy a nice birthday lunch at a REAL seafood restaurant. (Oh, how we miss the fresh seafood...) It was delicious! The dessert was awesome: banana cheesecake rolled in a tortilla, deep fried, rolled in cinnamon and sugar, served with vanilla custard swirled with caramel sauce and strawberries on the side. Yowzers! :) After lunch, we took Caroline out on the sand to have her first beach experience. The weather was perfect! She liked the sand, though she was not too happy when I dipped her feet in the water. Well, it was January, after all, and kinda cold. :) We then stopped by to visit Bebe, Philip's grandmother, who was able to make Caroline laugh for like ten minutes straight without stopping. Really. We have video evidence. Of course, we wrapped up the day with a little shopping. :)

Talking and Spitting

Caroline has become (OK, always has been) a very vocal little creature. She loves to sit and chat with you or with her toys. She has recently perfected the art of blowing raspberries, which is baby talk for spitting all over you. For those of you who know Philip well, you can imagine how pleased he is with this new trick of hers. I sure think it's cute, though! Gotta love it!

Sitting up

Our little girl thinks that she is just getting so big now! She started sitting up by herself while we were in KY for New Year's. It's opened up a whole new world during playtime! :) Now if only she would just learn to roll over... Oh, well. She'll get there soon enough! We don't want her growing up too fast (and definitely don't want her walking at 8 months like her Daddy...yikes!).

New Year's

We traveled to Cecilia, Kentucky to my brother's house for New Year's. They moved back to Kentucky right before Caroline was born, and we had yet to visit them at their new home. It is always such a beautiful drive! And we only go through one large city (Nashville), so traffic isn't bad. We had a good time visiting with his family and my parents. We ate a lot of yummy food (Rob is an EXCELLENT cook) and played a lot of Blokus, a great strategy board game. There was also a Wii bowling tournament, which Rob won, just barely beating Joshua. It was a great trip, even though we had been hoping for snow while we were there! Maybe next year!

Philip holding a swaddled, sleeping Caroline

Joshua tickling his baby cousin

Laura Beth making us some yummy chocolate covered pretzels

Our sweet niece Anna

Christmas

In five years of marriage, this was our FIRST Christmas to celebrate in our own home. It was wonderful! Philip's parents and grandparents came up for a few days, and my parents joined us as well for Christmas dinner. Caroline loved having all of the extra people around to spoil, I mean, hold her! And Philip was able to accomplish his biggest goal, getting his Mom, Dad, Grandmama, AND Grandaddy to play Wii Fit. We have photographic evidence! :)