who's enjoying this more?

Here is Caroline with her great-grandfather (aka Papa). I don't know which one of them is enjoying it more.

are they up or down

Here is a fun fact about Caroline: when she sleeps during the day, she sleeps with her arms up (like in the previous picture). When she sleeps at night, however, she sleeps with her arms down by her sides.

and sweet sound

Enjoy Caroline "talking".

sweet sleep

there was one in the bed

and the little one said...roll over...

Caroline rolled front to back for the first time on April 26th. I went in to get her up that morning and she was on her back. She didn't do it again until Saturday. On Saturday she did it twice and yesterday once. Each time it was in her bed by herself. I'm hoping to get to see her do it soon.

She is continuously becoming more aware and interactive of the things and people around her. She watches people now and is beginning to play with toys. She loves when people talk to her and will often talk back. It is really cute! I've tried to get some audio or video, but I haven't had good luck (either because of her or because of equipment). Maybe before too long I'll be able to do that...or get Matt to help me catch some.

5/15 Update - I finally saw her roll over today. She just flipped right on over while she was laying on her Pooh mat this afternoon.

May pictures #3

May pictures #2

Here is a random (no clothes) picture of Caroline.



Last night, Nathan and Daddy camped out in the back yard.



He had to take his friends and blankets with him!



He's a silly boy with a silly smile.

it's all in the ear

A little while ago, Nathan was singing as he cleaned up. This is quite common as he sings all the time. This time the song was one I didn't know he knew (or had even ever heard). I immediately recognized the tune as "Oh How I Love Jesus". However, as I listened closer, I heard "Oh hat on a Jesus...oh hat on a Jesu-us..."

playdough creations

Nathan and I got the playdough out today and made these creations. He sometimes plays with playdough at church, but we've never taken the time to get it out at home.

comparisons #3

Alright...here are the comparisons with Daddy. I put both kids in the first one although I think Nathan is really the most similar. For the second two, I tried to find pictures that look like they are the same ages (Ginger wasn't entirely sure how old Matt was). It really took some effort to find a picture of Nathan with his eyes closed, but I had to because the picture of Matt looks JUST LIKE Nathan. He is definitely his father's child!

May pictures #1

Every time I put up pictures of Caroline I feel guilty for not having more pictures of Nathan. So...I intentionally took some of him this morning. This was going to be a Nathan-only post, but I managed to catch a Caroline smile. I can't usually get her to smile and take pictures at the same time (and Matt and I haven't made the time to do it together). So...there is one picture of Caroline included.

new April pictures

Here are a few new pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Nathan is a good big brother. He likes to take care of Caroline. When he "holds" her, he often wants to cover her up (with HIS blanket no less) in case she's cold.


Ok...so she doesn't look so thrilled. She really does love me, though!


Caroline does pretty well sitting propped up. When she decides she's finished, she just leans forward into a face plant. She doesn't seem to mind a bit, though.


I just thought this one was kinda cute.


We recently got out the exersaucer that we bought with a gift card from some people at Matt's office. She isn't playing with the toys at this point, but she seems to like being upright.

comparisons #2

So...here are two comparisons of Caroline and Mommy at about the same age:

comparisons

People ask me all the time if Caroline looks like Nathan. Well, I have pulled a few pictures of Nathan about the same age as Caroline is now. Let me know what you think.

bowling night

We had a "Family Fun" night tonight. We went to Pizza Hut and bowling. This is the second time Nathan has been bowling. He bowled a 53. Most of that he did completely on his own. I think that's pretty good for a 3 year old. (Ok...so he had bumpers to help...) Anyway, here are some pictures:

amn't and long sleep

Matt and I continue to be amused at Nathan's mispronunciations of things. I now have a new favorite, though. Amn't. This would be Nathan's negation of "am." Rather than try to explain, let me give you an example: "Mommy, I amn't hungry anymore." It's so funny to hear!

The last two nights, Caroline has slept 10 and 9.5 hours. It makes me want to try putting her down after her 8:00 feeding. I'm not entirely sure I'm ready to make that jump, though. We're definitely headed toward a 12 hour night!

Just so you know, in the first overall picture of Nathan and Caroline, Nathan is trying to "help" Caroline keep her hand out of her face.

the lastest on the littlest

Caroline has become a WONDERFUL night sleeper! She is now regularly sleeping around 8.5 hours at night. Yay! I feed her at 10:00 and then she is asleep by 10:30 or so. She has been waking up around 7:15 or so. On occasion she'll get up earlier (6ish) or later (8ish), but 7:15 is probably the average. I am so glad to not be getting up in the middle of the night. We've already backed the last night feeding up to 10:00 from 10:30, but we'll probably keep heading that direction.

She continues to interact with us more and more. She loves to smile and "talk" to people. She really likes for people to talk to her. I definitely think she's on her way to being an extrovert. Maybe Matt and I can get a video up before too long.

Caroline has found her hand over the last couple weeks. At first she began by licking at her closed fist. Eventually, though, she began to get her fingers or thumb in her mouth. Most often, she finds her fingers. When she sucks on them in her bed, she really smacks on them. It's funny to listen to her. She seems to get comfort from it, though.

As a very simple wrap-up...Caroline is definitely a different child than Nathan...even at this young age.

Here's a new picture:

hunting eggs

Nathan finds and egg and looks to see what's inside.


He also enjoyed shaking the eggs to listen for money.


Here's the money.

the kiddos and their parentos

what a big girl we have

Yesterday morning, I took Caroline to the doctor for her 2 month visit (we delayed it a week, so she's really more like 2.5 months). She's gotten so big!! She is now weighing 12 pounds, 6 ounces and is 23.25 inches long. She jumped from the 25th percentile to the 75th (if measured at 2.5 months rather than 2 months). We knew she was getting big, but it's nice to put a number to it. Can you believe she grew 3 inches in 2 months???

In other news, we have gotten on a pretty good schedule with her eating and sleeping. That has really helped things for me (along with starting back to aerobics). She's a lot of fun these days because she really likes people to talk to her. She does lots of cute smiling and "talking". She is also a strong little girl. She holds her head up very well and does very little bobbling. She can support all of her weight standing and can sit propped up without falling over. It's so much fun to watch all the many changes of a little bitty baby.