Baptism

So sleepy!

Our family and friends.

Just the three of us.

Caroline was baptized today. It was a very special day spent with great family and friends. Grammy, Rique, Nana, Papa Spencer, Andrea Spencer, Andrea Gilmore, Jesse, Papa Mike, Grandma dru, Michaela, Granny, Uncle Mark, Jenny, Charlie, Maggie, Uncle Jerry, Aunt Gina, Aunt Carol (Cece), Uncle Eric, Chase, Alyssa, Paige, and Zach...you are all so dear to us and we love you all. The church looked beautiful all decorated for Christmas, and Caroline looked so sweet in her white baptismal gown. She did wonderful throughout the entire service. After the service we all went to my mom's house for lunch. It was a great time visiting with family and friends. I really appreciate everyone coming to show their support for Caroline and us as we made the choice to raise her as a Christian. I especially want to thank Mike, dru, Michaela, Jesse, and Andrea for traveling for the event. We were so glad you were all there. Mom, I also want to thank you for opening your home for all of us. Caroline is blessed to have many people who love her.

5 momth pictures

Santa Baby. This is one of Kinsley's old dresses. Thanks Amy.

Busy body. She does not sit still.

It snowed tonight. Look how festive our home is?!? Justin did our lights with a torn ACL. What a trooper. The yard art is really cute...it is Santa building a snowman.

5 Months Old

Pictures will come tomorrow because Caroline was very tired this evening. Justin tried to play dress up and get some pictures while I was at class (I told him this was his one job this evening while I was gone), but she was cranky and fell asleep at 6:30. He got a few pictures but they are not representative of her at 5 months so I did not post them.
Since I am using this as a scrapbook/baby book I want to record some things about Caroline at 5 months.

Caroline loves solid food. She loves cereal, oatmeal with bananas, sweet potatoes, and squash. She is not so sure about peas, however she tolerates them.

Caroline is taking about 5- 51/2 ounces at each feeding which is usually every 3- 4 hours.

Caroline wakes up most nights for a feeding. We are trying to break her of this,but when she is screaming we have to feed her to calm her down. There is no crying herself to sleep. She loves her food and will let us know when she must have some.

Caroline reaches for everything. She even reaches for her spoon and acts like she wants to feed herself. She has gagged herself a few times on the spoon. Today she reached out for the camera. Anything she grabs then goes into her mouth.

She is drooling everywhere and acts like she is teething, but we do not see any teeth.

Caroline has learned she has a voice and can make noise. She squeals and screams in delight.

She recognizes her bottles. Once she sees her bottle she will reach for it. Last night after I fed her I put the bottle on the table by the chair. She would not stop staring at it and reaching for it.

She is great at tummy time. Maybe that is because she has become a tummy sleeper. She can do a full push up and sometimes will try to pull her knees underneath her.

She can roll well, and mostly just rolls her from back to tummy. She is close to sitting...she falls over after about 5-10 seconds.

She is very pleasant, laughs easily, and smiles tons. Many people comment on how happy she is, which fills my heart with joy. I pray she carries this happy disposition throughout her life.

I know this is long, but I want to remember everything. She changes by the day and I quickly forget the details.

Busy Weekend

We had a crazy, Christmas celebration filled weekend. Friday night Justin and I celebrated my birthday with a date night. Thanks Grammy for keeping Caroline! On Saturday we had a friend's Christmas party at Andrea's house. Instead of doing our usual adult gift exchange, we bought a gift for a baby. Caroline got the cutest silver shoes.

Today we began the day by going to church. Two cute baby girls were baptized today. It got me excited about Caroline's baptism next weekend. Then I went to a Red Dress Tea for Laura Petersen, Paige's mom. As many people know, her home burned. A friend threw her a party and the guests brought tree ornaments to replace the ones that were lost in the fire. Finally, we finished the weekend by going to an annual Christmas open house. We saw lots of family and had a great time and tons of food. I love all the fun parties this time of year.

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is my birthday....hooray. Really is was not any big deal. It just felt like a normal day. I had to remind myself that it was my birthday a few times today. Isn't is crazy how life changes when you no longer are living just for yourself. Caroline is now the center of my life, and I know her birthday will be what I go all out for.
This year has been the best of my life. I brought a beautiful baby into the world, and I have been blessed with health, happiness, and good fortune. I pray my 27th year continues in the same fashion.
I did have a nice day. I received tons of texts and messages with birthday wishes. I really appreciate every one, and wish I had time to return them all. I had Chipotle for lunch, which my team bought me...yummy! Later in the afternoon a big cookie bouquet was delivered from Justin and Caroline. Tonight we he had dinner with the Walker's while my mom kept Caroline. It was so relaxing. Justin has also been great today. He washed all of the bottles, and picked up Caroline so I could stay late at school and catch up on some work. Overall, today was wonderful. Thanks to all of you who bought gifts and sent me birthday messages.

On a deeper note, tonight we took a wrong turn on the way home. We ended up on Lancaster, near all the homeless shelters. (Book recommendation-Same Kind of Different as Me) There were many homeless sleeping under layers of blankets on the sidewalks. I even noticed a mom with her young children walking along the road. I pray they had a place to go. It made me stop and think how abundantly blessed I am. I get so caught up in the day to day stresses and I need to slow down and recognize all the joy around me. I know people say the homeless choose that lifestyle. However, I am sure some do not, and some might because they know no other way. Either way I feel sad for these people, and pray they somehow find blessings, warmth, and love during this magical time of year.

Softball injury update

So Justin got his MRI results today, and guess what....he has to have surgery. Yep, he tore his ACL and meniscus. (I don't know if I spelled that correctly.) Right now surgery is scheduled for December 16th. It's a bummer, but it could be worse!

Gilley's

Grammy and her two kiddos

Andrea and me

Justin being silly

Yesterday was Justin's mom's birthday. She now works for Gilley's, so we decided to go out there for her birthday. We had a such a fun time. It is nice to let loose and enjoy a night baby free once in a while.

Grammy Jonette, we appreciate all you do. We are so lucky to have you close by and we thank you for all your help with Caroline. We also thank you for all the adorable clothes you buy and make for Caroline. She always looks so precious. Caroline is so blessed to have a Grammy like you.