We're Baaack!

If you check our blog very often, you may have noticed that Caroline and I took a short hiatus from blogging. I had to finish up my last two weeks at work (and the day of work usually spilled into the evening) while driving back and forth to Athens as often as possible to visit with our cousins that were here from Alaska. This left very little extra time for posting about everything we've been doing. It's been a fun couple of weeks, and we are very grateful to all the people who helped take care of Caroline...

Grandmother
(As you can see, Caroline still hasn't found enough storage space inside her mouth for her super long tounge. She pokes it out a lot!)

"Aunt" Jill (pictured here with soon-to-be "Uncle" Joe)

Aunt Sandy, Ellie, and Luke (Ellie and Luke's moms helped too)

"Aunt" Heather

(Despite what it looks like in the picture, Heather was not pinching Caroline, and Caroline did enjoy her day with Aunt Heather! You can read about their day together here.)

More to come soon on what we've been up to, but now we've got to get ready to head south so that Caroline can meet all of Mike's family and friends in Florida. Can't wait to see everyone there!

Tiny Answers to BIG Prayers

Caroline has two very special friends. Colter and Riley Landon are twins that were born just ten days after she was. Colter and Riley's parents, Leslie and Jeff, are good friends of ours who waited and prayed for very long time before they found out they were expecting these sweet babies. And, as you may know, my pregnancy didn't come easy either. It was a little over a year ago that Mike and I were having dinner at a nearby pizza place with Leslie and Jeff, feeling discouraged as we discussed the difficulty of fertility issues. Tonight, a little over a year later, at the same restaurant, our table looked like this...

We are so grateful for these tiny answers to our prayers!

We are also excited about raising Caroline alongside Jeff, Leslie, Colter, and Riley!

Welcome, Luke!

Yesterday, we finally got to meet our newest cousin,

Luke Thomas Burnett!

We got to the hospital while my cousin, Katie, was recovering from her c-section. Caroline waited...

...and waited...

...and waited...

to see Luke. Here she is getting a little preview through the nursery window.


She wasted no time sticking her tounge out at him...


And then she waited some more (her Aunt Sandy, Luke's Nana, was pretty excited too)...

until he finally came out to play! Heeeeere's LUKE:
Well, he didn't want to play, but then again, neither did she...

Welcome to the world, Cousin Luke!

We are so excited you are here!

The new family.

Already watching golf with dad.

I got a turn too!

Meeting Some Very Important People

I had a quick meeting at school yesterday which meant Caroline made her third visit to CCA. She was just as popular as ever, and it was fun for me to introduce her to more of my young friends. Here are some shots of our first two visits over the last couple of weeks.

Caroline meeting some of my middle school students for the first time. This was exciting because these folks spent every day with me as Caroline (and my belly) grew before our eyes--they were so sweet as they waited and anticipated with me over those months.

(You can't see her, but Caroline is somewhere in the center of that mix.)
Caroline loving on just a few of the whole group of incredible CCA women that had been praying for her long before she was even conceived...

My "partner", Vicky. We've worked side by side since I started teaching three years ago. I've gone to her with questions about everything from stain removal to scriptural interpretations. Just because we won't be sharing yogurt in the cafeteria everyday anymore doesn't mean my questions will end, Vicky!

My next-door-classroom-neighbor, Mary Brooks. Here, Caroline is asking her if she'll stick around so she can be her teacher when she gets to 5th grade.

De Ann is our Head of School. I think she was as excited as I was when we found out Caroline was on the way. Here, Caroline is already trying to make a good impression so her Cornerstone application will be accepted in a few years!

Some of the younger CCA crowd was eager to meet the little gal too...

We joined 2nd and 3rd grade for part of their recess.

And, of course, we had to have a picture with our fourth grade friend, who is also named Caroline! When we decided on Caroline's name, this Caroline was one of the first to know!

These are some of our CCA friends in the spring musical that we went to see...their performance was incredible! I was hoping to get to catch some of them to snap a few pictures before they ran off after the show, but noticed they all immediately disappeared from the stage after the last round of applause. I was disappointed until I realized they had run off to congregate in the back around Caroline!

Most of the cast.

Caroline and Maggie are old pals now...we've gotten to visit with Maggie and her family several times since Caroline arrived!Showing Hannah's mom how she likes to suck her fingers.
After all of the new friends and excitement, Caroline needed a little down time with her old friend, the pacifier.

What is Caroline such a big fan of?

This is what Caroline spent an hour by herself doing this morning...

(The footage wasn't the best...she was all laughs for most of the time.)

Can you guess what she was enjoying watching so much?

The lights, music, motion, and colors on this?

The mirrors and sounds on this?

These?

The adoring face of her mama?

Uhhhh...no. It was this:

Moms and Dads-to-be, before you buy every toy in Babies R Us, try this. Watching it is Caroline's FAVORITE thing to do. Nothing makes her laugh like the ceiling fan. Next time you come to our house, don't be surprised if we have one installed in every room.

Caught ya!

I have discovered that keeping Caroline awake from her late evening feeding until her late night feeding makes for a better night's sleep for everyone. She goes down more easily and sleeps longer. Tonight, I had to do a project for work that took a couple of hours. Mike's job: keep Caroline awake. He was kind enough to take her upstairs to watch basketball so I could work in peace. I was impressed at how quiet he had been able to keep her...I didn't hear any crying or anything after they left. When I finished around 11 and headed upstairs, I found this: Real cute now--not so cute when she is wide awake in a couple of hours.

Seriously though, she has been a great nighttime sleeper lately. She recently slept for 7 hours and usually makes it around 5 or 6. So much better than those first few weeks!