Sunday, August 24, 2008

Happy Birthday, Gogo!


Today is Gogo's birthday, and Caroline wanted to send her lots of love from Norcross!
Happy Birthday, Gogo!

(Gogo, your birthday package will be arriving next week. Caroline and I spent all morning yesterday getting it ready, but got to the post office to mail it right after they closed!)

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Four Years Ago Today...

I married the love of my life. They say maintaining a healthy marriage is one of the most important ways to parent well. I'm thankful to be married to someone who is as committed to being a good husband as he is to being a good father. We've learned in our four years that life isn't always easy, but there is so so so much to be thankful for! Happy Anniversary, Mike!

And just for fun...
Here's a memory for any of you who attended our wedding...do you remember what prompted these expressions?


Someone said I'd look back in five years and just think it was funny. Well, it's been four, and it still makes me cringe a little. I'll let you know if things have changed next year!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Another Kind of "Pea"

A quick run down of Caroline's six month check up today:
  • She weighs 13 pounds and 1 ounce which puts her just below the 10th percentile for weight. I think she weighs about the same as her 6 week old cousin, Cole. The doctor isn't terribly concerned, though. He says she is progressing, and he doesn't see any real reason to worry. We'll go in for a weight check in a few weeks to be sure.
  • She is 26 inches long (maybe--the way they measure doesn't look very accurate to me). That puts her just below the 50th percentile.
  • She was very forgiving when it came to her shots --she cried for less than five seconds after the last shot, regained her composure, and was all smiles when a lady in the waiting room spoke to her on our way out.
  • She was less forgiving when it came to the "under the diaper" part of the exam--she showed Dr. Gorvy how she felt about his intrustion by relieving herself on him. Oops...sorry about that!

Back to Africa...

Yesterday we said goodbye to Uncle Steven, Aunt Monica, Lacie and Nathan. They had a layover in Atlanta before the long flight back to Swaziland, and we got to spend their last few hours in the states with them. Monica's good friends, Jennifer and Stephanie, were able to be there too. Thanks, Jen, for sending these pictures!

Uncle Mike and Nathan have a chat.

Snuggled up with sweet Lacie.

Mike and Monica get ready to say goodbye.

See how sweetly Nathan is reaching over to give Caroline a little pat? Well, what you can't see is that Caroline rared back and popped Nathan in the eye, making him cry then and everytime Caroline got near him. Nathan may be the only one that was NOT sad to say goodbye to his family.
One last shot before we said goodbye.

Steven, Monica, Lacie, and Nathan--we are so grateful for you and the chance to spend some time together over the past few weeks. We love you very much!

Monday, August 11, 2008

Peas Sneeze

Tonight, Caroline learned what happens when you sneeze while you are eating your peas.

Who am I kidding? This is what she usually looks like when she eats whether she sneezes or not! Her daily menu now includes brown rice cereal, avocados, and peas. She's a pretty decent eater, but she still has to suck her fingers between each bite--which leads to messy fingers and eventually messy everything!

Wild Weekend With Our Friends From Franklin!

If you know Mike, you've probably heard him talk about one of his oldest friends, "Best Friend, Dave". (Dave's wife and I always laugh at the way both of them usually include the title, "Best Friend" when saying one another's name.)

Well, "Best Friend Dave" is extremely talented and just resigned from one very cool job (in radio) to take an even cooler one, and he has a few weeks off in between--so he and his super fun family came down from their home in Franklin, TN this weekend to visit. We always have fun with this wild bunch! You would never guess how much personality could be packed into Dave's tiny little wife, Natalia (even 6 months pregnant with baby #3, she and Caroline occupy about the same amount of space)--and their kids are just as personality packed. They are always up for an adventure--during their day and a half visit, we hiked, skipped stones in the creek, played on a playground, went to church, went to the water park, ate out, roasted hotdogs (well, in the end we microwaved hot dogs), made s'mores, played board games, and just had fun hanging out!

As soon as Simone (3) saw this tire swing she said decidedly, "that gonna make me thow up." It didn't stop her from jumping on, though. Fortunately, everyone kept their lunch down.Simone and Sebastian wading in the creek.

Caroline was popular with the boys at lunch on Sunday. (Uh oh, Carson--Sebastian may be moving in on your territory!) I snapped this right before Sebastian played "Kung Fu Baby" with Caroline. He would use her arms and legs to hit himself in the face and chest and then pretend to fall over will full sound effects. Caroline thought it was pretty funny!Our families after lunch on Sunday.We got to witness the loss of Sebastian's second tooth!

Playing dominos with "Tio Mike". (Natalia's family is from Columbia so they are raising the kids to be bilingual. Mike and I are "Tio" and "Tia"--"Uncle" and "Aunt".)Sebastian wanted to hold Baby Caroline one more time before leaving early this morning. So, of course, Simone wanted a turn as well!


Thanks for the fun visit, friends! Can't wait until next time!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Happy Birthday, Grandmother!

Caroline wants to wish her grandmother, my mom, a happy birthday today!(Having cake to celebrate a few days ago--and Caroline's first exposure to fire. She was enamored!)

Happy Birthday, Grandmother! Hope you have a good day!
We love you, Mike, Suzanna, and Caroline

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

One Half!

Today is Caroline's half birthday. We'll celebrate in a little while with a half cake (which, of course, Caroline will get none of)... It's almost impossible to believe that it was six entire months ago tonight that we were here. At the same time, it's hard to believe that she's only been here for six months. Already, it's hard to remember what life was like before her. It doesn't seem like I could have grown to love her this much in only six months. Mike and I still look at each other almost every day in disbelief that we have this little life to care for. It is humbling, exciting, scary, and wonderful all at the same time. In spite of all the woes and worries that come along with a new baby, this has been the best six months of my life!Happy half birthday, Baby Girl!
We knew we would love you, but we didn't know it would be even half this much fun!

Church and Chicken

Last Sunday was Caroline's baby dedication at our church. Some of our nearest and dearest came to witness as she was introduced to the congregation and our little family was prayed over. Mike and I also had the opportunity to publicly dedicate ourselves to raising her in a Christian home. This was our message to her.

Caroline,
When we were dating, we discovered that we shared the same favorite Bible verse. Jeremiah 29:11 says that God knows the plans He has for us and that those plans are to give us hope and a future. Through times of hardship and doubt, the Lord has shown this truth in both of our lives over and over in many ways—one of the greatest ways being you.
We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Lord created you with a distinct purpose. We are wholly committed to making sure you have every opportunity to know and love Him and to find His perfect plan for you. To guide you as this plan unfolds is the greatest and most wonderful responsibility either of us has ever had.
We love you more than we could ever describe, and we know that God’s love for you is even greater than ours. May that love always be a source of security, confidence, and inspiration as you grow into the woman God designed you to be.


Mom and Dad

God had clearly planned the day perfectly as the message that followed happened to be based on that same verse, Jeremiah 29:11--and the speaker used his own story, which included a struggle with fertility before receiving a baby girl, to illustrate.

Afterwards, our visitors to church came back to our house for a fancy gourmet lunch...


Ok, so not fancy or gourmet, but it was good--and the company was great...


Carson and Macie, the children Mike's college roommate and good friend, Jeff. Carson loves Caroline (and we know the feeling will be mutual when she's a little older) so we were especially glad to have him here for her special day.

Our sweet little pal, Sydney, and her dad, Steven. Our good friends, Scott and Christina.


Caroline napped until most everyone had left. But she came down for the after-party, sporting the cute new outfit Jeff and Courtney gave her in honor of her special day. Posing with "Aunt" Heather. (Apparently my dad, on the left, thought someone was throwing something at him.)

"Wrestling" with Papa Jim.Hanging out with Gogo.

We are so grateful for our church, our family, and our friends who will come alongside us as we raise our baby the way God intended.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Look, Daddy!

Mommy and I have been working on sitting again today, and I did this by myself for about 30 seconds at a time...at first Mom only took pictures from the back so she could catch me if I fell over,but she's getting more brave...and it doesn't really hurt when I fall over anyway.I'm getting there!

Love, Caroline