Three Months!

The Carebear is already three months old! She is finally in 3 to 6 month clothing. When I found out we were having a girl, I went a little crazy at Gymboree one day. Everything I bought was 3 to 6 months so it has been so fun dressing her every morning! She is becoming more alert and follows the sound of our voice. Her absolute favorite thing in the world to do is to lay on a blanket and have someone talk to her. She will now "talk" back as well. She is sleeping through the night--Nate and I are not. She goes down around 8 and will go the whole night in her crib without needing to eat. However if she wakes up a little and her paci is not in her mouth, she will cry until it gets put back in. I can't complain, she has been such a great sleeper since the beginning. Caroline is getting better about being in the car. It is still not her favorite thing in the world, but at least we are not screaming bloody murder anymore. ;)

Fun Pictures

When I was younger, I found a box in my parent's closet where my Dad had saved the newspapers from significant days in history. I have started doing that with my kids. So on Tuesday I got the paper and took their picture. What I find most facinating is that Jack had no idea what a big deal it was to see an African American being sworn in as President of the United States. In his mind, everyone truly is equal regardless of the color of their skin.

Caroline found her foot!

Brothers!

We sit Caroline in her high chair when we eat so she feels like part of the family. She was super happy this morning.

Caroline's Crib

At the request of my Aunt and Katie, here are some pictures of Caroline's nursery. I looked forever to find bedding I liked for her. With girl's bedding I feel like it is either super cheesy or super expensive. Luckily we found this at Babies R Us when the line was being discontinued. Wendy Bellissimo makes it and she does a lot of celebrity nurseries. I guess BRU brought her on to do an affordable line at their stores. I took the pictures with Caroine on my hip, so they are not the greatest.

I found this at the Pottery Barn Outlet after months of searching.

Instead of doing a separate changing table and dresser, I just put the changing pad on top. We have natural wood baby furniture, but I needed white for the bedding. Luckily our neighbors let us borrow their white crib!

Nate's parents got Caroline this chair for her nursery. Nate was slightly nervous when I said we were getting a pink chenile chair, but I think it looks great! The dresses are my family's baptismal gown and the dress I came home from the hospital in. She wore it in her birth announcement. My friend Bonnie made her the piggy bank and the 2 baby dolls were mine. The one on the left is Victoria and the one on the right is Samantha

On her message board I put her ultrasound pictures, birth announcements from her friends, family pictures, and Nate's flight information from the day she was born.

Since I did the letters in Ben's room, I wanted to do something different in Caroline's. My neighor Bonnie (www.sweetnsassydesigns.googlepages.com) does lettering that looks just like paint. She can have it say whatever you want, so I did her monogram over the crib. It really pops out against the pink, but it is hard to see in the picture because of the flash.

Caroline is two months old!

Caroline had another perfect well check at the doctor this month. At 9 weeks 5 days, she weighed in at 12 pounds and 2 ounces and is now 23 inches long. She is in the 75th percentile for both height and weight. The doctor was so impressed when Caroline would respond to her name and would follow her voice. She is right on track for hitting her milestones and did fabulous even when it came time for shots. She had to get 4 in her legs and one orally. Thankfully Nate was home so I was able to take her to the appointment myself. She has continued to do awesome at night, the past couple of nights we have gone from 8:30 until 6ish. However she is definitely our princess when it comes to getting ready for bed. She gets a bath nightly which she absolutely loves. (When she is fussy, we will run water and the sound calms her down). Then it is lotion time, nose drops (she gets congested when she sleeps), her bottle that has to be warmed, and gas drops. Then she has to be swaddled, placed on her side in the sleep positioner, in her crib which is evelated on one side. It's crazy but it is working! She did so fantastic over the holidays. Now we are trying to work on a schedule for her daytime naps. She has discovered her love for the swing in the last couple of weeks. Here are a couple of fun pictures I took in the past couple of days.

CHRISTMAS!!

We had a fantastic Christmas this year! We went to my parent's house on Christmas Eve and had a fantastic dinner. The boys were super excited because they each got a Georgia Bulldawg jersey from my parents. Every year since Jack was born, I have gotten either Christmas or some sort of cute pajammas for the kids to wear on Christmas morning so that they would look cute in all of the pictures. This year I just ran out of time so when the boys asked if they could sleep in their jersies I said sure. So here they are Christmas morning:

My personal favorite is the socks! The boys had so much fun Christmas morning. Santa was very good to them this year. I do however have a bone to pick with Santa. He was awfully loud putting together the trampoline. He woke me up several times. I went to check on all the noise and found Santa and his elf (we'll call him Brian) jumping on the boys new trampoline! Unfortunately you can't take pictures of Santa, so I have no proof. :) The boys also got to open their presents from my very sweet Aunts that have been taunting them since their arrival in mid-December. My Aunts always do such a fantastic job of picking out presents for them and this year was no exception!
Here are some pictures from Christmas morning around 6:30 when the kids woke up:





After a big Christmas morning breakfast, we headed down to South Georgia to celebrate with Nate's side of the family. Unfortunately with all of the excitement, I forgot to take pictures. The kids had a blast fishing, riding on Grandpa's golf cart, climbing trees and doing other fun "farm stuff".
This was definitely my favorite Christmas yet. The boys had such a great time and I got the best Christmas present on October 27th. Nate also surprised me this year. With everything we had going on we decided not to exchange presents this year. Well, I went to look in my stocking and he had gotten me the Pandora bracelet that I have been wanting for forever! He also got three charms to go on it-- a little girl and two boys. I love it!! It was such a wonderful surprise!

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

I think this was our busiest holiday season yet!
We had Ben's Christmas Pagent:


We had a party at the clubhouse in the neighborhood:


Jack had a class party where they decorated gingerbread houses:


We decorated gingerbread houses at home:


Decorated the tree:

Grown Ups Night Out

Since Nate's parents were in town for Caroline's baptism, we took full advantage and headed out for a fun night of Japanese food with our neighbors. It was such a great time! I throughly enjoyed eating my spicy tuna roll which I had missed so much while pregnant. It was also Derek's birthday so we got to sing happy birthday as well!

Magical Night of Lights 2008

Since we had such a great time last year, we decided to visit Lake Lanier for the Magical Night of Lights again this year. Just like last year, Nate and I loved the lights and the kids loved the rides at the carnival.

Neighborhood Christmas Party

We got together again at the beginning of December for our annual Christmas Party with the neighbors. This year was the best year yet! The kids played so well together, the food was great, and there was great football on TV. Here's a shot of all of the kids being themselves. I am over trying to get the "perfect picture" and am really trying to get ones that show each kids personality at that time. I abolutely love how hard my boys are laughing in response to Hayden's booty dance!