Happy New Year!

Oh my goodness! It's 2015!

Caroline Lou is 4 months old

My sweet little, miss Caroline Lou, is four months old today. Boy, has that flown by! Every day we love her more than the last. She is absolutely the best thing. These days she: is very talkative, smiley, and increasingly independent; is rolling like a pro; reaches out and grasps things that she wants; enjoys reading books with mom and dad; is a little social butterfly and enjoys the company of friends; drools ALL the time; is a little snuggle monster who just laughs and laughs when you blubber her belly. She loves "standing" and giving her little legs a workout. I have visions of our life in the not too distant future when we have a walker. Watch out!

Life these days just gets busier and busier. At night, Bob and I fall into bed exhausted, but deliriously happy.

I suspect this blog will be taking a back seat for awhile. I'll try to do these monthly updates, but otherwise we'll be truckin' along enjoying our little family. Cheers to fun filled times for all of you, too!

Months one, two, and three.

Rolling update

UPDATE: Caroline rolling has been captured on video. Love it!

We have a roller!

Big news today... We have a roller! Little miss Caroline can roll over all by herself. And she loves it. She's been nearly there for a little while, managing to roll half way onto her side from her back and tummy. Yesterday, though, she started rolling over all the way from her tummy to her back (several times).

Bob and I shrieked with joy, we were so excited! Prouder parents you couldn't find...

The cool thing (for me) was that yesterday would have been my mom's 60th birthday. I thought that made it an extra special milestone.

p.s. Caroline's other milestone? Pooing in the bathtub. That was fun! ;)

Caroline Lou is three months old

It's hard to believe our little sweetie turned 3 months old yesterday. Each month brings new developments and new fun.

Caroline is now enjoying her bath time, which is a relief. She even smiles while we're washing her hair. I honestly thought that would never happen. She is also loving tummy time and can hold her head up so well now. Her legs are strong and she loves pushing her entire body weight up, and bouncing up and down.

When we take our evening walks she gazes up at the trees and loves looking all around taking in her ever expanding world.

Best of all, those sweet smiles of hers just keep coming. She laughs out loud and my heart melts.

Month one and month two.

Happy Mother's Day

I am so looking forward to my first Mother's Day this Sunday. Caroline Lou is my greatest gift and my biggest joy. I love her so much and am so thankful that I get to be her mommy. I'm looking forward to spending the day with my little family just lazing around in our jammies, eating pancakes, snuggling, grilling out, playing, planting flowers, and sneaking in a facial (just an hour or so of "me time":).

I miss my mom everyday. I always think about her a lot on Mother's Day. She was the kindest, warmest, most compassionate, and loving person I have ever known. She had a way about her that made everyone love her and feel at ease. She always spoke well of other people and she truly led by example.

My mom told me every single day how much she loved me and that I was the best thing that she ever did. I now understand that kind of love and am so happy to share that special bond with my sweet baby girl. It's unlike anything else. My mom would have loved Caroline so, so much. I am certain that they would have been the best of friends. I can't wait to share all of my memories of my wonderful mom with Caroline. If Caroline loves me even half as much as I loved my mom, I'll be one lucky lady.

The photos above are of my mom and me sitting in the same wooden rocking chair, each pregnant with our baby girl. Pretty awesome, right?

And, a few more photos to share after the jump...

Baby sandals

Oh. My. Goodness. Don't you just love these Salt-Water sandals for baby? I can't wait until Caroline is walking and can wear these next summer.

And, obviously I would never spend this much on a baby dress, but how cute is this!

Back to work

Today is my first day back to work in the office after maternity leave with Caroline. I'm happy to report that I'm surviving and am doing OK.

Last week I worked from home on Thursday and Friday and did trial runs with her daycare. I think that helped with my transition. I got most of my tears out on Thursday and managed to keep dry eyes today. This is the longest I have been away from my sweet Baby Lou, though, and as the afternoon creeps along I find myself ready for some time with my sweet little one.

I was just reading this quoted passage from Anne Lamott's Operating Instructions (via cup of jo):

"I have a friend named Anne, this woman I've known my entire life, who took her two-year-old up to Tahoe during the summer. They were staying in a rented condominium by the lake. And of course, it's such a hotbed of gambling that all the rooms are equipped with these curtains and shades that block out every speck of light so you can stay up all night in the casinos and then sleep all morning. One afternoon she put the baby to bed in his playpen in one of these rooms, in the pitch-dark, and went to do some work. A few minutes later, she heard her baby knocking on the door from inside the room, and she got up, knowing he'd crawled out of his playpen. She went to put him down again, but when she got to the door, she found he'd locked it. He had somehow managed to push in the little button on the doorknob. So he was calling to her, "Mommy, Mommy," and she was saying to him, "Jiggle the doorknob, darling," and of course he didn't speak much English—mostly he seemed to speak Urdu. After a moment, it became clear to him that his mouther couldn't open the door, and the panic set in. He began sobbing. So my friend ran around like crazy trying everything possible, like trying to get the front door key to work, calling the rental agency where she left a message on the machine, calling the manager of the condominium where she left another message, and running back to check in with her son every minute or so. And there he was in the dark, this terrified little child. Finally she did the only thing she could,, which was to slide her fingers underneath the door, where there was a one-inch space. She kept telling him over and over to bend down and find her fingers. Finally somehow he did. So they stayed like that for a really long time, on the floor, him holding onto her fingers in the dark. He stopped crying. She kept wanting to go call the fire department or something,but she felt that contact was the most important thing. She started saying, "Why don't you lie down, darling, and take a little nap on the floor?" and he was obviously like, "Yeah, right, Mom, that's a great idea, I'm feeling so nice and relaxed." So she kept saying, "Open the door now," and every so often he'd jiggle the knob, and eventually, after maybe half an hour, it popped open."

It brought tears to my eyes. I truly never knew how much my heart could possibly love before my sweet Baby Lou.

Baby Lou is two months old

My sweet Baby Lou turned two months old on Sunday. She's grown so much in the last month! She can already hold her head up on her own and she even supports her entire body weight on her little legs. She's so strong. She follows me and Bob all around the room with her eyes and a big grin. And, best of all, she is all smiles. Her little "aahh's" and "coo's" melt my heart and her smile just sends me soaring.

We are truly smitten with our baby girl. Caroline Lou, you are more than we could have ever dreamed.

Month one.

Pee in the face

Already I'm learning a lot about parenthood, the art of flexibility, and finding humor in it all. There are so many things that you really can't prepare yourself for. Your capacity to love, the intense changes your body will go through, getting baby pee in your eye...

The other day Bob and I were changing Caroline's diaper before bedtime. The dirty diaper was undone and Bob was cleaning her up before putting on the new one. I reached down to pull off her socks and at the exact moment that her sock sprung off her little foot she started to pee. The sock somehow hit the pee mid-stream and flung it directly into my eyes and my mouth. Stunned, I stood there for a moment, mouth agape, eyes blinking fast, baby pee all over my face.

Bob looked over at me not knowing what had happened. "Baby pee! My eyes, my mouth!" is what I think I said. We both laughed so hard it hurt. Caroline laid contentedly on her changing pad just watching, her expression something like "what are you two weirdos doing."

Baby pee in the face. There's no preparing for that.

Caroline Lou one month

We welcomed our sweet daughter, Caroline Lou, into the world on Valentine's Day. She turned one month old last week, which seemed impossibly fast.

Caroline is the sweetest thing I've ever known. It's not possible to comprehend how much love your heart has for your child. She is absolute perfection and I love her more than I could ever say. Bob and I are so blessed to be her parents. We're having so much fun getting to know her and making her smile (which she does ALL the time).

What an exciting adventure that has begun!