Eating with a spoon

Tonight we thought we would let Caroline try eating her applesauce with a spoon. Let's just say that she will need more practice!! She had a good time though trying to eat with a spoon and giving up in the process and just using her fingers which led to a huge mess!

National Day of Prayer

Today is the National day of Prayer! Prayer is something that has grown in my life over the years. I've never been the one to want to pray out loud in front of people or over people. I always liked to close a door and pray by myself. Well God knew that I needed a prayer partner when he put Blake in my life. Blake is awesome at praying and is awesome at what to ask for in a prayer. Blake has forced me out of my comfort zone and to pray together as a couple every night. Not only that but we also pray as a family with Caroline before putting her to bed. It's such a special time and it's really made my relationship with Jesus so much stronger. Blake has truly been a role model for me in that aspect of my life and for that I'm so grateful.

Since it's National prayer day here's a few things that I'm praying for today...

The flood victims of Nashville

The people related to the oil spill

Our country's leaders

Those who are hurting and longing for Jesus's love

My family and my precious daughter

My friends

And...I'm also thanking God for the many many blessings that he's given us that we take for granted everyday. There are times when my faith runs low and when I want to question God but it's at those moments that God uses the people and the world around me to show me how amazing he is if I will just trust him and his plan for me. Today is a great reminder of that!

A visit from Grammy Sue and Granddaddy!

Blake's parents came over tonight to visit miss Caroline. We hung out at the house for a little bit and then they treated us to dinner at Chepe's Mexican restaurant near our house. It was very yummy as usual. Here's some pictures that I took before we left for dinner.





Here we are at the restaurant. Caroline got a "boon" to keep her occupied until we got a table to sit at.



And here's some after dinner pics!

Love at First Sight!

Is this not the cutest picture or what? Kim had a photographer at Hayes' birthday party and she emailed me the pictures today. This one just melts my heart. They are two precious little kiddos!


Here's a little girl that I loved at first sight!!! She looks like she's posing before she drives off...wonder if it will be like this when she turns 16?!?


And I'm pretty sure that my mom and dad are having "love at first sight" seeing this boat in person today!!!

My parents left today to celebrate their anniversary. I really hope they have a blast...even though I'm still here working and not there having fun myself!!! They planned this cruise awhile back as an anniversary gift to themselves...and they truly deserve this vacation! We will miss them dearly though and can't wait for them to get back. We haven't been to Cleveland in 3 weeks and we are having withdrawls! We did get to see my parents last weekend when they came to our house to babysit Caroline during the day and then they treated us to a dinner at our favorite restaurant, Norman's Landing.
Have fun mom and dad!!!

15 month checkup

I took Caroline to the dr today for her 15 month check-up. She was extremely cute with the dr. She smiled and waved to him and even blew him kisses. She did all of her little tricks and said all of her new words to him. Usually she's so shy with new people but she was full of herself today! Here's her stats...

Weight: 19 lbs 12 ounces = 8th percentile
Height: 29.75 inches = 29th percentile
Head: 18.75 = 91st percentile

Yes, you read that right...her weight is in the 8th percentile. She's such a little girl. She actually only gained 2 ounces from her 12 month visit. The dr said that is typical for them to level off on their weight between 1 and 2 years old. And she has a little belly and eats a lot so he isn't concerned that she's so little. Now, you might be asking why her head is so much bigger than her body b/c I know I asked! He said that her head looks even with her body and doesn't look huge like the stats say. We both agreed that the nurse that measured her head did it wrong b/c the number I saw was 17 3/4...which would sound more like the true measurement. She also had her weight originally as 18 lbs 2 oz and I just knew that wasn't right so I asked for her to re-weigh her. I'm not sure if she was new or just tired but she wasn't "on" today!

The dr gave Caroline a great report. She is growing and learning at the speed that she should. I did mention her allergy issues to him and he suggested starting her on either Claritin or Benedryl. So, we will try that this week and see how it goes!

Her next visit is at 18 months...she's growing up on us way to fast!

Happy Birthday Hayes!

Today, we went to a birthday party for a very special boy. Hayes is exactly to the day 3 months younger than Caroline. Blake and I met his parents through small group and we have been great friends since! Kim is AWESOME at decorating and did such a great job decorating for Hayes' party. We all had a blast and Caroline came home worn out! She was a little shy at first at the party...which is nothing unusal but quickly warmed up after eating yummy pizza and chocolate cake!

Here's Hayes, his mommy Kim, Caroline and daddy!

Hayes waiting for his yummy cake!


Caroline and daddy!

Here's two other friends from our old small group..Jenn and Tiffany with their babies Sarah and Madison! So cute!

The next few pictures are Caroline and Sarah playing together. They were so cute together!





Not sure what Caroline and Sarah were looking at on the ground...but it must have been something good!

And then Caroline got to go for a ride outside with the birthday boy...aka her boyfriend!




Hayes also let Caroline ride in his new car.


Here's our attempt at a group shot. Hayes is totally outnumbered!

And we took some pics of our little Caroline with mommy and daddy!



Thanks again Kim & Chris for inviting us! We had a blast.

Exhausted...

...is the only way I can describe our family right now. Caroline has been up each night since Tuesday with a horrible cough. She was running a fever of 100 to 101...nothing that Motrin couldn't handle. So, we would get up with her 5 to 6 times each night with the cough and restlessness. Blake stayed home with her yesterday (our normal routine) and he called me yesterday morning at work saying that Caroline was running a fever of 101 and was really lethargic. So, I called the dr who then transferred me to a triage nurse. Honestly, I wasn't sure if we needed to come in or not and we are scheduled to come in on Monday for her 15 month check-up so I didn't want to have to make two trips if it wasn't necessary. I wasn't sure if she needed to go b/c she only had the cough, a little fever, slighty runny nose but no other huge symptoms at the time. Oh, and she was still eating good too. So, I talked to the triage nurse and we determined over the phone that it could very well be teething (she has at least 4 teeth coming in right now) or maybe a cold. We decided not to make an appt and just to give it time to see if it clears up. When I got home, I noticed Caroline just wasn't herself and her eyes were so swollen and pitiful. I took her temp and it was 104. What??? You know I freaked out. We quickly packed everything up and went to the choa immediate care center.

The dr came in, we gave him her symptoms, he looked her over and couldn't find anything wrong. He thought it would be necessary to do a catheter to make sure it wasn't a UTI infection. Of course, it wasn't. Caroline's symptoms are congestion, cough, fever, teething. Nothing to do with a UTI. I was a little ticked that he wanted to do that but none the less, that was one thing ruled out. So, since he felt like she didn't have an infection he thought it was just something viral and should last a couple more days. He said it's going around right now...I'm hoping he is right and that it's nothing more than that.

Last night was rough. We were up and down all night. At 2am Caroline woke up screaming so we both went in to check on her and her nose was bleeding and her sheets were bloody. Not sure if she picked her nose so bad that it bled since she can't breathe or if it started on it's own. Her temp at 2am was 103 so we gave her more motrin. Today, she is home with daddy getting some cuddle time. I'm praying that she will be over what ever this is soon...b/c none of us are getting much sleep these days!