8/9 months

Poor Caroline, nearly 9 months old now and I'm just now getting around to writing up her blog :(  Story of her life!  She has changed a ton over the last 1.5 months and is learning so many new things!


We're going to go ahead and call her first word 'Bye-bye'.  She will combine it with a wave whenever we're leaving a room.  And I tend to think she knows it means someone is leaving because typical when we get home in the evenings we only get a wave :)  Her wave is the sweetest - the hand flap with her palm facing her.  I just love it so much.  The big girls think it is just hilarious that she waves like that also!  I will seriously be kind of sad the day she figures out she needs to turn that hand around.


She has cut her first tooth - it appeared right around Thanksgiving - the bottom left middle one :)  She's working on the right middle one so I'm sure it will be here soon.  Teething has made her a little fussier than normal at times so I'm sure they bother her.  One of her favorite things to chew on is a toothbrush!


Her favorite toy, of course, is a light up wand that came from a birthday party treat bag.  The most random thing ever but she holds onto it for dear life.  If you even think about snatching a toy from her she grips it so tightly and starts screaming/crying at you... just as Emma Kate... she has plenty of experience with that ;)  She also loves banging things together, sitting in front of the fridge and playing with magnets, wipes, paper, remotes, and generally all other sorts of things she shouldn't have.


Sleep has gotten better thanks to a little tough love from her Dad.  Over thanksgiving weekend we decided she was not getting fed at night if she woke up.  The first night she cried for about 25 minutes two separate times; the second night only once; and the third night we all slept like babies teenagers. :) Teething and a little cold have kind of thrown us for a loop but it's still much better lately. 


She still isn't crawling, just hangs out in one place.  I think sometimes she's fussy because she would like to get something but just doesn't know how to - plus if she fusses enough she generally gets the toy handed to her from an adoring big sister or gets picked up (by mom or an adoring big sister ;)).  At this point if she just wants to wait until the Christmas tree is put up then I'd be ok with that :)


She is eating a ton of foods now and generally loving them.  She gets pretty darn upset if her food runs out before she is ready to.  Poor Caroline eats a ton of baby food jars and I don't even feel bad about it ha.  Harper had all of her food homemade, Emma Kate got about half of it... and then there's Caroline.  I just don't have the hours in the day!  I love it when she's able to just eat bits and pieces from our plates and her chewing has really improved in the last few weeks so she's getting to do some more of that :)  Current favorites probably include gerber puffs and pears.  She was getting some macaroni at Thanksgiving though and pretty much inhaled that stuff.


Her little pincher grasp has really improved and it's nice to be able to plop her in the highchair with a snack while I'm trying to get dinner made for everyone else!  Now dinner... that is never dull.  The big girls love getting Caroline all riled up and she does it to them too.  If on the off chance the big girls are being calm, Caroline will start squealing and yelling at them, just grinning and waiting for them to start playing with her.  And then they all start going nuts.  Calmness is not in their genes and dinnertime at our house is not for the faint of heart.  They were being wild in the car the other day so Andy and I decided we need some pilot headsets so that we can only talk to/hear each other :)


Everyone asks me how their personalities compare and are surprised when I say that generally Caroline is our happiest, easiest to engage baby.  She is nonstop smiles at home with us.  But she does have a serious case of stranger-danger.  At best she will tolerate a stranger but don't count on a smiles and more than likely it is going to end in serious tears.  And 'stranger' basically means anyone besides Andy, me, Harper, EK and our babysitter lol.  I'm sure she has hurt many peoples' feelings so I just remind them, it's not you, it's her ;)


She's wearing most 9-12 month clothes now.  Still has dark brown hair and eyes and looks an awful lot like Harper.  We go for her 9 month checkup next week so we will see exactly how big she has gotten! :)  We love our sweet baby girl and are so excited to celebrate her first Christmas!


Here's some pics from our fall photos taken by our awesome nanny (who also has a photog business if anyone needs some great pics done around Lexington!)

7 Months

Happy 7 months to the sweetest girl, baby Caroline.  I'm sorry I missed the last month.  I was a little late in getting her pictures taken and by the time I was halfway motivated I figured I better just wait until the next month ;)


So much has changed since she was 5 months old - I think the biggest thing is how great she has gotten at sitting up!  This has always been one of my favorite milestones.  She is just so content to sit and play with toys, watch her big sisters go wild all around her, chill while I do laundry, etc.  I'm not sure what I'd say her favorite toy is, basically anything she can grab ahold of!  For whatever reason EK was so great about not putting small things in her mouth which was wonderful since Harper had a ton of tiny toys.  I have a feeling Caroline will not be like that at all!  She does love her sophie giraffe, one of her rattles that has a teether on it, one of the big girls' wands that lights up.  She's not so into listening to books and instead prefers to try to grab them out of my hands and eat them.


She has started on solids and is getting much better!  Her first food was an avocado which she wasn't so sure about.  She subsequently loved baby cereal so I started mixing a little avocado in there which she began liking a little more.  It took her a good week to learn to swallow and not just push everything out with her tongue.  Since then she has had bananas, applesauce, peas, carrots, spinach and rice.  She was not a huge fan of peas/spinach but with a little applesauce and oatmeal thrown in she decided it was ok :)  With the other girls I was able to steam solids and just start with those but Caroline hasn't taken to those quite as well but we'll keep trying!


One night she randomly rolled to her belly and slept through the night so we have continued laying her down on her belly for bed.  While she still isn't sleeping through the night she has gotten much better, only waking once/night and I feel like it's getting closer to allll the way through the night, fingers crossed!


She still has no teeth, just a gummy little grin :)  From what I can tell doesn't look like there are any brewing to pop through soon either.


Her temperament is still pretty darn relaxed, happy.  Stranger danger is becoming a very real thing and it's so funny to feel her start to cling on when she senses someone knew.  One of my most favorite moments of the day is walking into the door after work - generally chaos starts to ensue because everyone wants my attention all at once but Caroline starts flapping her arms and squealing and it is the sweetest ever!


Harper and Emma Kate love to make her laugh and sitting around our dinner table at night is never dull - often it's filled with H and EK telling 'jokes' in order to make Andy and I laugh which subsequently gets Caroline all giggly and it's just loud and wild :)


Harper had decided to be a rainbow unicorn but when we went to pick out her Halloween costume at target she saw Batgirl and hasn't looked back.  Emma Kate has been little mermaid obsessed lately so I got her a mermaid costume and she found herself a wig at target too.  I thought there was no way she would actually wear it but the girl LOVES it.  We had the best time at Boo at the Zoo.  Poor baby Caroline does not yet have a costume and got to hang out in the carrier the whole time.  We're thinking she might be a 'caro-lion' or whatever else I can round up for her :)


At her 6 month appt she was 15.3lbs, 26''. Currently wearing mostly 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diapers.  She has the sweetest smile and will share it with you if me or Andy are holding her ;)

5 Months

Caroline is 5 months (and a week) old! :)  I really cannot say just how sweet she is and what a pleasant baby she is pretty much all the time!! (well except for this past weekend when she met a ton of extended family, haha)

In just the last week it seems like her hand-eye coordination has gotten SO much better.  She is grabbing for everything, toys, hair, jewelry, food, etc.  Harper and EK think it's hilarious and love to call her Swiper (from Dora the explorer).  Although, they do hate when she gets ahold of their hair.  She is getting so much stronger and sometimes will flex her little abs and lift her head to help when you're picking her up.  She still has not flipped from her belly to her back - hopefully she's fine but she is doing a ton of tummy time but generally is just content to hang out on her belly for a while and doesn't make much of an effort to roll that way.  She has started trying to pull her little legs up under her belly and it's just crazy to think we may be only a few months away from her crawling.

She is generally a pretty happy, smiling girl.  Harper CRACKS her up.  To be honest, I'm not sure how entertained she is by Emma Kate which does make me feel a little bad for EK.  EK just does not respect personal space and loves to get right up in Caroline's face and yell.  EK sort of screeches at them when she needs some space and that just makes EK scream even louder 'mama mama, my baby needs you!'  Anytime Caroline is laughing at Harper, I always encourage EK to come play too so she's getting some positive reinforcement from Caroline too :)

I do think she's happier when the big girls are around because they give her some entertainment!  She also loves sitting in her exersaucer and playing on her mat.  She's content being outside and loved her first few times in the pool!

Caroline has done fine with bottles this month - still not a paci girl but often has her hands in her mouth.  She does this talking/yelling thing when she gets tired, often in the carrier it seems.  It's so loud that it's hard for me to hear other people around me but she's not unhappy, just yapping very loudly.

We're still swaddling because basically she doesn't sleep that great as it is and we just haven't bitten the bullet to get rid of it. She frequently busts out so the realistic part of me doesn't worry too much about her flipping over and being stuck or anything.  Last night at 2:30, she was crying so I went in to re-wrap her and we got into a little tug of war game over her swaddle which had her cracking up.  It's hard to be grumpy at night when she's so happy to be around.

And yes… sleep…  so elusive around our house.  Randomly she'll have a great night where she will sleep until 6-7 but the vast majority she is up twice, usually around 12 and 3.  If it were just her it wouldn't be horrible but of course Harper has bad dreams that send her running into our room, or EK needs to go potty, get her nose wiped, etc.  But, I'm not sure what it feels like to not be tired and we are managing fine :)

She's wearing mostly 6 month clothes - not sure how much she weighs at this point.  Still in size 2 diapers but as soon as we run out we'll move up to 3s.

I still think she favors Harper though I did post a picture of her and EK recently in the same swimsuit and they did look an awful lot alike so we will see! :)

4 Months

Caroline is 4 months!  One third of a year! ha!  She is such a delight and I highly recommend a 3rd baby to anyone who asks ;)  

She is developing such a little personality and it is so interesting to see how different she is from the other girls.  I think she is the most talkative and loves to babble and coo.  She doesn't appreciate her big sisters yelling in her face and yells right back at them sometimes while simultaneously looking like she's going to bite their faces.  They of course think this is hilarious so just yell even louder.

She is a smiley little babe and at that fun stage where she will just sit at church peeking over my shoulder and smiling at the strangers behind us.  I'm sure I'm biased but I do believe I get the biggest grins ;)  

She just started rolling over the day she turned 4 months, we found her in her crib on her belly!  Right now it's only back to front but she's getting good at it.  We're still loosely swaddling her but hopefully over the weekend will work on getting her to sleep without the swaddle entirely.

Caroline loves to suck or nibble on her hand to help self-soothe and has just found her feet in the last couple of days too so is often grabbing onto them.  They've not made their way into her mouth just yet though :)

She went through a couple days where she was refusing the bottle again but is taking it pretty well now so hopefully that will continue!  My other girls would eat basically anytime a bottle was offered but she really just only eats when she's hungry I think.  

Her big sisters love holding her and often fight about whose turn it is.  Harper is getting braver and I've caught her trying to pick up Caroline a couple times which is sorta scary.  Don't make the mistake of saying something about EK being little or she will most certainly yell at you to remind you that she is big like Harper and Caroline is the little baby.  

Caroline's eyes are looking pretty brown and for the most part I think she looks a ton like Harper though occasionally people will say she looks like EK or a mix of them.  EK loves finding blue eyed friends 'just like her' since she's the only blue eyed girl in our house. 

Caroline is wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes now, size 2 diapers.  She is sleeping pretty bad in my opinion but we're dealing with it.  She's up at least 2x/night, occasionally 3.  I think I just got spoiled over maternity leave when she was sleeping nearly through the night.  That changed when I went back to work and she was refusing to eat during the day and while she is eating now, the sleeping is still not great.  One of these days we will all sleep!  Andy reminds me that in a few years I'm going to be begging my kids to wake up and go do something with me on the weekends, haha.  At her 4 mo WCC she was up to 14.1 lbs, 25 inches - 44/67%iles.

4 Years - Harper!

Happy 4th birthday to our sweet Harper girl!!

Harper is such a joy to be around and we are so thankful for her.  Sometimes I get blown away when I catch her acting so grown up and realize she is far from our little baby anymore.  She is funny and goofy, always wanting to help or take care of someone, and so kind.  She takes things to heart when we talk about ways to be nice to people and always puts them into action.  She's a sensitive little soul and definitely a people pleaser so hates when she ends up in any sort of trouble.  Generally a warning is all it takes to straighten her up :) 

Her best friends are Emma Kate and Clairebear and she loves to hold her 'sweet baby girl' (Caroline).  Harper acts as my protector of Caroline at times.  If I ever need to leave the room with all 3 girls in it I remind the big girls not to touch Caroline and ask Harper to yell for me if EK is getting a little handsy with her ;)  EK and H have a typical sibling relationship where they play great together and then 2 seconds later they are yelling and fighting with each other.  Harper loves to boss Emma Kate around and try to talk her into an activity of Harper's choosing and often EK will disagree for no reason other than to disagree with her.  While EK ends up doing the yelling, Harper often is very sneakily pushing EK's buttons.  There is certainly no shortage of drama around our house ;)

Harper still loves horses, enough so that she asked for another horse party which was so much fun this year!  We had a bunch of family and friends out and I think Harper was in heaven getting to ride Snowball again.  She is also very into superheroes so ended up with quite a few new capes for her bday.  Daily her and EK are running around 'saving the day'.  Each morning they start into new crafts which results in endless pieces of art for me to 'take to my work friends' :)

Her vocabulary cracks me up - yesterday she was telling me how it would be a 'catastrophe' if I didn't cut her snowflake in a circle first.  Frequently her and EK pretend that they are 'predators and prey' and honestly I have no idea where she learned that from.  And watch out, if you don't win the concert (contest) then you will be eliminator (eliminated) :)

Harper loves gymnastics and really does a great job with it.  She's also super excited for soccer this fall with her friend Piper and having Andy coach her.  She has decided she's done with dance - she never really fought about going but wasn't ever super excited so said that she would rather just do gymnastics and soccer for now.  She also loves, loves going to the pool and we do our best to get out there as much as we can.  She and EK have helped Andy plant the garden and are finally reaping the benefits!  They go out there almost nightly to see whatever they can pick.  The girls' favorites are the tomatoes of course and they eat them off the plant basically as soon as they are ripe.  

She is a funny little eater - for her bday she requested soup with chicken, carrots and broccoli..... I was like how about some pizza or mac and cheese ;)  Eventually she settled on steak, broccoli and mac and cheese but only after a little encouragement :)  She does love macaroni, hamburgers, all fruit but strawberries are probably her favorite right now.  She eats most vegetables pretty well, especially if we remind her that she grew it in the garden!  Her favorites are probably carrots and tomatoes - the tomatoes she eats just like an apple.

She loves special time with Dad - she was asking me when will I work overnight again so she can have a sleepover with Dad ha!  But typically if Andy is going out on an errand and invites the big girls, Harper chooses to stay home with Mama and baby Caroline.  EK though is Andy's big helper and has made many trips to lowe's and the farm.

They really enjoy going out to the farm - as long as the grass isn't too long and pokes into their legs! ha.  And don't get them started on bugs... they are not fans.  They go nuts stomping bugs to the point that Andy says people are going to judge us for creating these little bug murderers :(  We got a big playset for out at the farm, primarily just trying to give the girls some fun activities we can do there besides roasting marshmallows ;)  We also have done a movie night which they loved!  On our way home from the movie night, Harper saw a shooting star (aka, exhaust from a plane but whatev) and made her wish for 'the best farm ever' then immediately said, 'awesome it came true!'  On a sidenote the farm is seriously a major undertaking and could be an unending money pit but we hope that it's worth all the fun memories we'll have.

We recently went to the beach and had probably my most favorite vacation ever.  The place we went was beautiful, weather was gorgeous, kids slept well - all in all could not have asked for a better trip.  Harper asks all the time to go back to the beach :)  And to Disney world, ha.  She lives a charmed little life.  I tried to explain to her how I didn't go to the beach til I was 16, Disney til I was 18... walked uphill in the snow both ways to school... blah blah blah. lol.  She didn't seem to care too much ;)

When Harper grows up and reads all the blogs I've written about her (b/c I'm sure she will ;) haha ;)) I hope she knows just how much we love her exactly the way she is.  She is hard on herself at times and Andy and I can be too hard on her sometimes too.  Parenting is tough stuff and I know that these are probably the easiest years in the grand scheme but we're always trying to find that perfect balance of gentleness and tough love.  It is my greatest joy to be her mom (and EK's and Caroline's) and everyday I pray that we are doing a 'good enough' job of raising strong, smart, confident, kind little girls :)