Caroline meets Santa!

If any of you remember Caroline's attitude toward Santa last Christmas, this picture and story will be a huge surprise.  My mom took Caroline to the mall yesterday evening to ride the carousel and just get out of the house for some one on one time.  My mom called me while they were there and asked if we minded if Caroline took her picture with Santa (in case that was something we wanted to do with her).  I didn't mind at all and of course didn't want Caroline to get upset if she couldn't meet Santa, so they went to wait in line to take a picture.  Right as it was Caroline's turn to take her picture, there was a problem with the equipment, so they told them it would be about five minutes or so before they could get going again.  Caroline took that opportunity to go have a long conversation with Santa.  Mom said that Caroline ran over to him and hugged him and had a long conversation while they waited for the camera to get working.  The picture below is proof of just how excited she was; the word that comes to mind is "joy" when I see her precious face!  

Our girls

Caroline and Jeff went off to church this morning, so Charlotte and I are hanging out in a quiet house!  I thought I'd take this chance to upload a few new pictures from the past couple of days.  Charlotte is still doing great - she rarely cries (unless she is having her diaper changed or being bathed) and she eats and sleeps like a champ.  Caroline is still doing pretty well, but she is having what I'll call some "adjustment issues" and we are trying to pay plenty of positive attention to her to discourage the acting out (nothing too serious, but she is definitely testing our limits).  She is still being very sweet with Charlotte though and asks to hug her and hold her about every other minute.    

Here are some recent pictures:

Grandma and Grandpa Beck with Caroline and Charlotte

Caroline and I spent some time playing with Play-doh yesterday morning - here's one of her creations!

Caroline and Charlotte before church this morning

Caroline loving on her "baby sister"

Hope all of you are well!  

Caroline

On Tuesday LSU had a Christmas Tree lighting ceremony and celebration.  Jeff and Caroline went and had a great time.  After the lighting of the tree they had games and food and music at the fieldhouse.  They enjoyed all of it!  As you'll see below, our brave girl had her first "rock climbing" experience and got to check out the LSU fire truck, which is always a treat.  The picture of her with the xylophone player is hysterical I think - Jeff said he was walking around playing Christmas songs and obviously Caroline had to get up close and personal with him, she was enthralled with it.  

At home

We've been home for a few days now and we're settling in to life with two girls instead of one!  Caroline has truly been such a sweet sister and a help to me.  She wants to hug and kiss Charlotte as often as possible and wants to hold her just about every other minute and she is learning to be gentle with her.  She wants to know why Charlotte sleeps all the time and when she is going to be able to play on the floor with her.  It is really hard to explain the concept of "months from now" to a three year old; if anyone has some suggestions, send them my way!  

For her part, Charlotte is a great baby (at five days old!).  She eats well and slept very well last night - the first few nights were less than ideal for me, but I endured 6 months of not great sleep with Caroline, so I am far from my limit yet!  Jeff is being a great husband and dad, taking Caroline to school and putting her to bed and helping her in the middle of the night when she is ready to get up to be with Charlotte.  This is definitely a transition for all of us and so far it is going well.  I feel great and am just so thankful to have a healthy, happy family with a tiny new blessing in it.  

Here are a couple of pictures from yesterday.   

She's here!

Charlotte Marie entered the world at 2:18 PM on Saturday, November 29, 2008!  She weighed 6 lbs. 3 oz. and was 18 inches long.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

I've put a bunch of pictures below.  The first one has a funny story:  Caroline came back to the labor and delivery room before Charlotte was born to see me and the sight of me in that bed was a little too much for one three year old.  The picture Jeff took shows exactly how close she was willing to get to me!  Caroline was excited to see Charlotte after she was born though and told all of the nurses that SHE named her Charlotte.  Caroline also made it a point to tell all of us to be sweet to her baby sister and "don't wake up my sister."  I think she is going to be a great big sister and a big help to Jeff and me.  

We are all doing well.  We came home today and we are getting settled at home with our two girls.  Thanks so much to everyone for the calls and prayers and visits and gifts; we are truly blessed with wonderful family and friends.  We look forward to having everyone get to meet our newest blessing.  

"I love my mom!"  

Charlotte on the scales . . . weighing in a little bit smaller than Caroline did.  

Caroline meets Charlotte for the first time.  

Family photo

Caroline holding Charlotte for the first time.  

Papa and Charlotte

Getting ready to go home!  

Mama and Charlotte.  

Update on our girls

We've been busy these last few weeks getting ready for our baby girl to get here and trying to enjoy Caroline's last weeks as an "only child". It's weird how excited I am about inviting our new daughter into our lives, but at the same time, it makes me sad to think that these are the last days where it will just be Caroline, Jeff, and me. We are trying to enjoy all of it!

As for the baby's progress, she is doing well. She gave us a couple of scares a week or so ago, but there's nothing to be worried about and all is well. She is making her presence known as I type by telling me to sit up straight with a hard kick to the ribs. We are likely looking at a delivery date of Dec. 2, 3, or 4th. Right at two weeks to go!

Caroline is doing well too. She was making me laugh this morning as she ran around the house in her pajamas, fairy wings, and Cinderella dress-up heels throwing a bouncy ball as hard as she could shouting "bally-ball!" Her personality is definitely her own; in many ways, she is all "girl" with her love of the color pink, all things Disney Princess, and her hair bows, but she definitely has some feisty tom-boy tendencies that I will say (going out on a limb here) come from Jeff. One of the joys of being her parent is seeing that unique personality develop as I pray that God will give me guidance to parent her well!

Caroline continues to have her own funny sayings and one somewhat recent phrase she's adopted cracks me up every time she says it. When she gets out of the bath tub at night and one of us is trying to dry her off, and because it has gotten chillier recently, she whines and complains a little before we can get her robe on her. As she's whining about being cold now, she says in a very whiny voice, "This is not comfortable!" I'm not sure where she got the word "comfortable" from, but for some reason hearing that come out of a three year old is really funny to me.

Sorority Row Trick or Treating 2008

So, it's November 11th and I'm just getting around to putting the pictures up of Caroline trick or treating on sorority row.  She had a great time!  She dressed up like Annie and we curled her hair again - she really thinks it's fabulous to have her hair "just like Annie's".  This event has gotten bigger and bigger each year that we've done it.  It's perfect for kids because they close off the street and there are tons of little kids who gets "ohhed" and "ahhed" over by all of the college girls.  One of the highlights this year for Caroline had to be for her to meet a couple of the cheerleaders and a couple of the Golden Girls.  When we watch LSU football games on TV the only thing Caroline is concerned with is where the cheerleaders and dancers are at any given moment.  Here are some pics!  

Caroline and Uncle Neal at the the Kappa house

Caroline getting geared up!

She wanted to be the first one down to the Phi Mu house to start our trek, so we headed down there a little early to get a jump start on the other kids.  

Ready to go!  

I think the expression on her face speaks louder than my words could on this one

  

Again, she was enthralled with these girls (and notice in the background, there was another "Annie" out there - I was very surprised.  She ended up being the daughter of a guy I was in youth group with at church growing up.  Small world.).