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.).

Annie hits the town!

Caroline dressed up like Sleeping Beauty for last weekend's Fall Festival, but this past weekend we spent the day in New Orleans on Saturday and she dressed up like her favorite orphan:  Annie!  

We curled her hair just for the occasion and the results were pretty amusing.  She actually like having the curlers in her hair, but I think it is because she thought they made her more like Annie.  We left Baton Rouge in the morning and drove to New Orleans and parked uptown to ride the St. Charles Avenue Street Car.  It was Caroline's first ride on the street car and she had a blast.  We rode almost up to Lee Circle and got off and came back to our car before hitting the zoo.  She enjoyed seeing the animals, and in true Caroline fashion once she saw the animal, she was ready to get moving to the next one.  

We all had a great time and the weather couldn't have been any better.  After the zoo we ate a late lunch at Louisiana Pizza Kitchen.  As we got on the road, Caroline was NOT happy at the prospect of going home, she whined about that for about three minutes and when she got quiet, we looked in the back seat and she was fast asleep.  

It was a long day of a lot of walking for those little legs of hers, so I'm sure she needed that car nap!  Here are some pictures from the day:  

Our little "Annie" before we left the house!  

Riding the street car (yes, with her curlers, she did not want to take them out for the ride)

Waiting for the street car for the return trip back uptown

"Annie" and Jeffrey before we went into the zoo (and we finally convinced her that Annie didn't wear curlers, she needed to take them OUT to have curly hair)

Checking out the sea lions

Taking a little break

Climbing the tree with a little help from Jeff

On our way out . .  it's a lot of walking for short three year old legs

Burning off some energy at Louisiana Pizza Kitchen before the drive back to BR

Fall Festival

The church set up a booth at a Fall Festival in the neighborhood right near the church last weekend and Jeff was the de facto point person on that.  Caroline and I went out there to join him Saturday evening and we had a good time.  Caroline dressed up like Sleeping Beauty, as you'll see below, and had a great time helping Jeff with Pumpkin Bowling set up.  She probably had more fun doing that than playing any of the other games that were out there, but then again, Caroline is truly our "little helper" with just about everything we do, so that should come as no surprise.  Here are some pictures from the day!  

Baby news and Caroline updates

We are now about five weeks away from the day that Caroline's baby sister will join us! My doctor told me at the appointment yesterday to expect to have her right around Thanksgiving/the first week of December. That really makes her arrival seem imminent - in an exciting way! She weighs about 4 1/2 lbs now and my ribs can attest that she is doing her fair share of kicking around in there. Here's a picture of her profile from the ultrasound yesterday.

In other news, Caroline is just as excited as we are about her sister's arrival and in fact I'm beginning to get a little worried about Caroline's possessive tendencies when we talk about the baby. She told me this today: "when my baby sister gets her, I will rock her and shut the door and you not come in." Um, no. But, I didn't burst her bubble, I just said, "Really?"

I'll also share a couple of funny non-baby related Caroline stories. The other morning I was about to blow dry my hair when she called me into her room. I had the blow dryer in my hand and she asked me what it was. I knew she knew what it was so I said, "Caroline, what is this?" she mimicked me using the blow dryer and responded, "It's for burning your hair, like this." Note to self: let hair air dry more often.

On our way home from school we always pass right in front of the Shaw Center for the Arts. As we were driving that way the other day, a car in front of us stopped and a young woman in a wedding gown and veil got out, presumably to take some wedding pictures there. Caroline's face lit up and she pointed to the bride and said, "Mama, where is that princess going?" I love it. In her three year old world, it is nothing out of the ordinary for a princess to ride in a Ford Explorer.

Weekend Update

On Saturday we went over to the PMAC to the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast. We got there at a great time; the line wasn't long at all and we enjoyed some great pancakes and sausage. When we left the line was very long and when I tried to re-enter the building after we'd already gone outside, the crowd waiting was a little testy. As I am prone to do, I realized I needed to go back in to use the restroom after we had already walked outside and when I tried to re-enter through the exit door it was locked, so with a nice smile and in a kind voice, I walked up to the people in line at the entrance door and said, "I'm not trying to break in line, I just need to get inside real quick." A very large man behind me was rude and obviously in a bad mood because he had to wait so long for his pancakes and he said, "Well, lady the line starts way back there, you can't just go in here." I wanted to say something rude, but I refrained and just said, "I know, I'm not getting in line to eat, I've already been inside." He didn't look any happier, but I went on in nonetheless.

Outside they had the LSU Fire Dept with their trucks, a fire rescue training house, and the big ladder truck. Caroline and Jeff rode the bucket on the end of the ladder truck up in the air a good 50-75 feet and Caroline wasn't scared in the least. After that she wanted to go up in the fire rescue house so she and Jeff waited in line for that. As we were waiting I realized that the firemen were belaying people out of the windows of the house from about three or four stories up. I thought for sure Caroline wouldn't want to do that, but I didn't say anything about it to her and neither did Jeff. When it got to be her turn, they fit her with a harness and she and Jeff went in and proceeded up the stairs. A few minutes later I saw my little girl's face peer out of the third story window and then she rappelled down the side of the building all by herself. No fear on her face whatsoever. She was quite proud of herself when she got down and Jeff and I made sure she knew we were proud of her bravery as well.  I only wish we had brought the camera, but honestly I didn't think there would be that much excitement at a pancake breakfast!  

One thing we've learned with her when it comes to trying new things from food to rappelling out of a building, if we don't make a big deal about it or put our pre-conceived ideas into her head, she can make up her own mind and more often than not isn't afraid to try something.

I hope each of you had a good weekend too!

How you feel eskimos?

After the LSU game last night I wasn't tired (which is highly unusual these days), so I decided to watch Saturday Night Live. The first few skits were pretty disappointingly NOT funny, but when Sarah Palin showed up on Weekend Update and Amy Pohler did the rap, I was cracking up all by myself in our living room. In case you missed it, or want to relive it, click on the link below, I couldn't get it to embed in the post for some reason. see below (I finally was able to get the video to embed):