More pictures!

Amelia posted a bunch of great pictures from their visit on her blog.  Click the link to check them out.  

Our week

The other night when the BCS Championship game was on, we let Caroline sit with us for a while before bed time to watch part of the game.  She thinks every football game features LSU, so she kept saying, "Go Tigers!" or "L - S - U!"  We were trying to explain that the teams playing were Oklahoma and Florida.  She sat there for a while and then out of the blue said, "Who is Barack Obama?"  I told her that he was going to be our next president.  She replied, "What is the president?"  I tried explain that concept by telling her that he leads our country.  I couldn't get that sentence entirely out of my mouth when she interrupted saying, "Oh, yeah!  I see the alligators!"  So much for the civics lesson, she had spotted the Florida "Alligators" mascot.  

This morning I was checking my email on the computer while Charlotte slept in her swing and Caroline played with play-doh at the table.  Caroline came running into our room and grabbed my hand saying, "Come see!  I'm sharing!"  I was terrified that she had put play-doh in Charlotte's hands, so I hurried into the other room to find Charlotte's little legs covered in Caroline's green blankie.  Caroline was so proud of herself; she said, "Look, I'm sharing green blankie with Charlotte.  She needs it."  If you have ever been to our house at nap time or bed time, you know that Green Blankie is very special to Caroline and she can't sleep without it.  She is usually pretty possessive with that blanket, so it spoke volumes that she wanted to share that special blanket with Charlotte.  I put some pictures below of the two of the girls after Caroline gave Charlotte the blanket.    

Jeff and Caroline at the pier at the LSU lakes on Saturday.  

Caroline, Charlotte, and green blankie

Charlotte looks like she really appreciates the gesture!  

Hope all is well!  

Lately

Life since Christmas has been busy and good!  We've had time with family and friends, and quiet (it's all relative, right?) time at home.  Drew and Amelia were here for a few days and it was a great visit.  We miss them already and while their visits are such a joy to us, they remind us that we wish lived closer to one another - a couple of visits a year just aren't enough!  

Caroline has mastered the big girl bike and no day is complete without a bike ride.  Jeff took her out to LSU the other day and they literally rode for two hours (5 miles??).  She loves it. 

 

Charlotte is doing well too, she still eats like a champ and is sleeping pretty well too (you can't fault a five week old for having a few sleepless hours every now and again).  I'll be anxious to see how much she's grown when we go for her two month check up.  

I think Jeff and I will have our first grown ups only date night on Friday and I'm looking forward to that.  When I talk about parts of my life that don't involve taking care of a baby or a toddler I always say, "I need to be a person."  And I don't mean that in a derogatory way about being a mother, because genuinely nothing gives me more joy - but I need to remember that there are other parts to my life as well.  Hopefully Friday will help bring me back to personhood!    

December 29, 2008

It's hard to believe, but Charlotte is one month old today!  She has been such a blessing to all of us.  It feels like she just arrived, but at the same time, I can't imagine our lives without her.  

Here's a video of the first month I put together:

Let's Get Along

I was reading a blog with Caroline on my lap a few moments ago and I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when she started "reading" a sign that was pictured in the post.  Here's the picture:  

The little 3 year old on my lap read the entire thing to me ("Cacourage udders") and told me "those are the rules."  I realized that this poster is also in her classroom at school.  Very amusing.  It also makes me feel like our money is well spent at her preschool.  

Christmas

Updated!  I was able to add the video - scroll down to the bottom of the post.  

We had a good Christmas! For some reason blogger has been giving me a hard time when I try to upload pictures, so sorry that this is a little late in getting posted.  

Caroline was a good girl (mostly) this year, so Santa brought her a "big girl bike" and a camera among other things.  She also got showered with plenty of other wonderful things from our families.  We enjoyed some good times with family and friends over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  It comes and goes quickly and we are getting back to "normal life" as we clean the house and get toys put away in Caroline's room.  Charlotte slept through most of the excitement this year, but I'm sure next year will be a whole new experience with two girls to enjoy the day.  

Here are a few pictures and a video:  

A Christmas pic of the family.  

Trying to get a Christmas picture of Mama and the girls . . .

Charlotte was quickly not having any of it.  

Caroline helping Uncle Neal open a present.  

Caroline and the "big girl bike"

Sleeping Beauty Barbie

The new camera

Jeff teaching Caroline how to ride her bike.  

Here's the video of Caroline on the bike:  

Two weeks

This post is a little belated, as Charlotte turned two weeks old on Saturday, but better late than never, right?  

Charlotte had her two week check up with the pediatrician on Friday and all is well!  She weighed 6 lbs. 11 ozs. and was 19 1/2 inches long (by the time we left the hospital she was down to 5 lbs, 15 ozs.), so she's definitely eating well.  We had to bring Caroline along to the doctor because she was hanging on to a cold that she'd had since Thanksgiving; and now big sister is doing well too and is now almost totally cough free!  Otherwise, Charlotte is doing well, still  sleeping and eating really well. 

Caroline is getting more used to the revelation that she is not the center of the universe, consequently her trips to time out have been more infrequent in recent days.  There is still that lingering jealousy though, and an episode from our life on Sunday illustrates that well.  I was feeding Charlotte on the couch while Caroline was playing in the dinning room.  Caroline then ran off to her room and returned to sit next to me with her brush, a rubber band, a bow, and the nail clippers in her hand.  She said, "Put my hair up and and cut my nails, please."  Caroline hates to have her nails clipped, so I found that to be hysterical.  I complied with her requests to make sure she felt like I was paying her enough attention and I think it did the trick.  Caroline is still loving on Charlotte a lot and loves to sing to her, hug her, kiss her, and whisper little secrets into her ears (this morning I heard Caroline say, "I love you baby sister, I so glad you not in the hospital and not in mama's tummy.").   Here are some pictures from the past week: