Last Play Date of the Summer

Look who sat in her bumbo for the first time on Friday!  She seems to love it as much as Elizabeth did, but her head gets a little wobbly after a few minutes so she doesn't stay in there for long.

I sat it down outside to take a picture of both girls and Elizabeth promptly sat in it.  I couldn't believe she fit.  She calls it "Caroline's potty."  I guess it reminds her of her potty... which she never uses!

Elizabeth wouldn't stop hugging Caroline so I never caught a picture of both of them looking my way.  Oh well.  

Friday marked our last week of summer.  I can hardly believe it.  But we went out with a bang!  We spent the morning and early afternoon at Matthew's house, then Bert and I went to the Braves game that night.  His company had a suite and we got a babysitter for the first time (who wasn't a family member).  All in all, it was a great way to wrap up our summer vacation.

Elizabeth loves playing with Matthew.  She chases him around doing everything he does.  If he runs, she runs.  If he stops, she stops.  If he falls to the grown, she falls too.  And they have a HUGE basement playroom to do that all in.  Thankfully all that hard playing leads to good naps!

 I couldn't get these two to look at me at the same time either!

Matthew has twin brothers that are just a few days older than Caroline.  Here are Caroline and Mason on their first play date together.  Greyson was eating at the time.  One of these days we'll get a picture of all three of them when one isn't eating or sleeping.  What a tough life these babies have!

Before we left, we tried to get a good picture of Elizabeth and Matthew.  It should've been easy because they were being so cute together.  But I couldn't get my focus to work in the manual setting, and they all came out blurry.  This was the best one I got.  However, that did motivate me to do some more research/practice tonight and I think I may have figured it out.

This morning I snapped some pictures of the girls snuggling in our bed.  Because I had not figured out my focus yet, I used my flash.  Even with the harsh light of the flash, I love to capture sweet moments of my babies together.

Kathryn's House

 On Tuesday afternoon, we went over to "Kathryn's House" to meet her new baby brother, Tate.  Elizabeth gets so excited to see Kathryn.  At school she kept saying to her friends, "I'm going to Kathryn's house!  I'm going to play with Kathryn!"  I'm sure they all thought she was crazy since they don't know Kathryn.  But I thought her excitement was sweet.

Here are the girls having a little snack.  I'm still having trouble getting my camera to focus on more than one subject, but I love how excited they both are to play together.

Kathryn introduced Elizabeth to this game that she and her mommy play.  It cracked me up.  They dropped these parachute men over the balcony and they would float down.  Then Jessica would use a broom to elevate them back up to the girls.  They did this for a good little while.

 Tate slept almost the whole time we were there.  You gotta love the sleep comas of newborns.  Right as he woke up, Caroline was falling asleep.  But I wanted to get a picture of them to see what a difference three months makes.  Holding Tate made me realize that my sweet baby girl really isn't a newborn anymore.  She was HUGE next to him.

Even with the bad photography, they sure are adorable!

Our play date wore this one out.  She continued sleeping on the way home, through dinner, and her feeding.

But not this girl.  She was so excited when her daddy said they could ride her "bike".

Apparently it didn't go fast enough for her, so she decided to push it.

We decided to let her take it on the street which she liked much better.  Even better than that was watching her daddy bent over, pushing her all the way back up the street to make it go faster.  I didn't get that on my camera because I was laughing so hard.

I took this picture this morning.  I was working on school stuff on my computer, and she was just watching me with those sweet eyes of hers.  That face just melts my heart!  

A Visit from Grandma

This past weekend my mom and two of my nieces came to visit us.  We had so much fun while they were here, and my mom cooked us some fantastic meals!  

No matter how many times Elizabeth hears us all call my mom "Grandma" she will only call her "MeeMaw".  At first I thought she couldn't say Grandma, but now I think she just prefers calling her "MeeMaw".  Either way, she loves her Grandma!!

On Friday, we took the girls to Mountasia to ride bumper boats and go karts.  But when we got there, they decided it was too hot and they'd rather play in the HUGE arcade.  So that's what we did.  Mom and I had fun too!  I'll post those pictures later since they are all on my phone.

Alexis is quite the little mama.  She took good care of Caroline and was very protective of her.  Such a sweet cousin!

On Saturday, Grandma kept Caroline at home while the rest of us went to Acworth Beach on Lake Allatoona.

Elizabeth had a blast swimming with the big girls.

She followed Aleaha wherever she went.  I think she would've followed her to the bottom of the lake if I let her. Ha!

Caroline did not lack any attention this weekend for sure!

Caroline is 3 months old!

Caroline,  You turned 3 months old yesterday.  I made sure to take your pictures yesterday (even though you really weren't loving it) because  you change so much every day that I wanted to make sure to capture you right on your three month birthday.  Plus, Alexis and Aleaha were here with your Grandma and they wanted to help me take your picture.

I don't know how much you weigh because thankfully we haven't had to go to the doctor.  But I do know that you are growing because I just put away your 0-3 months clothes.  It makes me so sad to put these clothes away for good knowing that my last baby has worn these clothes.  Tear...

You become more and more alert each day.  You hold your head up well, and your smiles and coos make us so very happy.

You love, love, love your baby bjourn.  I'm pretty sure you'd be happy if I kept you in it 24/7.  Of course I don't, but I wouldn't mind having you right up next to me 24/7 either.  You are such a little cuddle bug.

You are so sweet natured and easy going unless your tummy hurts.  Every couple of days you get so constipated that I think you might just pop.  The formula we are using is helping and it seems to be getting better and less frequent.  It's also helped you with your reflux.  You haven't had any issues with it since I stopped nursing, and you're not even taking the medicine anymore.

You drink about 4 ounces every 3 hours.  We've gotten you on a pretty good routine now.  You eat at 6:00 am, 9:00 am, 12:00 pm, 3:00pm, 6:00 pm, and finally between 10:00 and 11:00pm.  You normally fall asleep for the night between 7:00 and 8:00, then we wake you for that last dream feed (between 10 and 11) and you sleep until 6:00am.  Then you cuddle in bed with mommy until Elizabeth wakes up.

 You are losing your hair just like your sister did.  It's really patchy right now and I love kissing your bare head!

You are rolling to your side from time to time.  But I am not pushing for you to roll over all the way yet.  Of course I want you to continue developing, but I'm not in any hurry for that to happen.  With Elizabeth I was so eager for her to do the "next thing" because it was all so new to us.  Since you are our last baby, I'm not so eager to push you along.  I love this stage where I can put you in the middle of our bed, walk away for two seconds, and you're still right where I left you.  I know those days are quickly coming to an end.

Caroline, we all love you so much.  It's hard to imagine a time when you weren't apart of our family.  I feel like you were just born yesterday, but you've been apart of us forever.  Elizabeth makes me feel the same way.  I just love my two girls!

Here you are at 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months old.

And here you are compared to your sister at 3 months.  You still look a lot alike, but I definitely see some differences (like your hair color!)

Talking and Ironing

Caroline is talking, and by that I mean cooing, all of the time now.  I get so caught in the moment that I forget to record it so that I can always remember the precious sound of her sweet voice.  It never fails though, that if I do start recording, she stops talking.  I was able to capture a little bit of it the other day.  It's kind of long and my voice is quite annoying, but now I have it forever!

On a different note, I did another thing last night that I swore I'd never do.  I ironed the girls' clothing as I washed them.  Before putting them in their closets.  I always thought this seemed ridiculous.  Which, to be fair, is how I feel about ironing in general.  But I got tired of grabbing an outfit from one of their closets and having to stop to iron it or worse, putting it on them wrinkled because I had zero extra time but my heart was set on that specific outfit.  Now every outfit is ready to go.  Even the ruffles on their bloomers (may have been over zealous in my efforts)!  Note: I did not iron all of the clothing in the picture.  And actually, as I look closer, most of the ones I did iron are on the other side.  Oh well.  When my girls read this 20 years from now I'm sure they'll still think I'm crazy for this (among other things)!

Weekend Wrap Up

We started our weekend off with a very important first.  It was our first date night since Caroline was born.  Hannah and Rebeka babysat the girls one last time for us before they left.  How blessed I am to have such sweet, thoughtful sisters!  I hope my girls grow up to be just like them!!  That would make me one happy mama!!!

We finally got all the boxes out of the garage and actually put two cars in there!  Before going on our walk, Bert put Caroline in the driver's seat and said, "Look Mama, I'm ready to drive."  I know it's silly but I almost started to cry.  I remember when my baby sisters were this small and they ARE driving.  In fact, Hannah turns 18 in less than 2 months.  I want to freeze time or at least make it go much, much slower.  When Caroline is 16, I'm sure I'll pull out this picture and think about how quickly the time has gone.  But this is how I'll always see her... my baby.

Here is proof that time goes too quickly.  I do remember Elizabeth about the size of Caroline, and I can't believe what a big girl she's becoming.  At the park tonight, she played hide-n-seek with some other kids on the playground.  They were 3, 4, and 5, but she kept up with them pretty darn well.  She even loudly counted when it was her turn to be "it".  Again, it made me happy and sad at the same time to see her doing this.  

She was so worn out that she literally chugged my Gatorade in about 5 seconds.

Reality Check

Summer break went on pause for me this week as I spent my days earning my AP Psychology certification.  I'm so glad I did it, but even happier that I am through!  Setting an alarm to wake up at 6:00 after getting up at 3:00 to feed Caroline was a big reality check for me.  And I better get used to it because school starts very soon.

Thankfully, I had the best help in the world... Hannah and Rebeka.  They came down, along with Dad and Di, to help with the house and the girls.  In a short 2 days my dad hung three mirrors, put up our baby gate on the stairs, added closet organizers, and helped Bert move things around a bit.  Dianna cleaned up my kitchen every meal time almost quicker than I could dirty it and loved on my babies so I could get some more unpacking done.

Here's my Dad "preparing" to prepare the the mirror for hanging.  He's such a perfectionist, but I'm grateful because that means he did it perfectly!

Here's a pictures of my dad with my girls before church.  Elizabeth loves him so much it melts my heart.

Caroline hasn't had a babysitter yet, and I wasn't ready to put her in daycare for the week.  So Hannah and Rebeka came to my rescue.  They were WAY more than daytime babysitters.  First of all, they made a plan every day for little Miss Active and showed so much patience even when she threw her tantrums.  They woke up with no hesitation at 7:30 every morning (I'm positive they do that at home too! Ha!) and were clearly exhausted and mostly in bed by 8:00 that night.  I think they have a new appreciation for stay-at-home moms!  They loaded and unloaded the dish washer, gave Elizabeth her baths at night, and even taught her some French!  Bert and I are currently trying to convince them to drop out of school, live in our basement, and be our live-in nannies/housekeepers.  They are the best!

 This little girl has decided that she loves bath time.

 And this little girl loves play-dough.

 They both LOVE their Aunt Rebeka and Aunt Hannah.

And apparently their aunts love Zac Efron.  I found about 5 pictures just like this one on my camera.  I know for sure that I did not take them, so it must be two certain teenagers staying in my house. And I'm sure it was taken during nap time:))