Pigtails and Pedicures

For a while now, Elizabeth has been obsessed with pigtails.  Every morning she will simply request "two pony tails, please."  

She prefers if there's a braid to go along with the pigtails.  She lets me do it, but she prefers for Ms. Charli (her teacher at school) to do it.

When Charli does it, I have to beg her to let me take them out before bath time and/or bed time.  I have to admit.  There have been days when I just let her sleep in them and wear them again to school the next day.  We are definitely in the stage of "pick your battles wisely!"
 

Something I used to think would be a battle, but apparently won't be in our house is nail painting.  I use to think I would be so strict regarding when I would allow my girls to wear nail polish.  I never thought I'd be begging her to let me paint them!

I didn't plan on asking if I could paint them, but E had noticed my red toe nails after my last pedicure.  She kept saying, "Mommy has pretty toes."  So I got really excited and asked her, "Does Elizabeth want pretty toes like mommy?  I can paint them for you!"  She sternly said, "NO!" and wouldn't let me come near her toes.  And ever since, I've gotten the same response.  Who would have thought my child wouldn't want to paint her nails!  Don't worry.  I'll keep working on that.

Go Troy!

 This weekend we headed to Troy, Alabama to cheer on the Trojans.  I love walking around their gorgeous campus and hearing Bert's stories from his college days.  Here's a picture of my football-lovin' family in front of the fountain which is my favorite spot to take pictures.

Here's a picture of me in Bert in front of the same fountain the first time he took me to Troy.

 Here's Elizabeth showing me her game face.  I think she was roaring at the same time!

Then I just kept snapping as her daddy came in for the tackle:)

E thinks getting tackled is fun for the players.  I can't imagine why she thinks that!!

She tried roaring at me again, thinking she'd get tackled again.

Instead, I had my players pose for a picture.

This was Caroline's first hotel stay.  She especially enjoyed playing in the big bed with her sister.

And the Trojans won, so all-in-all, it was a great trip!

Caroline is 5 months old!

I know I say it every month, but my baby is growing up way too fast!  She continues to be the happiest, easiest baby I've ever known.  She's just so content and brings us so much joy.  As does her sister!

I have learned that she doesn't like to be rocked to sleep at night.  Instead, I lay her in her crib, hold her hand, and stroke her face for about two minutes before she falls asleep.  Elizabeth still likes to be rocked, read to, and sung to at bedtime.  So our night time routine actually works out pretty smoothly.  In the mornings, I rock Caroline while I feed her.  That way, I still get some sweet, special time with my little angel.

We learned at Caroline's 4 month appointment that her bottom teeth are already starting to come in.  None have actually broken through, but you can see and feel them.  And she is drooling like crazy!

On September 3rd, she rolled from her back to stomach for the first time.  Now she does it every time we lay her down.  But she only rolls to her right side, and she never rolls from her belly to back.  She either starts grunting to get us to roll her back over or she puts her head down and goes to sleep.  Sweet thing!

Out of all the "toys" we have for her (like the swing, jumperoo, bumbo, and bouncy) she definitely prefers just laying on the floor.  We will put a big blanket down, lay her on top, and she's in heaven.  Especially if her sister is in sight!

She is reaching to grab things, especially our faces.  Sometimes I watch her just stare at her hands as if she's thinking, "I can't believe these are really mine!"  She is constantly grabbing her feet.  She hasn't put them in her mouth yet, but she loves holding on to them.

Elizabeth is definitely her favorite person in the world.  She just lights up whenever E comes in the room.  It's my most favorite thing in the world to watch them interact. 

And just like Elizabeth, Caroline adores her daddy.  She just looks at him different than everybody else (like in the picture above).  She also talks the most when he's talking to her. 

To me, they still look so much alike.  Not identical, but definitely similar.

Months 1 through 5

School Pictures

Picture proofs were sent home from school today, and I have to admit, I love getting these.  Even though we pay for very talented people to take pictures that are more our style, I still have to order school pictures in the smallest package available.  I just can't help myself.  But this year they took so many, I have no idea which one I'm going to order.  Any suggestions?

I didn't know they were taking pictures the first day because we had been out sick.  But these are definitely my favorite of Caroline by herself because they were taken in the morning when she was all smiles.

                              

                              

Since Elizabeth was out the first day, she took hers on the second day.  They let Caroline join her too, but she looks so tired in these pictures.

Is Elizabeth a little ham or what?!

And they took Caroline's one more time too.    Decisions, Decisions...

I also wanted to write about Elizabeth's sweet melt down today.  Yes, I said sweet and meltdown in the same sentence.  

Bert was picking up the girls from school today because I was staying late to hear our new superintendent speak.  When he got there to pick them up, he realized that I had forgotten to leave Caroline's carseat there this morning.  So he called me, and I told him that I would leave and be right there to pick up Caroline but to go ahead and take Elizabeth home.  No reason for them to hang around, right?  Well, when Elizabeth realized they were about to leave without her sister, she had a complete meltdown and refused to leave "my Caroline" behind.  Needless to say, they were still there when I arrived 15 minutes later.  I want to remember this story to remind E when she's 13 how much she loves her sister!

It's still great to be a Tennessee Vol!

What gorgeous weather for football!  We made the first batch of Taco Soup of the season and opened all the windows to let the breeze in.  Elizabeth loved having the freedom to run outside to the backyard.  Fortunately, our master bedroom windows look directly onto the backyard and there's a door too.  With the windows open and such easy access, I let E kick her ball around while I did some laundry.  Caroline even watched her through the window.  

Bert went outside to play with her and I truly felt like we were in a movie scene.  I am so grateful to finally be setetled in our happy little home! 

They came inside in time to watch the Vols play.  That's when the movie scene ended.  The underdog definitely did not pull out the V.  I think Caroline's face says it all!  It wasn't very pretty.

But we are still proud to be Tennessee Vols!  The girls even wore their Tennessee dresses to church today.

 

There are a lot of Auburn and Georgia fans in our congregation.  But my girls wore their orange proudly!!

I'm not sure if Caroline was feeling that proud.  She was sleepy from playing in the nursery.  She slept all the way through lunch.

1 Sick Baby & 2 Bathing Beauties

On Monday, Elizabeth's fever was still lingering from Saturday so I took her to the doctor.  The poor baby had strep throat.  On Tuesday, she was already feeling better.  But by Wednesday her fever had returned.  So back to the doctor we went.  With a stronger dose of antiobiotic, hopefully our big girl is on the mend.

I couldn't resist snapping some pictures of my sweet, clean babies after bath time tonight.  Can't you just smell the sweetness?!

After getting them dressed for bed, Elizabeth took her stool (her little accomplice these days) and used it to see her sister inside her crib. 

So I let her climb in there with Caroline.  I'm not sure what E was doing with her eye, but she asked me to take this picture so of course, I did.

Don't worry, the doctor said Caroline's tonsils are most likely too little for her to catch the strep if Elizabeth is still contagious.

Short, But Exceptionally Sweet!

This past weekend we headed to Nashville to help surprise my dad for his 60th birthday.  It was a quick trip.  We were there and back in less than 24 hours.  But it was well worth it!

The plans were to meet for dinner at 7:00.  I had the car loaded and the girls ready when Bert walked through the door.  We even had some extra time to snap a few pictures.

This is the whole crew (minus me) at dinner.  I think my dad was truly surprised to see all of his girls there!  All four daughters and all 6 granddaughters. 

This was Caroline's very first road trip and her first time meeting her Aunt Melanie.  She just loved all the attention she got from her cousins too.

I'd like to title this picture: Morning Glory.  Douglass girls really know the meaning of "bed head"!  They were all so cuddly and playful the entire time.  I wish I had captured video of them all playing together in the play room.  It was such a happy night!

Elizabeth is definitely her Papa's girl.  She just loves him so much.

After breakfast, we took an impromptu walk through the Square.

A picture of all the girls, except Hannah who was taking her ACT.

We found this shop that I had never been in before called "The Vintage Baby".  I fell in love instantly.  It's got everything a mama could wish to put her sweet children in.  I will be back there!

One last group shot taken on the square.  I love these girls so much!!  And Hannah too, of course.

This is the last picture I took before leaving on Saturday.  Elizabeth just had to swing in the big girl swing like Alexis.  When we got back from the park we realized that Elizabeth had a fever of almost 103.  Poor baby was having so much fun with her cousins, she never let on that she wasn't feeling good. 

Even though Sunday was spent at home with a sick mommy and a sick toddler, the first part of our weekend was (according to Elizabeth) "AWESOME" (her new favorite word).   And I have to say that I agree with her!