Christmas 2009

Pictures from Christmas morning. Santa obliged the request for candy canes by hanging them on her tricycle handlebars.

Chritmas 2009

These are pictures from Christmas Eve. Each year since Caroline was born, I have given her an engraved silver bell for Christmas. Her first Christmas was a sterling bell, and each year after has been silver plate. She now has three bells on the tree. Catherine got her sterling bell this year. We got Caroline a play diaper changing set since she is a diaper changing machine these days. The set is complete with a changing pad, wipes box, diapers, a diaper creme tube and a mini potty. She likes to put all her animals and dolls on the potty.

Christmas 2009

These are pictures from the Country Club children's party. Caroline really wanted to sit on Santa's lap but just couldn't quite bring herself to go through with it-- so Daddy had to do. Catherine, however, was happy to pose with Santa. The third was one that made our Christmas card, and the last is one from a series we did at home. Maybe in a few years, we will be able to get both girls on Santa's lap!!!

More Quotables

Because of the relentless cold weather we've had lately, Caroline has been spending quite a bit of time playing in the bounce house upstairs. She has become quite the daredevil, performing front somersaults from a standing jump (I was terrified she was going to break her neck the first time she did it, but thankfully, she has managed to do it safely so far) and jumping off of the inflatable entry platform onto the floor. A couple of days ago, she was standing at the back of the platform and decided to jump and land on her bottom on the floor (I think mimicking a gymnastics activity where you jump on the trampoline and land on your bottom). Anyway, after she landed, it took a couple of seconds for the shock to set in that the floor was hard and didn't bounce like the trampoline or bounce house. She looked at me in disbelief and started to cry. She came over to me to get a hug and then ran out of the room holding her bottom and crying " Oooooh, that hurt my fanny!" I was howling and thank goodness the bounce house was loud enough that she couldn't hear me.

Caroline got a Barbie doll for Christmas. We were playing a couple of days ago, and she said "Mommy, I can't find my Barbie footer (pronounced with an oooh, not like foot). So, I contemplate for a minute, trying to figure out what she means, and it comes to me. She's saying Barbie scooter. Our neighbors have a young daughter who has a Barbie scooter that Caroline has ridden on before. The scooter is the only Barbie thing she has known up until getting a Barbie doll at Christmas. So, in her mind, the two words go together. When we call the doll Barbie, she thinks of the name we used for the scooter... "the Barbie scooter" and so she calls her Barbie doll "Barbie scooter." Once I processed all of this, I explained to her that Allie has a scooter that is pink and has pictures of Barbie on it and that's why we call it a Barbie scooter. But, her doll is just called Barbie. To which Caroline responds "footer", as if to complete what I have left out. Oh well.

Not to be outdone by her sister, Catherine has been joining in the conversation lately. On the car ride home from Destin last week, she was making loud "aaaaah" sounds. So I decided to respond back with an equally loud "aaaaah". And then she repeated it again... "aaaaah!" and we went back and forth a few times. Of course, then Caroline caught on and joined in with answering Catherine with an even louder "aaaaah!!!!" and so the three of us were screaming aaaaahs for several minutes. What can I say....eight hours in the car is a long time.

And not a quotable... but a notable. Catherine is starting to sit without support for short periods as of 1/10. She's still pretty wobbly and will topple over if she reaches for anything. She is also trying to lift her bottom and pull her knees under her a little when she is on her belly. It is very apparent that she gets frustrated that she isn't mobile yet. She sees toys that she wants and will try to pull and move toward them and sometimes even lets out a yelp in frustration. As soon as she is sitting a little better, I think crawling will be very soon to follow.

From Caroline's Mouth

Caroline says all kinds of amusing things to us on a daily basis now. Unfortunately, I probably have forgotten what a lot of those things were, even though at the time I said I wanted to write it down in the blog. Oh well, I do the best I can.

However, here are a few that have made us laugh:

When asked what she wants from Santa-- "toys, popsicles and candy canes!"

In the car on the way to Birmingham for the Curtis Christmas: "Daddy, I can't hear the movie.... Catherine's talking"

When we got home from Birmingham and pulled in the garage, Chris got Catherine out of the car first because she had fallen asleep, leaving me in the third row and Caroline in her car seat in the second row. So I told Caroline I would just climb over and get her out and she said "I want Daddy to get me out. I like Daddy better". Ugh. Talk about a knife to the heart. I'm sure one of these days I will laugh about that one. Not yet.

Caroline has recently developed a problem of waking up too early in the morning-- like 5 or 5:30 and even 4:30 one morning. We have decided, after attempting a variety of ways to solve the problem, that our last resort is to not go into her room until at least 6:30. So, the other day on the way home from school she told me she was tired and I said that it was becuase she woke up too early. I asked her why she was waking up so early and she said "Daddy comes and gets you (me)." And I said, "yes but Daddy is going to stop coming to get you now." And she said," Daddy closed the door." (Chris had gone in and tried to get her to go back to sleep and then left her room and shut the door.) "And then I try to climb out of my crib"

More to come in another post.....

Snow Day!!!!

Caroline got to play in the snow for the first time over the weekend. It only lasted a few hours before it melted, but she got out and enjoyed it with our neighbors for a bit. The picture of the two girls together in the chair is quite a historic moment for us. It is actually the first time that we have been able to photograph them sitting together (i.e., first time Caroline would cooperate with us). It's a pretty big deal that Caroline is letting Catherine share her chair. I love the way that Catherine is holding Caroline's hand. The final picture is one of Caroline making a silly face that she and her dad make at each other. I laugh every time I see it!

Catherine 6 Months

Catherine had her 6 month check-up last week, combined with a second follow-up after the pneumonia. The doctor said her lungs sounded great and her ear was finally cleared up. It took three different antibiotics to get over the ear infection. But, at least we are done with the antibiotics and breathing treatments. Yay for a clean bill of health.

She weighs 16 lbs 9 oz and is 27 in. long. I looked back at her 4 month stats, which had her length at 26.5 inches, so I think that one of these measurements is incorrect. Most likely, the 4 month was a bit too long. I really don't think she grew only a half an inch in 2 months.
For comparison, Caroline was 16 lbs. 10 oz. and 26.5 inches. It's interesting that their height and weight are so similar at this age.

We are all fighting yet another cold. We finally sent Caroline back to school the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and we think she brought home another bug. She ran a fever the day after Thanksgiving and then developed a stuffy nose and cough. We have all managed to catch some degree of it, including Chris who hardly ever gets sick. We are really holding our breath that this is just a normal cold for both girls, but especially for Catherine. We were told that it is likely that any cold will cause another episode of wheezing for her.