Six months

okay, so I'm 2 days late in posting this...

5/18/11

Dear Caroline,

Today you are six months old. And what a sweet, smiling, darling little baby you are. Your big blue eyes dance when people talk to you, and your gummy grin melts my heart. And your laugh, oh that precious little chuckle. It almost takes my breath away. Family, friends, and strangers alike stop to tell me how beautiful you are. And of course I agree 100%.

Although I’m excited for your next steps (sitting up, teeth, and crawling) I’m perfectly content to enjoy your babyhood in the “now.” You’re such an easy baby. You go with the flow, each and every day. You love your Exersaucer, your Sophie toy, and anything that crinkles – including the bag of chips you dumped over yesterday.

You also love the swing in our backyard, and we'd use it more if it would EVER stop raining.

You’re SUCH a good little eater, and you eagerly open your mouth for each new food we try. You’re even starting to feed yourself, with Mum Mums and and a little mesh bag I can put bananas in. And you're a complete disaster after each and every meal.

This week we’ll take you on our first family vacation, and we can hardly wait. We’ll even dip your little toes into the ocean! I wonder if you’ll like it. You sure do love your baths! You kick and kick and splash to your heart’s content. And then roll around naked in your towel afterward. It’s a favorite time of day for all three of us.

And by the way, your nude Elvis-inspired butt-wiggle is the funniest thing anyone has ever seen. Not very ladylike!

Life with you is so very sweet. Your daddy and I love spending time with you. We praise God for you and seek His guidance for how best to raise you. I’m sure we’ll make mistakes along the way, but we so hope to grow you into a loving, kind, adventurous child.

But for now, stay little for a while longer.

Love,
Mama

Motherhood

God has given me the desire of my heart: A family of my very own.

I don't have words. But I'm so deeply thankful.

I love it. Almost every moment.

The Lord has richly blessed me. I don't deserve this based on anything I've done. It's pure grace.

I'm forever grateful.

In our backyard...

Me: She's too little.

Josh: No, she's not. Look at her. She likes it.

Me: No she doesn't. Look.

Josh: Yes she does, you just have to push her.

Me: Not too high! Her little neck...

I was wrong. Or course. Once she started going, she was all smiles.

To quote my friend Amy, "this is why kids need dads."

The contents of an Easter basket for a 5-month-old.

At the last minute, I decided to throw practicality to the wind and get Caroline an Easter basket. A non-negotiable tradition, right?

And then my practical side kicked in again.

She needs nothing. Of course. I buy her stuff on a regular basis. Onesies. Rice cereal. Fast flow bottle nipples. A clip-on high chair. Etcetera. What's the difference between that and piling goodies into a basket for her to "open" on Easter Sunday? Not much.

But for the sake of taking pictures of her "first Easter basket", I did just that.

I found an unused basket in our house, and padded the bottom with a towel.

Then I loaded the following into exciting items into it:

Oatmeal cereal. We were running out.
Baby food jars/packets of fruit. When you can't eat candy, fruit is the closest thing, right?
Spoons. Because we were always running low on them.
Sippy cups. We'll need them eventually.

And then a few gifts more for fun. Books, of course.

A book about baby sign language. Can't wait to start that in a couple of months!

And my personal favorites: Two "Indestructibles" books. Yes, that's right. Bite proof, rip proof, chew proof, and completely washable. AWESOME. My friend Kendra had brought some to Indy for the Hoosier weekend, and I was totally impressed. I picked out Humpty Dumpty (because it seemed Easter-ish) and Mama and Baby.

I love the colors. The artwork. The fact that there aren't words and I can just talk with Caroline about each page. I highly recommend them!