Tuesday, January 31, 2012

16 Months!

Just a little behind with Caroline's 16 month post.  I'm a little behind in all of my blogging lately.  Caroline has been a true doll this past month.  However, she's really starting to show her independence and a little bit of sass.  Sometimes I have to turn my head so she can't see me laugh or smile.  She's EXTREMELY blatant when it comes to things she knows she's not suppose to be doing.  For example, standing on the furniture.  I cannot tell you how many times I have had to make her sit down from a standing position when she's on the couch or chair and ottomans.  She mainly does it when I'm on the phone or Scott and I are talking to each other and she knows we aren't paying 100% attention to her.  Stinker. 

Caroline isn't saying too many new words.  It's really a bunch of jibberish and that jibberish is non-stop.  Complete full sentences that probably make perfect sense to her but go right over our heads.  I'm a little worried that history could be repeating itself.  When I was a baby I was 40% deaf in one ear and 70% deaf in the other.  The diagnosis turned out to be the biggest adenoids the doctor had ever seen, thus blocking the eustachian tubes altering what I heard.  Caroline can hear, she jumps at loud unexpected noises, she can hear me whisper her name, and I can't open the refrigerator or pantry without her running into the kitchen in hopes of getting a bite of something.  Anyway, my mother said it's like looking at me all over again.  I could hear and respond, but not well.  I know she is only 16 months and babies progress differently, but it will be something to watch and talk with the doctor over at her 18 month appointment if her vocabulary isn't improving.  I'm going to try and not stress over it until it's necessary. 

Other things include:

Size 4 diapers
12-18 month clothing
13 teeth
Finger painted me some masterpieces for the first time! Thanks, Audrey!
She can't point to her eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair, hands and fingers
We are trying to lose the paci, but it isn't working too well.  At least we only use it when it's time for bed.
She fake cries (covers her face with her hands and makes crying sounds)

Caroline also had her first stomach bug 2 weeks ago.  Blah! Not fun.  Mostly it was the worst diarrhea ever, but she had gotten sick in her bed in the middle of the night.  When I went in to get her the next morning, vomit was dried on her sheets, pajamas and in her hair.  Talk about feeling like a horrible mother.  In the middle of the night I heard a few coughs and checked her on the monitor and she was sitting up, feeling around for her paci, stuck it back in her mouth and went right back to sleep.  I didn't even see that she had gotten sick.  Poor thing.

She's learned to hit.  Where she has picked this up in beyond me.  The most I do is swat a hand from time to time but it is very minimal!  The only thing I can think of is that she's trying to get a reaction out of me.  I have put her in timeout, told her no, said "That hurts mommy" and fake cried (that's where she got it) this all failed terribly.  The only thing that works is ignoring it completely and she gets no reaction from me at all.

I guess this is about it for now!! As always we love her more than anything in the world and she has brought nothing but pure bliss to our lives.  We love you sweet baby C!!!




Beautiful baby girl!


Learning to eat with her fork really well!


Dad's house shoes are fun!!


A walk around the lake!


Finger painting fun with Audrey!!


Monday, January 9, 2012

New Years Eve!!!

This year for New Years we rented out a cabin in beavers bend with some good friends Brooke, Baron, Heather and John.  Caroline stayed with MiMi one night and then with Aunt Cookie on actual New Years Eve.  She had a great time with them and all of her cousins and she was a perfect doll according to my sister.  While it was nice to get away and relax without the little one, I still missed her like crazy and was more than ready to get back to her.  I was the first one up New Years Day and had my bags at the door ready to go.  I'm so glad we went, as we probably won't get another chance to get away on New Years "just adults" for quite awhile.  Friday afternoon upon our arrival us girls hopped in the car and drove up to this adorable little winery called "Girls Gone Wine".  LOVED it.  We tried all different types of wine, had a couple of glasses and sat out on the back porch.  They gave us crackers and cheese and we were in heaven.  We shopped around in their gift shop and brought back a few bottles to enjoy at home.  Friday night we cooked hamburgers out on the grill, sat around the camp fire and hopped in the hot tub.  Saturday Scott worked so hard and smoked a fabulous brisket, made beans and corn on the cob.  After that, I found myself sitting on the couch in the cabin watching a Big Bang Theory marathon.  Scott had a hard time with the fact that I wasn't outside partying it up around the campfire, as we didn't have a little one to look after.  But I was happy as a clam because its few and far between that I get to sit on the couch and just stare at the tv!! :)

Kitchen area




Our home for the weekend in the woods!

The name of our cabin was "The Dreamcatcher"


Private hot tub area!





Huge wraparound porch.  Def not Caroline friendly!!


Heather and I in our matching pants!

Watching the Aggies BTHO Northwestern!!

The Barretts!

Christmas 2011!!!

I am so late on getting around to blogging about our Holiday fun.  This past weekend was our first full weekend back at home in two weeks, so there was tons to be done.  Anyway, I just got around to uploading ALL of our pictures from Christmas, New Years and a few from this weekend. 

We had a wonderful time in North Texas with all of our family this year.  We got to spend a good amount of time with both sides of our family. Friday December 23rd we went over to my Grandmothers house in Sherman and celebrated Christmas with my Dad, Kelly and Grandmother Dorothy.  We had a Mexican food fiesta (nice change from all the regular Holiday food).  I noticed that there was a twinge of something going on with my throat that night but I was told by my genius husband that it was probably in my head. Like everything else is.  Haha, he's so sweet!! :) He was wrong!!

Christmas eve we went to Scott's mothers house to have a feast and open gifts.  However; I do not have any pictures of this because I fell ill and spent Christmas eve in Scott's mom's room laying on the bed, so Scott had to do the chasing around of Caroline and didn't have a free hand. I bet he doesn't say its "in my head" ever again. So sad I started feeling like my throat was about to close and had the chills, and I missed a great meal.  I managed to get up and watch Caroline open her gifts and she got some great toys.  After that, we packed up and headed back to my mom and Ed's to prepare for Santa and I had to help mom finish wrapping gifts.  Oh but first there was a stop at wal-mart for chloreseptic throat spray, dayquil and nyquil.  Every Christmas eve we have the tradition of opening  one present and it's usually Christmas Eve pj's.  I got a pair and C got the cutest pair that were personalized especially for her from MiMi.

Christmas morning we woke up and Santa had visited!!! It was so fun this year because Caroline was really getting the hang of the whole present/Santa thing.  Her face was pure joy and happiness when she saw everything he had left for her. After having Santa we ate breakfast and then my LeAnn, Lynn and all the kids joined us for a wonderful spread prepared by my mom and then we opened gifts.  It was a fabulous Christmas. 

The stockings!!


I know a little girl who Santa was very good to!


This one wasn't from Santa, but it was special because MiMi made it just for C!

Caroline's throw!!

Toy Story 2!! And She got Toy Story 3 later from Aunt Cookie & Uncle Lynn!!

We couldn't find a matching lovie anywhere, but Santa sure did find it!


First look at everything Santa brought! Priceless!!




Our beautiful C!










Watchin' tv with PePaw!





What a stud in his new camo!