Okay.  The little princess is taking a nap, so I have a few moments to finally post a bit about our trip last weekend!

We had a grand time in Texas.  I was quite stressed about taking Baby C on the airplane all by myself (more precisely, stressed about getting all our stuff through security all by myself), but I rehearsed it at least a dozen times in my mind and spent about 4 hours planning and packing the night before, and all went well!  In fact, I must have been more prepared than I thought, because the morning we left I accidentally got ready 45 minutes early.  I hate when that happens, especially when 45 minutes early is at 4:15 a.m.  Oh, well… I had a nice breakfast.

We got through security NO PROBLEM.  The TSA people were even HELPFUL.  I know!  Crazy!  I was worried about taking liquid formula through, but I just “declared” that I had it before putting it in the bin to go through the x-ray machine, and no one seemed to care at all.  I’ve heard so many horror stories from moms who had to throw it out!  I should have taken a photo of our organized selves marching through the airport, but that was one thing too many, so you’ll just have to imagine: baby in Bjorn on my chest (still in her footie pajamas… it was an early flight…), backpack full of diaper-bag contents on my back, carseat with base attached on my arm.

Tiny Girl was so excited to go on the plane, she couldn’t really sleep.  This led to some fussiness later, but she was a perfect angel on the flight.  Really, she couldn’t have been better. I just got out a new toy for her to play with every 30-45 minutes and she acted like, “Wow, cool!  Thanks, mom!” even though they were all the same toys she plays with at home.  She ate a little, she slept a very little, she changed clothes (out of the footie pajamas), we danced and sang some songs, and we made it to DFW without a bit of crying or screaming.

Waiting for our Flight

The castle at our gate!

We're going on a trip!

Happy girl in the window seat

We got to the hotel early afternoon after driving through Chick-Fil-A for some nuggets and taking a quick peek at all the new construction at SMU.  Mamaw (Steven’s mom) met us there and had lots of helpful baby stuff that she brought from her house.  The next 48 hours were a blur, as I came in and out of the hotel room where Mamaw and Caroline were playing and spent the rest of the time in the big ballrooms where Exploration was taking place.  The conference was fantastic.  Saw some great friends, participated in fantastic worship, and felt really renewed despite the lack of sleep.

Little princess lounging in the hotel room

With our good friends the Chanceys in Dallas

Perhaps the highlight of the weekend (in addition to the great worship, of course), was Caroline’s first college football game!  We made it through an entire half at Gerald J. Ford Stadium watching the Mustangs beat the UTEP Miners.  So much fun!

Showing our Mustang pride

Go Mustangs!

All this football can wear a girl out... Caroline napped like this for about an hour...

Touchdown!!

After Exploration ended on Sunday, we got our Tex-Mex on at Chuy’s (yum!), then walked a couple blocks to make room for some Wild About Harry’s .  Caroline managed to sleep through Chuy’s, but wanted to try some custard at WAH.  She managed to get at least four of her little fingers in my coffee custard with oreos on it, but thankfully she doesn’t know yet that she should put those fingers directly in her mouth!  So she mostly just wiped it all over my shirt.  Oh, well.

After Harry’s, we headed out to Hughes Springs to see where Caroline’s dad was born and raised.  She had a great time hanging out with Mamaw and Grandpa and meeting lots of new people.  Then we came back to Seattle on Tuesday night.  I was not so worried about getting through security the second time around, but I was a bit concerned about the actual flight, as Caroline had been off her nap schedule (and not sleeping through the night) for five whole days.  She did great, though!  We ended up with two bulkhead seats on the side of the plane with only two seats.  It was PERFECT.  Again, she slept some, ate some, we played and danced and sang some songs… and then we were in Seattle and Steven was there to pick us up!  It’s so great to be home and back on a regular schedule, and also so great to know that Caroline’s a great traveler should we need to go somewhere else.

Big Girl on the Couch at Mamaw and Grandpa's

I love my Mamaw!

Getting some love from Mommy

Showing off for Grandpa

More photos coming soon – she’s 6 months old today!!  Can you believe it?!  Time flies when you’re having fun!

See you next time!

For those of you who have been waiting with bated breath to see how our trip went, rest assured: Caroline was a perfect angel on both of our four-hour flights, and pretty much the entire five days we were away.  We had a grand time at the best Exploration ever: incredible worship, seeing old friends, playing with grandparents, eating yummy food (well, Caroline’s mom wouldn’t really let her try much… such a stick in the mud), and just generally enjoying Texas.

More, including cute photos, will come as soon as we’ve convinced the tiny girl to get back on Pacific Time.  Who thought up time zones, anyway?  Sheesh.

Caroline (and her parents) had the incredible privilege this weekend of spending time with Rev. Peter Storey.  If you read our blog a few years ago when we took our trip to South Africa, Peter was the amazing South African native (and Duke professor) who invited us to travel with him, his wife Elizabeth, and two other marvelous couples on the trip of a lifetime.  You can read more about that here if you’re interested.

Peter and his son, Rev. Alan Storey, were in Seattle this week for some speaking and preaching engagements, and we got to hang out with Peter during some of his free time on Saturday!  Such a privilege.  Caroline took to him instantly, and kept trying to hold his hand and eat his doughnut while we drank hot beverages next to Alki Beach on a beautiful, if cold, afternoon.

She may not realize yet just how momentous this meeting was, or how amazing this relationship is, but we have at least this one photo to show her!

On Alki Beach

[I must say I'm impressed with my cell phone camera!  You can even see the space needle over Caroline's head...]

Caroline is doing great.  She’s getting a bit more regular in her schedule and taking fewer (only three!) but longer naps most days.  And she works hard while she’s awake!  She is hardly ever still and is interested in EVERYTHING.  She has recently discovered that she can put her toes in her mouth, and she thinks that’s pretty fun (though I think it’s pretty gross… try not to think about it too much).  And she can sit up on her own for about 30 seconds!  Of course, when I tried to video her sitting up this evening she kept toppling over.  I guess she doesn’t want to brag.  She can also roll over from her belly to her back now, so if she ever put it together in both directions she could really move.  And she’s starting to stand for a little while with support.  It won’t be long before she’s mobile, I’m afraid.

She continues to be absolutely delightful.  She’s the smiley-est baby I have ever seen.

We’re getting ready for Caroline’s first plane flight on Friday, headed to the Big D!  Texas, here we come.  Pray that she does well on the plane.  And that I can schlep all of her stuff through security without getting cursed at.

Caroline is what you might call an active sleeper.  She is not one of those babies that lies perfectly still all night long.  She rolls over from her back to her belly to her back to her belly and somehow scoots herself from one end and side of the crib to the other.  She often wakes up with her head on the opposite end of how we put her down – somehow she’s spun around in her sleep.

I was thinking recently that it’s a good thing she’s so little so she doesn’t bump into anything during all this movement.  Then I started wondering how big MY bed would have to be to give me as much freedom to roll around as Caroline has.  Here are the numbers:

• Caroline’s bed is about 28″ x 52″ for 1456 sq. in.
• My current queen size bed (which I share with another person) is 60″ x 80″ for 4800 sq. in.
• For me to have the room that Caroline has my bed would need to be 70.5″ x 131″ for 9235.5 sq. in.  That would be 5′10.5″ x 10′11″.

That’s a big bed.  Maybe about the size of our whole room.  It sounds fun, though, until you have to change the sheets…

In other news, pictures!

Another cute sleeping baby photo. This is not the way we put her down...

Yes, yes, I know you’re not supposed to put anything in the crib with a sleeping baby, which means Mr. Penguin there is not allowed.  But sometimes if she wakes up a little early in the morning she’ll just play for a while if there’s something to play with and I get a little more time, so…

Here are a couple of shots from our first walk with the big-girl stroller (sans carseat)!  Caroline loved being able to see everything around her (not just looking up at her mom like usual).  I had to tighten the little straps ALL THE WAY to keep her in there, but it worked!

Our first walk in the big-girl stroller (sans carseat)!

My view on the big-girl-stroller walk

And a few more Halloween shots, including a few on our couch with some friends from PEPS!

The cookie monster!

Cookie Monster, a Sounders Star, and Snow White!

"Why didn't you want your hat on, Baby C? It totally made your outfit! Now you're just wearing a big blue thing..."

C is for cookie, that’s good enough for me…

The Cookie Monster

Grammy made this costume.  Turns out I had one like this when I was little, too.  If I had to bet, though, I’d say she’s cuter.

I love fall!  And hopefully Caroline will love it, too.  So far so good.

Last weekend we went out to Carnation, WA to Jubilee Farm for Caroline’s first pumpkin patch visit!  We had a grand time.  Jubilee Farm is an actual working farm that has a big pumpkin patch as well as pony rides, a petting zoo, a hay maze for the little ones, a pumpkin launcher for both little and big kids (judging by the number of men who got really excited every time a pumpkin splatted on the ground after flying through the air), etc.  It was so fun!  We went with another family from our PEPS group and some of their extended family, so we had a whole crew of kids, which made it even better.  It turned out to be pretty chilly and VERY muddy that day, so we didn’t get the cute Caroline-in-the-pumpkins photos that I had envisioned (she stayed in the Bjorn the entire time), but we still had a great time.  Here are a few photos:

We made it through the hay maze! (It's behind us, if you can't tell.)

I love these!

On the hayride out to the pumpkin patch. Caroline's under those blankets.

In the pumpkin patch!

Family photo among the pumpkins

Happy girl after the pumpkin patch

It doesn't show up that great, but I love the crazy hair that results from pulling a hat off.

Since it was so cold at the pumpkin patch, Caroline didn’t really get to show off her pumpkin shirt.  So we did a little photo shoot this afternoon at home:

Apparently, pumpkins are for eating.

Where did that little pumpkin go?

Seriously loving this pumpkin.

...And it's nap time.

On Saturday we also went to the National SMU Watch Party in Seattle – the SMU alums in Seattle got together to watch what might be our only televised game all season.  It’s a tough thing, though: the only time we get on TV is when we play teams that are good enough to be on TV.  And that means we get beat.  [sigh]  The game did not go well.  Caroline was the only smart one of us: she slept through the majority of the game:

Showing Mustang pride even in her sleep.

Losing the binky.

And we had a visit on Sunday from Aunt Emily and her friend, Troy.  Caroline LOVED Troy immediately.  Wow.  He made her laugh like no other!  I only caught the tale end of her longest laughing session ever (apparently everything Troy says is hilarious), so she’s starting to get tired here, but it’s still pretty darn cute.

Then we thought we’d see what Caroline might look like if she had long blond hair.  Unfortunately, all of us had trouble sitting still because we were laughing so hard, so it’s not the highest quality video ever.

Okay, that’s it for today.  We’re looking forward to putting Caroline in her cookie monster outfit this evening for some trick-or-treating (or just for some photos).  We’ll post again soon!

Yep, you read that right: FIVE MONTHS.  Caroline was five months old on Wednesday!  Can you believe it?  Time flies when you’re having fun!  To mark the occasion, we did a little photo shoot in the rocking chair yesterday.  Here are my favorites:

Giving the photographer instructions...

Serious face

Playing with her favorite toy (thanks, Lindsey!)

Sitting up like a big girl

"I love having my photo taken!"

Mom's new all-time favorite

Man, she’s cute.  Once I start snapping the photos, I can hardly stop!  She just smiles and smiles at the camera – we are so blessed to have such a happy girl!

We also continue to be thankful for our childcare situation.  Nanny Stephanie is awesome!  And we absolutely love the family we’re sharing with.  Stephanie sometimes takes photos of the kids and sends them during the day when they’re being especially cute, too.  Here are a couple from this past week:

Caroline on the chair, safe from Isabelle

Girls having a chat

Isabelle is a go-getter.  At 6.5 months, she’s crawling with great speed, pulling up on anything and everything, and not letting ANYTHING get in her way.  They are so fun to watch!

And here’s how Caroline sleeps these days: arms underneath, butt in the air:

Nap time

We are trying not to take her sleep patterns for granted: she is SUCH a good sleeper.  She takes either 3 or 4 naps each day, anywhere from 30 minutes to 2.5 hours, and then sleeps 10 hours or more at night.  And often when she’s playing during the day and gets tired, she’ll just close her eyes and go to sleep where she is.  Example below:

Looking like a giant girl, asleep in the almost-too-small bouncy chair

Sweet cheeks

To close this post, here’s a rare photo of the two of us, ready to go to breakfast with family on Thursday morning:

Ready to go!

Grandparents are in town this week and we’re headed to the pumpkin patch with some friends from PEPS today, so I’m sure there will be many more photos to post soon!  Thanks for reading.

I don’t know if you remember the photos, but Caroline did not exactly like bathing when she was first introduced to it.  I present Exhibit A:

Exhibit A: First Bath

Thankfully, she seems to have changed her mind.  Here she is having fun on a recent evening in the tub:

Recent bath time

Man, she looks HUGE, too!

I have been doing some computer upgrades lately, which might explain the lack of posting.  Or it might be because I’ve been traveling.  Or working too much.  Or because I’ve forgotten to take pictures of my absurdly adorable baby recently.  But have no fear: the computer is working better than ever and I’m going crazy with the camera!  There will be much to post very soon.

I was changing Caroline’s crib sheets the other night, and I noticed this huge sticker on the mattress:

Warranty

Is a 35-year warranty really necessary for a crib mattress?  I can’t believe you’d need a crib mattress for more than 10 years, max.  I’m imagining some folks in the Sealy baby mattress meetings saying, “Darn those Serta baby mattress people – they just added a 30-year warranty to their product which is pretty much identical to ours in every way!  We’ll show them: a 35-year warranty!”  Yah.  Probably not going to cash that one in.

In other news, Caroline has Fifth Disease.  Not really a huge deal, but she has a fever and generally feels yucky, which translates to irritable and needy (wants to be held all the time).  And since she has a fever, she can’t go to her nanny share and Mom has to stay home with her!  The first of many “my kid is sick” days, I’m imagining…

One of the primary reasons we moved to Seattle was to be closer to family.  We anticipated having a child someday and wanted her to grow up near her extended family, to be friends with cousins, to rely on aunts and uncles, and to be spoiled by grandparents.  In moving, we actually made the grandparents part more difficult, as Steven’s parents still live in East Texas and mine are in Georgia.  But a grandchild has been a wonderful excuse for the grandparents to visit Seattle more often, and we are so thankful!

Last weekend we got to do a huge family dinner for Harrison’s birthday.  All together, there were three aunts, three uncles, a grandmother, two parents, and six cousins around the table.  And Caroline slept the whole time!  She never even opened her eyes to see all of those doting family members around the table.

Then throughout the week, Caroline got to spend tons of quality time with Steven’s mom as she visited from Texas.  The two even shared a room!  Betsy and Caroline had fun adventures strolling around Seattle, doing a little shopping (thanks for the adorable pink outfit, Mamaw!), bouncing, rocking, and all the fun stuff a baby could want to do.  We were so thankful for her help, especially as Steven and I had super-busy work weeks with evening commitments almost every night.

Unfortunately, we were so busy we did not take any photos of them together!  I was so sad when I realized it today…  My parents and grandparents will be here in a few weeks, and I hope we do a better job with photos next time!

Last night Aunt Emily came over for dinner with a request from Grammy to make another video for the blog.  We didn’t quite get the project finished before Caroline fell asleep, but we did the video, anyway.  Here ‘ya go, Grammy!