Our 10 Month Apologies

Caroline hit the 10 month mark about a week ago.  The day came and went and I forgot to take her monthly pictures.  The next day came and with my good intentions came a nasty, nasty cough.  I ignored it because the cough was accompanied with a runny nosy and other signs of teething.  Mind you - her top teeth are about to bust through.  I gave her some Motrin and we went on our way.  We went to the zoo with our cousins, hung out with Grammy and Grampy, and enjoyed some really adorable puppy dogs.  The cough was getting worse, as was her general demeanor, so I decided to take her to the doctor on Monday afternoon.  I was expecting him (our regular doc was booked) to tell me it's just teething, but the news was much worse.  Sweet Caroline has RSV!  In lay person's terms, that's short for a really nasty respiratory virus.  It's highly contagious and most babies catch it before they turn 2.  I'm thinking she caught it at the child center at the gym.  Her cough is horrible and she wasn't eating solid foods (until today), but her spirit is still spunky.  She has taken advantage of the extra home time by learning how to pull up on the furniture.  I have to keep her away from other kids until Friday, so I'm sure she'll be well on her way to walking by the time we're done with our quarantine.

Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks:

Big girl drinking through a straw!  She saw her friends doing it and decided sippy cups are too babyish for her.

This is her bottle drinking position.  Very lady like!  She has also decided that because she's 10 months old and a big girl, she no longer wants to nurse.  Broke my heart!

Dressed up for Grampy's retirement luncheon.

She was giving me The Business about something.  She gave this look to everyone at HEB today who looked in her general direction.

She loves her friend Maddie's Mini Cooper!

Happy Valentine's Day!  Grammy made that onesie for Caroline on her new embroidery machine.

Being silly with DaDa.  DaDa is her first real word.  She calls for him when she doesn't want to take a nap.  She even crawls towards the back door when she hears his truck doors slam!

She loves puppies and her Aunt JuJu!

Her newest boyfriend, Landon.  Isn't he handsome??

This spring weather is beautiful!  Caroline enjoys her swing and Grammy's house.

She loved the fish at the Zoo! 

Playing in the new African exhibit at the Houston Zoo.  It's a must see!

She loves the carousel!

Two silly cousins!

Awww...she loves her Backe.

This is how I knew she was sick - she never wants to just lie down and chill.

Uh oh! Trouble ahead!

Her first real food in a week - Chick fil A.

Stuck piggy!

I promise I'll get to the pics tomorrow.  She's feeling much better so I'm thinking she'll cooperate for at least 5 minutes. 

I hope everyone has a great week! 

Our Little Love!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love Valentine's Day - always have, always will.  I believe it's a day to celebrate all of the love in your life, not just that from a husband/boyfriend/wife/etc.  We've got so much love to celebrate this year because of little (well, big) Caroline!  She makes it so easy to love her.  :)

She's been doing a lot of growing over the past couple of weeks.  She now has 2 bottom teeth and is working on her top ones.  She loves to run her tongue over the tops of her new chompers...I guess it's a new sensation for her.  She's also trying her very best to pull up on furniture and laundry baskets.  She just LOVES to help with laundry.  And by help, I mean pull everything out of the basket and roll around in it.  I think she learned that from my Mom's cat.

Here are some pictures of our crazy life over the past couple of weeks:

Photo booth fun at a wedding we went to this past weekend.

Happy Valentine's Day!

It got a little chilly while we were in Vegas, so Grammy mixed some outfits to keep her warm.

We love Vegas!

Caroline enjoying her first vanilla wafer.  She's wearing most of it.

Her new obsession - door stoppers.  She puts her mouth over the end and pops off the white knob.

We love Ellen!

Toothbrush for her new baby teeth!

Caroline's gift to her Aunt Meghan for her 30th birthday - "The Business".

She was so excited to get a card from her cousin, James!

I finally bought her a set of keys of her own.  Thanks to Ace Hardware for the free keys!

Her favorite place to play

Helping Grammy with laundry

Her cousins sent her pretty bows for Valentine's Day!  She was not impressed with my styling.

She LOVES spaghetti!

She loves to eat, but hates dirty hands.

Sammy the Snail - $10!  Great find!



9 Month update

We had a wonderful visit with Dr. S!  She was impressed with Caroline's early transition to table food and had all great things to say about her growth and progress.  She's 23 pounds and 29 inches long, both in the 97th percentile.  Her weight gain is slowing down but her length is speeding up. 

Here's a comparison that shows how much she's grown.  The diaper on the left is the size she wore for the first 3 weeks of her life and the diaper on the right is the size she is currently wearing:

Here are some pictures from the last few days:

Giving her pacifier The Business.

Mission Burrito for lunch!

Sticking her tongue out at the park.  Stinker.



Naughty Nine Months

Happy 9 Months, Caroline!

I know I've mentioned it in the previous posts, but I can't believe I have a 9 month old!  So much has changed in the past month that it seems like more than just 4 weeks have passed. 

At 9 months, Caroline is:

Trying to climb out of her crib.  She uses the bumper pads to pull herself up to the top and then she hangs there as she yells for us.  We lowered her mattress to remedy that situation (the climbing, not the yelling).

Saying "DaDa" and "MaMa"!!!  She associates bath time with DaDa since Luc gives her baths.  He was in New Orleans this past weekend so I bathed her...she chanted DaDa the entire time.  She missed her Daddy!  I'm teaching her that I'm MaMa, but that might take a little more time.  She's got other sounds that she babbles but none are as important as DaDa and MaMa.

Speaking of bath time, we transitioned her out of her baby tub and into the big girl tub.  She loves it!  She has so much room to splash and play.  With no fear of the water, she throws herself back and tries to swim.  Looks like I'll be teaching her swim lessons come June!

Shaking her head "no" when refusing something.  She used to shake it for fun, but now she knows what it means.  The little stinker shakes her head when I sing.  I tell myself that she loves my singing, but I fear she does not!  She loves to shake her head around nap time.  She has decided that since she's a big girl now she doesn't have to take morning naps.  Sorry, Caroline, that's a fight you're not going to win!

Feeding herself real food.  She still has the occasional baby food, but she really loves table food.  Her current favorite is lunch meat, cheese, and torn up bread.  She LOVES turkey.  We took her to Mission Burrito today (my personal favorite!) and she loved her baby burrito bowl.  Chicken, cheese, rice and beans!  Yum!  She couldn't get it in her mouth fast enough:

She is moving from the army crawl to a real crawl.  She gets up on her hands and knees but then decides it's too much work and falls.  Dr. Smoot told us this was going to happen - her big baby belly is too heavy for her to crawl.  She has no desire to walk.  She can stand with assistance well, but refuses to move her baby feet.  I can tell she's frustrated and wants to be more mobile.  I hope she decides to crawl soon because frustration = whiny baby.

I think her lactose sensitivity is getting better.  She gets soy based formula every now and then, but I switched her to regular formula and she's doing great!  Thank goodness...I was worried that she wasn't going to be able to drink milk by her first birthday. 

She's out of 12 months clothing and into 18 months.  The 12 months are too short in the stride.  I hope her summer bubbles fit by the time hot weather rolls around...

She has 4 teeth that are about to break the gum line.  I can see the outline of her bottom 2 and top 2 teeth just underneath the surface.  Yeah!  I hope they break before Luc and I leave for Las Vegas. 

Here are her 9 month photos.  She wouldn't cooperate...at all!

Congratulations to the Patriots on their win today!  Lucas is obviously very excited, can't you tell?  He had just gotten back from New Orleans so he was a little worn out. 

Luc and I are headed to Las Vegas on Saturday for a wedding.  Yeah!  I love Las Vegas, in particular, the Wheel of Fortune slot machines.  Aside from gambling and drinking more than a few beers, we are going to see O on Sunday at the Bellagio.  I've never been to a Vegas show and I'm excited that O will be my first.  I've heard great things about it.  Although I'm so excited to spend some quality time with my husband, I'm so sad to leave Caroline for a few days!  I've never been away from her for more than 8 hours, so 72 might be a little rough.  Thanks to Mom and Dad for babysitting! 

We see Dr. Smoot tomorrow for shots and well baby check.  I'll post a height/weight update tomorrow afternoon.  My guess is 29 inches/25 pounds.  Big baby! 

Goin' to Grammy's!

It happened.  I finally got initiated into the Mother's Club.  Projectile vomit.  Everywhere.  All over me.  All over the glider.  SO GROSS, but not nearly as bad as I expected.  I'm usually a partner puker (if I see someone throw up, I usually do as well), but I guess it's different when it comes to your own children.  Caroline just got over the stomach bug.  Poor baby had a couple of rough days, but she's back to good health now.

She's still in the throws of teething, which is hard on both of us. I'm hoping this clingy/whiny/fussy stage is because of the teething and not a new stage that she's in. 

I'm coping by taking her on long walks to the various parks in Eagle Springs:

She loves to swing and I don't mind pushing her.  It's a win-win situation!  Paddington got the thrill of his life when he came along for a ride. 

Caroline is coping by "giving the business" to my belt (she loves to chew on the buckle - don't worry, I sanitized it before letting her play with it):

And by reading Pottery Barn:

And by chewing on her toes (no, I didn't sanitize them before she put them in her mouth):



It has been a very unproductive week, so I'm taking her to spend some time with Grammy and Backe.  My house needs some serious attention!



I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Lately...

We're almost to the middle of January and hopefully close to the end of our first bout with teething.  Caroline has a few teeth that are trying to rear their pointy heads and we are both pretty miserable.  She's in pain and it pains me to see her hurting so much!  Her new favorite form of relief is to chew on my shoulder while she's crying.  Poor baby!  I'm switching back and forth from Motrin to Tylenol.  It's allowing for some relief, but obviously not all of her aches are gone.  On top of that, I'm pretty sure she's hitting a growth spurt.  She's eating non-stop and is getting very wide...which is usually followed by a significant gain in length.  I'm pretty sure she's trying to increase her stats before her 9 month appointment (in 2 weeks). 

Here are a few pics of what's been going on lately in the Smith house:

She loves her wagon!  We go for rides all the time. 

Caroline passed out on our way to Louisiana for Boudreaux Christmas.  Her new car seat is not as nap friendly as her old one.

C passed out after a long afternoon at Grammy's.

Snuggling in our bed on Sunday morning.  It's my favorite time of the week!

Happy baby!

I forgot to turn the fan on for her nap!  Oops!  She's a sweaty sleeper.

Her favorite things to play with are things she's not supposed to play with.

C playing in the bounce house at the Christmas party. She loved it!