1/2 birthday!

Caroline is growing up so fast! I can hardly believe that today she is 6 months old. I could have never imagined how time really flies when you have kids! She has brought so much joy to our lives!

It is really crazy to see the new things she is learning every day! She can sit by herself for long periods of time now. We put a circle of toys all around her and let her play. She is doing rasberries again. She knows her name. She probably knew it earlier but now she knows it now for sure. She has always been pretty easy going (except for weeks 4-8 which were filled with crying) but the last few weeks she has been filled with smiles for me and Mark and strangers! I'm not sure if I posted this before but my boss at the church said, "She smiles with her whole face." and it's true. It still makes my heart melt. She has this really high pitched squeal that she does when she is really excited. And best of all she loves her Mama and Daddy! When I go to get her at 6:00 in the morning to feed her, she grabs hold of my cheeks and just squeezes and pulls her head towards me. A little baby hug - one day I will teach her to be a little more gentle with her hugs. :-) She loves Mark too. He can make her giggle and she gives the biggest grin whenever he walks into the room. Even though it's silly to say, I never knew how much babies loved their parents! Whenever I say to Mark, "She loves you so much!", Mark replies, "Yeah, she gets that from you." I think its the sweetest thought. I sure hope that she sees how much I love her daddy!

One another good note - our time with the pacifier has come to end! Yipee! I'm not saying she will never use it again, just not to go to sleep. She has only had it twice all week (at day care for two short periods). She goes to sleep without it peacefully during her naptime and bedtime. She also has been taking longer naps and sleeping through the night. I'm thrilled! One tough night of 35 minutes of crying, another night of 1 hour of talking/whining and then it was done! I encourage all parents to try/cry it out, once the babies are old enough!

What a sweet little blessing she is to us!