New PJ's

Caroline needed some new pj's so I decided to try and sew some for her. At the start of the project I was feeling incredibly cheap so I did not purchase a pattern. I read on a blog about how to make your own pattern. They look pretty cute from the front.

They're low rise, in case you were wondering! She's just showing off a little cloth diaper. It's nothing a long shirt won't cover!

My sweet babe!

Needless to say, she is going to need some more pj's! These will work for a few weeks but the butt is obviously too small! You also can't tell from the picture but it took some work to get her big head into the shirt! Maybe next time I will try a pattern...

Raising Good Kids

I think raising kids is tough because it happens so slowly. I just watched a piece on CNN about "emotional intelligence". How do you teach your child to be confident or to be relaxed when it may be easier to be worried? How do you teach in a day to day world what will be their biggest emotional assets later in life? I need a good system of judging things; a purpose statement of sorts that allows me to test the little details against the bigger picture. I hope that my Christian walk is sufficient.
(From a Comfort Inn in Guilford, CT)
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Picnic in the Park

Today was a great day! I don't think the day could have been bad with all the sunshine! My goals for the day consisted of resting and playing and more resting and playing. Mission accomplished! We walked about a mile and a half or so to a park down the street from us that we had never visited. There were several baseball fields, some picnic tables and a little play ground.

We spend the first bit of time watching some 10 year old boys play baseball. At first it was entertaining but it left me a little frightened for what might be in store for us. The coaches and kids were so serious! One little boy let a ball get past him and proceeded to cry! Eeks! If the boys didn't get a hit, they would toss their hats down on the ground. I played A LOT of sports growing up and I don't ever remember the coaches or parents being so serious. I even asked one of the parents what kind of league we were watching...just a rec league! I'm not sure if I'm ready for the days ahead. I can't imagine watching Caroline get so frustrated. I realize that part of playing sports is losing and learning lessons but I hope it can be done with a better attitude.

After we watched baseball, we had a little picnic.

Then we headed over to the play ground and Caroline had her first time in the swing.

I think she liked it!

We took a ton of pictures today!! These are just a few of my favorites...

Caroline sure loves her Dad!

Two little notes about Caroline these days...She has started "talking." She used to just do happy screeches but she is now making "dada", "baba" and even a couple "mama" sounds. She also has started giggling more frequently. She has even made up a little game that makes her giggle. She sticks her hand up to our mouth and Mark or I will bite it. She then giggles and pulls it away really fast. Repeat...hand in our mouth, bite, pull away and giggle. It's great!

Kisses

Mark likes to kiss Caroline when he gets home from out of town after she is already in bed. Tonight he came back from kissing her and said, "I leaned in and came back with nothing." He said it took several tries but his pooched lips eventually found her!

Pizza Anyone?

or "Just A Few More Minutes!"

It's Monday night and Mark is home - a rarity these days! I got a little industrious this afternoon and decided to make homemade pizza for dinner. I made the homemade dough and rolled it all out. Mark and I both decorated a side of the pizza and I put it in the oven. I checked on it 15 minutes later and it wasn't done. I set the timer for 10 more minutes and it still was not done. I checked on it 5 minutes later and it was then that Mark thoughtfully mentioned that the oven may not be on! Upon realizing my mistake, I jumped up and down and laughingly said "doo-doo" a few times (except the one that starts with a c) and then I saw a wide eyed Caroline staring right at me! Oops! Good thing she doesn't talk just yet. Well, I was certain I had turned it on. Unfortunately, I had turned on the lower oven and put the pizza in the top oven. I'm thankful for the two ovens but apparently wasn't using my brain as I cooked tonight!

Can you tell which slice is mine and which is Mark's?

In other news, Caroline has been battling a cold for a few weeks. Last Monday Mark politley asked that I take her to the doctor while he was out of town. In all honesty I did not think she was that sick and I was SUPER busy last week. Of course, he came home and she still had a runny nose and a cough. So last night, Mark had a minor breakdown. He said he felt like a terrible Dad because she was always sick. He thought we weren't taking good enough care of her, etc. etc. I was a little caught off guard because I hadn't been feeling like a bad Mom... Needless to say, he demanded that we take her to the doctor today and I obliged. In the end Mark was right and I'm glad that we took her. The doctor said that because the cold had lasted for so long it was not a virus and was more likely a bacteria. He gave us some of the hot pink bubble gum goodness and we are hoping that she is on the mend. What a good Dad!

Aquarium

Yesterday Noelle and William took Caroline and me to the Aquarium. We had a great time! Sometimes I have a hard time knowing what types of activities Caroline will enjoy, what she will put up with and what will just be a big hard challenge for me! She seemed to enjoy the aquarium and sat in her stroller for the whole two hours that we strolled around. I think she might have enjoyed the people talking to her more than the fish but that is fine with me.

This picture cracks me up because Caroline looks ready for her morning nap, while William is ready for a party or some kung foo fighting! Although I can't see him fighting, he is such a sweet boy!

Thanks for taking us to the aquarium!

Sicko

I think it's fair to say that Caroline has another cold! Thankfully, she is still her happy little self!

Weekend Mishaps

A random post about our weekend so far and a few little mishaps/miscommunications that Mark and I have had recently. Thankfully we are still smiling.


Yesterday our neighbors Sharry and Sarah came over to visit. They wanted to see my new sewing machine. I had been working on making some pajamas for Caroline. Of course, we started talking about clothes and Mark jumped in on the conversation. Every month we have a little discussion about how much money should be in our budget for clothing. Every month I have to explain the importance of having a clothing budget and every month Mark says that he doesn't understand. We ended up sharing some of our different ideas about a clothing budget with Sharry and Sarah. Thankfully, they agreed with me!


Our conversation left me feeling kind of guilty, sad, frustrated or something. However, I felt a little better when I came home today and saw this ensemble that Mark had put together for Caroline.

I think you can see from the picture below that Mark puts a lot of thought into fashion! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture with her in it! Mark said, "Flowers and flowers. It matches!" I'm not sure the picture does the fashion faux pas justice. :-)

Another funny little tid bit from the weekend. Friday night we started watching "Julie and Julia." It took me awhile to get used to Julia's voice but the movie is adorable and we both were enjoying it. However, as is now the new norm, we didn't finish the movie Friday night because we were too tired. Saturday morning we popped the movie in and continued watching, but then Noelle came to pick me up. I am thankful that Mark was able to stay home and watch Caroline while I enjoyed some time out. When I got back home, I excitedly said, "Let's finish our movie." to which Mark replied, "I already mailed it back." For some reason, I was just so flustered by this. Not mad, just confused. I still cannot understand why he would return a movie that we had not finished watching, especially since we were both enjoying it (or so I thought)! Mark assured me he thought the movie was over. It's really not a big deal at all because we can just get it again with Netflix. It just kind of exemplified our communicaiton latley. We also started a load of dishes without soap today and washed the same load of clothes twice. Just funny miscommunications that have happened throughout the weekend.

I said earlier that we are still smiling and with good reason. Caroline is full of smiles and surprises. Our last weekend mishap occurred as Mark was putting Caroline in the bathtub. Do you see all the wet spots on his pants?

Those aren't water spots from all of her kicking and splashing. Just a little pee that she wanted to share. :-) Mark says that he now feels like an official Dad since he has been peed on.

Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful. We are looking forward to a picnic in the park and some sweet time together (mishap free)!

Sharing

Tonight I went to dinner with Lindsay and Kelsey. Both of our husbands had left us. (I told my Grandma that we were going to dinner because our husbands "left us." She was rather startled and said, "You just mean they are out of town for work, right?!" I assured her that we were all fine!)

We sat the girls next to each other in their high chairs and we both fed them. Afterwards I gave Caroline her spoon to play with while we ate our dinner. Lindsay and I both looked up as Kelsey stole the spoon from Caroline. It wasn't two seconds later that Caroline stole Kelsey's pacifier (you can see in the picture it's still attached to Kelsey)! Neither one seemed bothered by the exchange. I think they are already learning to share. :-)