Hanging with the Fam!!

Tonight, my mom and grandmother, a.k.a. Nannie, came over for dinner and to play with Caroline. Of course, we also had to throw in a game of 42 after Caroline went to bed (yes, Matt and I are officially the oldest 28-year-olds you will ever meet) Anyway, Nannie L-O-V-E-S Caroline and the feeling is definitely mutual. They both just light up when they see each other and Caroline will "coo" at Nannie forever. Nannie has a picture of Caroline framed in her bedroom and she says she stares at the picture all throughout the day. Nannie also says she sometimes talks to the picture because it makes her feel closer to Caroline on the days she doesn't see her. For those of you who know my sweet Nannie (mainly family and my bestest college buddies) can't you just picture her talking sweetly to Caroline's picture during the day?!? So cute! I was lucky to have such a sweet grandmother growing up, and I feel even more fortunate that Caroline will also get to experience this close relationship with my mom and Matt's mom. I also hope Caroline will have many memories of Nannie because she's the best, and I love her so much!!!

Nannie and Caroline...two of the prettiest gals I know :-)

I had to practically jump up and down to get Caroline to stop staring at Nannie and look at the camera
Sweet girl
One of our favorite family games...
...I like how Matt is deep in thought

Lovin' the Library

Caroline and I met up with some girls/babies from our Square 1 class (see under Favorite Links below) on Monday at Bookmarks. Bookmarks is the new public library branch in Northpark (the mall near our house). They have a fun class for babies under 24 months old. Caroline had a grand ole' time. We sang songs, nursery rhymes, etc... The librarian also passed out scarves for the babies to hold and wave around during a song. Caroline LOVED the scarf. She started waving it around and when the librarian came around to collect the scarves, Caroline wouldn't let hers go (see pic below). The lady was nice and let Caroline hold onto her scarf a little longer. Baby girl knows what she wants...it was funny :-) Anyway, if any of you blog readers live in the Dallas area and have babies, this is a really fun activity.

Super Supper Club!!

(Clockwise: Matt (Krauss), Matt (Smith), Erica, Craig, Amy, Jason, and Kelly)

On Sunday night, we had our supper club over to our house. Almost two years ago (wow, I can't believe it's already been that long), Matt and I started this with some of our friends. I know it sounds kind of boring (like something our parents would do...sorry mom and dad :-) but it's anything but!! It's really just an excuse to all get together, play games and cook for each other...which all four of the girls really like to do. Also, in a year's time, our supper club will go from 8 members to 12! Amy just had a little boy, James, who is adorable and 4 weeks younger than Caroline. Kelly and Erica are pregnant and due this winter. We're looking forward to all of the supper club babies being best buddies! Matt and I have been very blessed by all of these friendships!!

Fun Friday Photos

Ready for bed...

...but not before some cuddle time with Daddy!
Posing for the camera

Caroline LOVES her ball. It's one of the toys she can hold onto really well.

Caroline Grace and Grace Catherine

13 months ago, our sweet friends, Cori and Cary, had a precious baby girl named Grace. She is GORGEOUS and such a fun little girl!!! Cori and Cary are very good friends of ours (Cori and I went to Baylor together) and Matt and I LOVE getting together with them. We always have so much fun!! For Grace's birthday, I bought her and Caroline matching outfits. I know, kinda corny, but I couldn't help it. We also couldn't help having a photo session of the two girls the other day. I don't think this is the last time that Caroline will have a play date with Grace in a matching outfit :-)

I mean seriously, is Grace not the most beautiful little girl?!? Those baby blue eyes are to die for!!

Poor Grace, trying to get Caroline to smile at her...Caroline didn't quite catch on.
I love how Caroline was bracing herself for Grace's "love pat".
I had to wake Caroline up from her nap to take these pictures and she was not about to smile for the camera. I guess I wouldn't smile if someone woke me up for a photo shoot.
Again, no smiles here!

Two of the sweetest girls!!

Progress!!!

Caroline is making some progress sleeping without her swaddle. It's slow...but progress nonetheless. She took all four naps in her crib today without any swaddling. Her early morning nap was terrible but the other three were about an hour. Not quite back to normal but she's doing better. She's also not crying as much when I lay her down without it. I'm very proud of Caroline...I know the past few days have not been very fun for her but she's been a trooper!

Just chillin' in her favorite new sleep position. I think it's so funny. How can she be comfortable like that?!? It's like sleeping in a yoga pose. P.S. LOVE those chunky thighs :-)

Victory is so sweet!!

Shortly after Caroline was born, we realized that she was a major "flailer". All babies flail but apparently some do this more than others and our baby definitely fell in this category. So she has been trying for MONTHS to get those dang fingers to stay in her mouth. Matt and I would try to help her but every time she came close, her arm would jerk away...so sad (but kind of funny to watch Caroline get frustrated with herself). Finally, she got her fingers to stay in her mouth the other day. She liked it so much, she immediately fell asleep. It's a good thing she's got this figured out because it's coming in handy since we're weaning her swaddle this weekend (more on why we're weaning in a post to come). BTW, this whole weaning the swaddle is BRUTAL!!! We decided to quit cold turkey vs. the one-limb-at-a-time approach. I read (and some friends also told me) that Caroline would be equally upset if we did one arm out or all four limbs at once. So we decided to just pull the bandaid off quickly instead of slowly. It's not going so well (days/naps a lot worse than night but I think that's because she's so worn out from not sleeping during the day) but I'm hoping that Caroline will be back to sleeping well in a few days. Anyway, victory is so sweet!!!

Grammie's Pics

While we were out-of-town, Caroline's Grammie (Matt's mom) took lots of pictures of Caroline. I wanted to share a few!!

Happy Anniversary!!!

This past weekend, Matt and I went to Austin to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. We left Caroline with my mother-in-law and my mom. It was SO hard to leave her...much harder than I expected. However, once we got out of town and I realized two nights of uninterrupted sleep were in my future, I felt a little better. We had a great time relaxing at the pool, Matt played some golf, and I got my spa fix. Best of all, we had some good time together just the two of us. Even though we missed Caroline terribly, I now understand why everyone says to get away together every now and then once you have a baby. Thanks for making the weekend possible, Grammie and Kalo. Happy Anniversary, Matt...the past four years have been so much fun. I love you!!!

Getting ready for dinner

Matt headin' out for some golf
The Hill Country...so pretty

1 King bed+1 happy wife=1 happy Matt! (read below for more details)
Okay, so when we first walked in our room, this is what we found. 2 Queen beds...are you kidding me? Here we are on our anniversary trip SANS NEWBORN no less, and there are two beds in our room? I tell all of this very frantically to three managers at the hotel and they all tell me there are no other rooms available. This is just not okay...I continued my ranting until they finally moved us (weird how all of a sudden a room became available). Anyway, some of you may wonder why my husband wasn't on the phone? Well, even though he wasn't happy (you can see him sulking below), he's not as confrontational as I am when it comes to these kinds of issues. Luckily, we were moved to another room.
Just ONE more kiss...
Matt and I saying goodbye to Caroline. It was SO hard to leave!

Welcome to the Blog World

Well, I've finally decided to join the blog world. I must admit I'm a little intimidated by it all. I never had a myspace, facebook, etc... First of all, I'm not a computer whiz and have a hard time figuring out stuff like this. Second of all, I'm no Shakespeare when it comes to writing/creativity (I'm pretty much the most un-creative person ever). However, since Caroline has been born, the past three months have been the best, and most challenging, months of our life. She brings us so much joy everday. I want to share her and all of her adventures with our family and friends. Plus, Caroline's Grammie, Grandpa, and Grandad who all live far away will be quite happy with the more consistent updates and pictures. Below are many pics to catch everyone up to date. Sorry there are a lot but we've been busy. Enjoy!!


Big smiles for Daddy

Big girl sitting in the Bumbo chair
First visit with Grandad
Caroline loves her Grammie and Grandpa

Four generations of Valentines (mom, me, Nannie, and Caroline). There's not much family resemblance, uh? :-)
First trip to the poolCaroline's best buddies, Cason and Parker

First trip to the Arboretum...love that place!!
First little smile at six weeks

No, we're not torturing our child. It's just her first bath. She also did this every time we changed her diaper for FOUR WEEKS.

Caroline is a daddy's girl...if y'all only knew. She has Matt wrapped so tightly around her little finger. Smart girl! :-)

Sleeping angel
So little in her big glider

I love the bow on the hat

First pic as a family of three
Welcome to the world!
Matt and I getting ready for my c-section
I had no idea how our lives were about to change forever...