What's in a Name?

Caroline wants to tell you her baby brother's name! Play video below:

You heard her right...our baby boy's name is:

Matthew Joseph Krauss Jr.

I'm still not sure how to write the "Junior" part exactly...will definitely have to figure that out :-) We are SO glad Baby Boy Krauss FINALLY has a real name. It has taken us a looooong time to decide but now it's final and it has been fun to tell everyone.

Matt has always wanted to name a son "Matthew" and I love the name but it took me a long time to come around to the "Jr." part. It has grown on me though and Matt is beyond excited about it (which makes me really happy). One of the best things (in my opinion :-) about the name, Matthew, is its meaning..."gift from God". Every child is a gift from God, however, this meaning is especially important to us since Matthew was given to us as a gift from the Lord right after we miscarried our second baby.

We plan on calling our little boy Matthew...not Matt, Matty or any other abbreviated form of the name. That way we can differentiate between hubby and son. We'll see how long we achieve that goal :-) Needless to say, we cannot WAIT to meet Matthew Joseph Krauss Jr. in only 6 weeks!!!

Dancing Queen

My little dancing queen started ballet last week! I've been waiting for this day forever. I think little girls in tutus are to.die.for. (I feel the same way about little boys in soccer uniforms, BTW...so cute :-). Anyway, I've been wanting to see Caroline as a little ballerina since she was born. If I had found a ballet class for newborns, she would have been enrolled...haha, j/k...kind of.

Anyway, Caroline woke up on the first morning of ballet just giddy with excitement. The moment I put her leotard on her she just wanted to dance even though she wasn't even finished getting ready. So dance she did:

Finally, she stopped dancing long enough for me to fix her hair and put on her shoes. Then we were on our way:

But not without a stop for donuts with Caroline's sweet school friend, Avery...who is also in her ballet class. Such fun! The excitement cannot be contained:

Caroline's ballet class is offerend through a church, and their dance studio won't be ready for a couple more weeks. So the first couple of classes are at the church itself.

Posing with Avery outside:

Walking in This is what she did when the church bells started ringing in the bell tower:

Waiting on the elevator to take them upstairs:

"I'm so excited, mommy!!!"

Caroline was picked by her teacher, Ms. Elizabeth, to be an example for the parents about how to "fix" their ballet shoes just the right way. I couldn't believe Caroline went up in front of everyone...she was really nervous though:

Oh, the cuteness...lots of little girls in tutus!

Wish I knew what was going through Caroline's mind in this picture:

And this is the point in the class where the "watching" began. Caroline stood back and watched,

and watched,

and watched some more. My little observer did not know what to think (or do)!

Practicing her splits

Standing on her piece of tape:

This part of the class was so sweet. The teacher handed out dolls and the girls were supposed to rock them to the music. Caroline was in awe of her ballerina baby! Avery made her doll do the splits :-)

Supposed to be rocking but Caroline is, you guessed it, watching:

Putting her doll to sleep:

Oh, just watching some more:

Running over to give me a quick hug (this is why I'm guessing we're only allowed in the class the first day):

Okay, so this was the best part of the class for my ballet star. She crossed her arms, looked back at me, and loudly said "I'm just gonna watch, mommy, okay?!?" Really, Caroline?? At that point, I got up and whispered in her ear that if she participated, she could have some fruit snacks after class. That seemed to do the trick:

This cracked me up...when Ms. Elizabeth had the kids sit on their tape, Caroline always sat backwards so she could face me then turned her head around to listen to the teacher:

Such sweetness

Getting her sticker for a job well done ;-)

I had so much fun getting to sit in on Caroline's first class! Overall, she really didn't know what to think and was MUCH more comfortable observing the class from a little distance. Hopefully, she will be more comfortable this week and participate more. We've been talking a LOT about participating vs. watching so we'll see what happens. It will be interesting this week when I don't get to stay in the class with her. I don't know how she will handle it...we've never done a "drop off" activity (other than swimming lessons which I don't really count). Fingers crossed it's a fun week at ballet :-)

Love Love Love

We just love love love our sweet Nannie and enjoy spending time with her so much!

Nannie had knee replacement surgery yesterday. All went well and she's feeling good but has a looooong road of rehab ahead of her. We're praying for a quick and speedy recovery!

Calling my brother to see if he will come over and play with us :-)

First Day of School 2010

"Yay for school!!!"

Lunch packed and napmat & backpack ready to go!!

Caroline had her first week of school this week. She was literally so excited she kept clapping and cheering "whoo hoo for school!!" over and over. It was hard to get her to stand still or sit for a picture...too much excitement. We had a great, laid back morning. I got up before Caroline and was able to get some things done before she woke up. Matt went in to work late so he could drop her off with me on her first day...Caroline thought that was really special :-) We enjoyed Caroline's favorite breakfast...blueberry muffins! Then we took some pictures before venturing out in the torrential downpour. Because of the afore mentioned monsoon we weren't able to take the obligatory front door photo. So we took some indoor pics instead.


A quick pose with Mommy & ...

...Daddy

I didn't get ONE picture at drop-off...it was crazy and chaotic because of the rain. When I picked Caroline up she said she had a "great day". Here are some other things she told me about her first day of school:

***her favorite things about her first day of school were playing in the gym, playing with a number puzzle, and eating her heart-shaped sandwich

***she played a lot with her friend, Eleanor

***she wasn't tired for her nap so her teachers let her quietly play with a baby doll on her nap mat (her nap at school is a 1-2 hours before her normal nap...this will be a little bit of a problem this year...time to try to get Caroline on an earlier schedule I guess)

***she was sorry she went peepee on her napmat (her teachers forgot to put her pull-up on for nap...oops!)

***she loves her new teachers

***she sang the B-I-B-L-E song for her teachers

***Jonathan cried because the teacher took his lovey away because it wasn't yet nap time (it's fun to get the scoop on the class "happenings" this year :-)

Caroline's teachers send home a daily report card called the Young 2s Daily News. I love that the teachers send these home and enjoy reading it with Caroline when I pick her up. These were the notes from her two days of school this first week:

1st Day of School:

Today I was: happy, cooperative, sleepy & friendly

Potty Time: 10:30, 12:00 and an accident at 1:15

Today I liked: Gymtime & Music class

Lunch: I ate a litte

Naptime: I didn't take a nap

Notes: What a delight. She sang the B-I-B-L-E song for us.

2nd Day of School

Today I was: happy, cooperative, busy & friendly

Potty Time: 11:00 & 1:00

Today I liked: Caroline just loves school. She enjoys our music and playtime and is a very big helper.

Lunch: I ate a little

Naptime: I had trouble falling asleep but took a nap from 1:45-2:30

Notes: Very smart little lady

I missed Caroline a lot on the 2 days she was gone this week and counted down the hours until I picked her up. I found myself looking at her class schedule during the day so I could know exactly what she was doing :-) But I'm so excited about this school year and all the new, fun things she will learn!! Here's to another great school year!!

Meet the Teacher 2010

Caroline's first week of school is THIS week so last week we went to Meet the Teacher. I didn't post any pictures of Caroline's new teachers or the school for privacy reasons. But here are some pics of her playing in her new classroom.

Caroline and Avery

Caroline is so excited Avery is in her class again this year. Sweet friends!

"Back to school" post coming soon!!