Look Who's Crawling

Happy 8 Month Birthday

We celebrated Caroline's 8 month birthday by going to the mall with our friends, Cori and Grace, to see Santa. It went better than last time and they snapped the above picture before Caroline could realize where she was and get upset. There was no fooling Grace though :-) Why we love to torture our kids with Santa, I don't know.

Some pics of the girls:

Clap, clap, clap our hands!

"I'm gonna getcha!!"

Caroline is a blast at 8 months and has changed a lot. She's babbling all the time, claps and occasionally waves hi/bye, gives us kisses, clicks her tongue and blows rasberries, and she's on the move. She's starting to crawl but still can't get too far before tiring out. I'll post a video soon of her movin' and groovin'. Just recently, Caroline has started to have some major separation anxiety if I'm not in the same room as her. That's been kind of hard, but I'm still trying to give her 20-30 min/day to play with her toys by herself. It's definitely work in progress. I think she'll be a lot happier when she can crawl more efficiently and get herself going where she wants to go (which will probably be to whatever room I'm in :-) Caroline's schedule has changed too. She's starting to drop her 3rd, late afternoon nap. Most days she still needs a very short power nap late in the day but it won't be long before Caroline is only taking a morning and afternoon nap. This month, Caroline has become a huge fan of baby food. She's tried everything and loves it all! I'm so happy to not have a picky eater so far. For breakfast, Caroline has a bottle, baby food fruit and oatmeal. She still only has a bottle for lunch and one for a snack in the afternoon. Dinner is a couple of baby food veggies then a bottle right before bed. Caroline's favorite things right now are her basket of toys, her doll and lovie blanket, any and all books, teething rings, playing peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake, baths as long as the water is really warm, trying to crawl, and momma :-) Some of her dislikes right now are the changing table, being put down to sleep since it means she doesn't get to play with us, being overtired, staying in one place, and Santa (ha) It's so fun watching Caroline change so much from month to month. Happy 8 month birthday, Caroline!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!

I love love love the Christmas season. It's by far my favorite!! So last weekend, we kicked off Christmas by taking Caroline to visit Santa. Some good family friends of ours own a florist shop, and they have Santa come visit the Saturday after Thanksgiving. If you're ever in Dallas on that day, swing by McShan's with your kiddos and visit Santa (it's awesome...no crowds, no lines, and it's free). Anyway, I'm sure all of you can figure out how my sensitive daughter responded to the jolly man. She took one look at him and...

...cried and...
...screamed. Not good.
So I jumped in to save the day. I kept trying to explain to Caroline that this was the nice man who was going to bring her lots of presents but she didn't seem to get it.
Family pic with Santa. I love Caroline's face. Doesn't she look like we're torturing her (I guess we kind of were :)
Bruce McShan is a cowboy at heart and happened to have his horse there. This was Caroline's first time to see/pet a horse. She wasn't scared at all. I guess compared to Santa, a horse isn't so bad.
The inside of the florist shop is decorated beautifully. We decided to snap some pics.
Ho,Ho,Ho
"Can we take this hat off yet?!?"

After visiting Santa, we went to pick out our Christmas tree. My favorite Christmas tradition!

You could get lost in there!

This is the one!

All finished

We also helped Matt put up the lights on our house. Caroline liked this the best. First we checked all the lights to make sure they worked.

Then we went outside to play and keep Daddy company.

Just taking a little rest

Caroline could hardly move with all of her winter stuff on. She reminded me of the little brother in The Christmas Story (you know the one..."Ralpheeee, you'll shoot your eye out!")

We're very excited Christmas is here in the Krauss house!!

Caroline's First Thanksgiving

Give THANKS to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever!!!

Caroline had a fun, first Thanksgiving. She woke us up bright and early...I guess she was so excited to celebrate. She drank her morning bottle and then played in the kitchen while I finished up breakfast. We had our traditional holiday breakfast: egg-sausage casserole and coffee cake. Caroline ate baby food fruit and oatmeal for breakfast. Too bad she didn't get to enjoy any of the yummy stuff.
Playing in the kitchen
"Mommy, PLEASE pay me some attention...look... I'll clap for you"
Modeling her Thanksgiving dress

"Why am I so dressed up and Daddy is still in his pajamas?!?"

"Time to say a prayer and thank God for all of His wonderful blessings!!"
Tracing Caroline's hand for our Thanksgiving craft Here is Caroline's artwork. Caroline's hands look much bigger in the picture than they really are. This little turkey is actually really small. Isn't Caroline great at coloring between the lines? :-)
Me and Matt
We spent Thanksgiving with my family this year. From Left to Right: Nanny a.k.a. Big Nanny to Caroline, Aunt Jean, Matt, my mom (Kalo) and my brother, John a.k.a. Uncle J-Rock (at least that's what he wants to be called...I think Uncle John is good :-)
Family pics: Caroline, my mom and Nanny
John and Matt (after eating...can you tell?) They are watching the Cowboys game in this pic...a tradition in our family.
Me and my broJohn and Caroline (somewhere along the way, Caroline lost her bow, dress, tights and shoes)

We had a delicious Thanksgiving meal cooked by my mom who really is the most fabulous cook I know. She made a deliciously moist roasted turkey, cornbread dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans with bacon & roasted red peppers, Commander's Palace salad, and of course sweet tea and Sister Schubert rolls. For dessert, my mom made an oreo cheesecake as a surprise for Matt (cheesecake is his favorite dessert) and a carrot cake too. I seriously think I gained back all of my post baby weight I've been trying so hard to lose. It was worth it though!! Thanks for such a wonderful meal, mom!! We watched the Cowboys game, played a riveting game of 42, then came home to put Caroline to bed. Overall, a great Thanksgiving...not because of what we ate or what we did, but because we were with our family who we love so much (we missed you Grammie, Grandpa, Uncle Marcus, and Grandad). And now...let the Christmas decorating begin...whoo hoo!!

So Thankful

This time last year, I was visiting my wonderful in-laws in Virginia for Thanksgiving. I was pregnant with Caroline (just beginning my 2nd trimester), and I remember being so thankful for the little life that was growing in me. How amazing that this year we get to be thankful for our sweet daughter who brings us so much joy everyday.

Matt, Caroline and I want to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving. More to come tomorrow on baby girl's FIRST Thanksgiving holiday!!