6 months old!

A half of year has already gone by!?!?! Time flies! Here is what our little one is up to...

-Caroline is an incredibly happy baby. She smiles and laughs all the time! She is developing quite the little personality...it's so much fun to watch her :)

-She is scooting all over the place...often around in circles. This continues to frustrate her, as she is ready to move forward! She has gotten up on all fours a couple of times, but hasn't quite got it figured out.

-She has a tooth! (and a half) Her first tooth first broke through on Monday...I could feel it (sharp...ouch!) but couldn't see it yet...It's poked through for real now...I can see the top of it. I say a half, because the other one is about to come through, too. (They are the 2 front bottom teeth.) All this teething has led to a few yucky nights of screaming, but nothing a little Tylenol can't help ;) She fights me every time I try to look at it, so we have no pictures of the toofers yet...I'll keep trying!

-She has been dominating the rice cereal and oatmeal cereal. She LOVES it! I'm still working on our schedule as far as when to eat and when to nurse, but she definitely has the hang of the whole eating thing! Next week we will be moving on to other foods besides just cereal...yea!

-She sits completely unassisted now. She's a good little sitter, and will reach for toys without falling over (most of the time). She really like to sit, but she is also VERY wiggly!!! She likes to flip from sitting up to laying on her tummy.

-She is still loving cell phones and remotes. I tried to give her my old cell phone, but she doesn't like it. She much prefers the blackberry...I guess she is a phone snob already! I sure hope she never lays eyes on an IPhone...then my blackberry will seem like old news ;)

I love this expression of hers...very "Erickson" I think ;)

-She makes the most hilarious noises. This week it's been a lot of grunting...so funny!

Here she is chatting with herself earlier this week...

-Our current nicknames for Caroline include: Little Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Punkin, Pee Pie Punkin, Pee Pie, Peepster, Peeps, Chubbers, Squawkster, and of course...Pumpkin Butt, which is still Daddy's favorite name for her.

I'll leave you with some video of her eating skills...Daddy gets a pretty big kick out of teasing her with the spoon...I personally love how she lunges towards it with her mouth open wide...hilarious!

So much to say!

So much to say, so little time...I never know when our interent will or won't be working, so I'd better squeeze in a few updates while i can!!!!

Today is my Papa's 80th birthday! He is a pretty special guy...actually he is a REALLY special guy :) My Papa (and my Mema-my mom's parents) have had a HUGE part in raising me. All of our family vacations growing up consisted of me, my mom, my brother, and my grandparents. We have lots of funny stories from the many roadtrips we took! My Papa also watched us after school each day, and cooked dinner for all of us every night. He is quite the chef! He loves to make up names for the dishes he creates..."By Golly Beans" is a favorite :) Needless to say, my Papa is a character. I am so blessed to have such a close relationship with my grandparents and I am so thankful for everything the y have brought o my life!!! I am also thankful that Caroline is getting know her GGma and GGpa...what a special relationship!!

We love you and wish you the HAPPIEST 80th birthday, Papa/GGpa!!!

We celebrated the big event this past weekend with a B-day luncheon in Dallas. Big props to my mom for organizing a great party :) Here are a few higlights...

Caroline all dressed and ready to party!

Complete with her "Caroline Paige" panties. (thanks, Ginny!)
Hanging out with Daddy during the luncheon.
Uncle Paul brought the birthday boy his cake...with 80 candles!

While we were in town we squeezed in a quick visit with our BFF, Mattie...

I think they thoroughly enjoyed checking each other out...They are getting to be such big girls!

Movin' on up!

We are MOVING...again!!!! :) We sold our house back in July (when I was way preggo), and moved into this house temporarily, while we figured out our next move. (Click here for that post).

This house has been great, but it's time to move on...We have had the majority of our stuff in storage in our garage since July, so we are ready to get unpacked and settled for real this time. And we have finally decided to make the move to the 'BURBS! I know, I know...I never thought I'd see the day. Nothing against living in the suburbs at all, I just didn't think it was "us." We have always loved living "in town" (both in Dallas and in Austin) and loved having an older home with "character" and all that comes with that. BUT, having a baby has made us think again...maybe a community pool and fitness center would be fun...maybe it would be cool to have a game room...maybe we should think about schools...maybe we could find neighbors who are just like us...and so on. Oh my, how kids change things ;) We found a neighborhood that has all that and more, so we are taking the plunge!!!!
I sort of feel like we are selling out or something, but I couldn't be happier about it.
We will actually still technically live in the city of Austin, so maybe that helps me accept that we are becoming suburbanites ;)

Here is what our garage currently looks like...

*On the right, you will notice the yellow plastic that is visible through the window. Those are mattresses (sealed in yellow plastic covers)...and yes you can see that from the street. I know our neighbors LOVE how we are classing up the 'hood.

It's a 2-car garage that is pretty much packed floor to ceiling with boxes and furniture...

It's pretty scary out there!

I'd hate to post and not give you any pics of the little one, so here you go...

She is also very excited about the big move!

Peek a Boo Pumpkin!

Caroline has recently converted to sleeping on her tummy. I still put her down on her back, and she immediately rolls onto her side. At some point during the night, she always ends up on her tummy. So when I go into to get her in the morning, this is what I see...

Our little pumpkin peeking over the rail after her nap!

**Notice my jazzy new mesh bumpers...They have really done the trick! No more stuck limbs in the middle of the night :)

I'm back!

Our internet has been on the fritz this past week, so I haven't been able to get online much lately. Our internet has periods where it will only work for 5 minutes here and there...apparently it has to do with the wiring in our house being old. Who knows?!? It's working today, so maybe that's a good sign...It's amazing how email and internet dependent I have become!!!!

Anyway, I figured I'd share a few pics from the past week....

Caroline visited the church nursery for the first time last week. Before that, she just sat in "big church" with us. It was okay, but we were able to pay attention to the sermon much better without her as a distraction :) She loved the sweet ladies in the nursery and I am pretty sure they liked her, too ;)

A new favorite activity is chewing on her bottom lip.

All dolled up for church!

We have been hiking every Sunday afternoon. By "every" I mean the past 2 weeks in row...It remains to be seen whether we'll make it out today...

Last week, Jon was "pretending" to rock climb with C strapped in the backpack. She loved every second of it...

After I feed Caroline in the morning, we usually go wake daddy up. Sometimes we like to snuggle a little bit before we get going for the day. They are both rocking some pretty sweet bed head here...And I think she looks a lot like Jon in this pic.

Caroline has mastered the art of scooting...backwards. Here she had scooted all the way off the blanket...This was very upsetting to her, as she would have preferred to move TOWARDS her toys!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Will you be my Valentine?

Oh! And some of you have been asking for a Muscle Beach update...I think it's safe to say that I have fallen off the Muscle Beach bandwagon. I don't know what happened!?!?! Actually, I do know what happened...I got lazy...Sigh...I hate working out. :)

Giggles!

I have been trying to get some video of Caroline laughing for a while now. She'll be giggling up a storm, until she she sees the camera, then she just stares at it in amazement. I was finally able to catch this last week. She is very ticklish and very easily amused, which is good because I LOVE hearing her sweet little laugh!

Sittin' Pretty

Since C has been working hard on sitting up by herself, I wanted to see how she'd do sitting in the cart like a big girl! We went to Target on a test run yesterday...

Success!
She was quite cozy, thanks to our super cute cart cover (thanks Kristin and Ginny :))
She did great!!! It's good to know we have that option, because she is getting SO HEAVY in the car seat.

Daddy was home early after a trip to the dentist (where he got 2 crowns...OUCH!). Sad for him that he had to get drilled on, but happy for us, because we got to have some fun playtime outside.

We practiced sitting some more...and reading, too, of course!

So big!

Here is some video of her sitting...

Sorry the video is sideways...I can't figure out how to rotate it :)

This also shows you her obsession with Daddy. Notice how I keep calling her name, but she just stares and him and smiles the WHOLE TIME! Geez!!!!

I can't believe how much she has changed in just one week!

Grubbin'

Our pediatrician told us to hold off on solid foods until a.) she is 6 months old, OR b.) "she starts eating you out of house and home."

Well, I decided that pumping twice a day in order to keep up with her 10 oz/per feeding habit qualifies as being eaten out of house and home. So, I give you our first attempt at rice cereal...

Lunging for the spoon....Give me more!!!!!!!!

I think it is safe to say, she follows in the footsteps of her parents...She LOVES to eat :)


Not sure how much she actually swallowed, but she seemed to enjoy it all the same!
We also got some video, so I will work on getting that posted, too :)

Rockin' the Nikes

Yes, that's right...Caroline has herself a pair of Nike's.
I mean, honestly, doesn't every girl need a pair of PINK Nike's????

Jon's friend, Justin, works for Nike and he sent them to Caroline...They are so CUTE!!!
We are trying to wear them as much as possible before she outgrows them:)

I know 5-month-olds don't have much need for shoes, but see how much she loves them?
I think she is going to love shoes almost as much as her Momma...

Weekend Wrap-up...

We made a quick trip to Dallas this weekend, to celebrate our niece, Emma's, 2nd birthday.

The weekend was jam-packed with family time, but we did manage to squeeze in a SOLO date night thanks to Grammy and Grandpa's advanced baby-sitting skills :) It's so nice to spend one on one time with this handsome guy...

Aunt Paige and Emma, the birthday girl, chillin' at Peter Piper Pizza...AWESOME.

Jon beat me in Skee Ball. I demand a rematch. I hate losing!!!!

After the festivities in D-town, we jetted back to Austin to watch to the Super Bowl with friends.

Jon won his Fantasy Football League (one of the three he participated in this year), and ceremoniously received his prize money during the Super Bowl party on Sunday. Caroline is basking in her Daddy's victory...

See??? All those Sundays when Daddy neglected Caroline and I finally paid off!! ;)
(sorry for the blurry pic)

We were bummed that the Cardinals didn't pull off the win, but at least it was a great game!