9 months old!

Caroline is 9 months old today!

The biggest change since last month, is that we are completely done nursing! It was time, and we were both ready. I am definitely enjoying the "freedom of formula" and love that she can hold her own bottles!

Her hair is still crazy. Dark on top, light underneath. The toupee is in full effect. Mimi thinks I should trim it, but I am not quite ready for that!

She's quite social! She loves to wave "Hi" and "Bye" to everyone, and she still squawks at people everywhere we go. She also claps for herself all the time...its so funny!

She even talks to her own reflection.

She loves to feed herself, and eats pretty much whatever we give her. She especially loves the Gerber Lil Crunchies (which are like baby cheetos) and peaches. Forget about baby food...that is sooooooo last month ;)

I can eat all by myself!

She won't sit in her exersaucer anymore, but she loves to pull up on it and crawl under it.
Caroline is still crawling everywhere and pulling up on everything. She cruises around the furniture with increasing speed. She is starting to stand on her own a little bit, but she can't do it for long, so we have had a few tumbles (one resulting in a busted lip :( ouch!). But she usually just gets right back up and keeps going! She can also climb the stairs now...SCARY!

Here she is at work. She loves to push things around...her toy basket, laundry baskets, etc. I got her a little walk behind push toy, but that is nowhere near as exciting as baskets!! go figure.

One thing that hasn't changed is that she is a Daddy's girl. Here she is waiting for him to get home. Pretty darn sweet :) (sorry it's sideways)

The end is near...

The end of my 20's that is...Yesterday was my 29th (gasp!) birthday. I don't know why 29 seems so weird to me, but it does. Sheesh!!! I am pretty certain this was the first of many 29th birthdays for me :)

Jon got up early and made me a yummy breakfast of waffles and croissants, and fed Caroline so I could sleep in...ahhh! What a treat!

My dad and Sherri stopped by and brought me a cake, which was wonderful. We had to scrap our lunch plans, because Caroline is sick...major bummer, but I was happy to visit with them anyway :)

Our afternoon consisted of taking Caroline to the doctor. Poor punky!! She has a little virus, with a fever, runny nose, cough, and vomiting. Dr. G suggested switching to Soy formula, and giving her some Pedialyte until she feels better. A sick baby is not the most ideal birthday gift, BUT she is super cuddly which I have to admit I enjoyed a little. I would much rather have her back to her normal wiggly self, though.

Jon continued spoiling me with a delicious home-cooked meal for dinner. Tilapia, mac n cheese, asparagus, and a delicious fruit and ice cream dessert. It was AWESOME. Jon is quite a chef...have I mentioned how lucky I am???? He also bought me clothes for the first time ever. I was so impressed!!! I got 2 cute t-shirts from the Gap (of course, my fave :)), he picked them because they are"what stay-at-home mom's wear" :) Plus I got a gift card to "finish the ensemble" Seriously...how cute is my husband? Love him.

Thank you for making me feel so special!!!

Memorial Day 2009

Memorial Day Weekend is a big one for the Erickson's. It marks the beginning of lake season and one of the few times throughout the year that we have all the Erickson's together!

This year, we kicked off the festivities a little early (on Thursday) with a shower for our newest addition, Baby Benjamin :) It was fun, and of course Benjamin was a big hit! He is an absolutely precious baby and Elizabeth is a great mommy already! I have no pictures from the shower so hopefully someone will send me some soon (hint, hint)...

After the shower, we headed to the lake house. We had a fun-filled weekend of swimming, skiing, playing in the sand, and chasing 5 kids (ages 2 and under) around. Total chaos, but it's good chaos, and I wouldn't want it any other way...

Enjoying our new "beach"
Daddy had Caroline standing on her own! She could do for about 10 seconds, I was quite impressed, if I do say so myself...
First time in the lake
I want to be like the big girls!

Caroline playing with Cousin Wyatt (who is just 6 days older than her!)

Here I am!
The brothers...Bryce, Clark, Jon, and Steven.
The pretty much sums up their weekend...a cooler, the beach, and yard work (hence the ax in Steven's hand)

And the weekend wouldn't be complete without the 2nd Annual Valhalla Triathlon. Uncle Clark took home the trophy in the Men's Division, and I got the win for the ladies. Oh yeah!!!!

Here's the "Winner's Circle" Clark (won top male), Elizabeth (won the Baby Mama Award for best time after having a baby 10 weeks ago), Steven (won the Bringing up the Rear or "Hiney" Award), Don and Nina (won best couple time), and of course, ME (top female)
We always take a family photo whenever we are all together...
Grammy and Grandpa with the 5 grandkids
Wyatt (9 months), Emma (2), Caroline (9 months), Whitney (2), and Benjamin (10 weeks)
The Whole Family!

Girls Weekend!

Sooooo, I am a little behind on my blogging :)

A couple of weeks ago, I headed to Fredericksburg to meet up with some girlfriends from college (and elsewhere, but mostly from college :)).
Before I headed off for some time with my BFF's, Caroline got to have some BFF time with Mattie Bear. Of course, they loved playing together, we just wish we could do it more often:)

F-burg was awesome...great friends, great food, great wine, fun dancing, and lots and LOTS of laughs. It was so great to see everyone and catch up!! Can't wait til next year, girls...

Kristin, Ginny, and Me
The gang on the dance floor at Hondo's

Halston, Me, and Jamie (nice face...ha ha!) at Grape Creek Vineyards
Dinner at Navajo Grill...YUM!

While I was gone, Caroline had a BLAST hanging out with her Daddy and her Uncle Clark. I am not exactly sure what they did all weekend, but I do know she stayed in her PJ's all day on Saturday ;)
Jon and Clark did the Muddy Buddy on Sunday morning, which I am so sad to have missed!!!! All in all it was a great weekend!

Chasing boys!

Tuesday, we had a play date with 2 of Caroline's favorite boyfriends...Connor and Brylen. We met them at the mall and played on the play scape (aka germ-land), but have no fear...between the 3 mamas, we were fully equipped with all kinds of sanitizing wipes, gels, etc. The kiddos received the complete scrub down after :)

Despite the fact that Caroline is the youngest and smallest, she was able to hold her own pretty well...I guess her Daddy has taught her well:)

Hey Bry...isn't this fun????
At one point, all of them were playing together, then each of the boys crawled away. Caroline stood there squawking at them, but of course, they didn't come back. So she just crawled right after them. It was funny to see her follow them around!

She loved the slide and the tunnel, too!

She's clapping for herself :) She is just so proud of what a big girl she is!
Thanks for playing with us, Connor and Brylen! See you next week!!!

Mommy or Daddy?

Now that we are (mostly) unpacked, I found some (but not all) of our baby pictures!!!! I tried to find some of both Jon and I at about he same ages...

Here's the best I could do with what I found so far!

Paige at 2 months

Jon at 1 month
(with his namesake, Uncle Jon)
Caroline at 1 1/2 months

Paige at 6 months
(um, is chubby an understatement?)
Jon at 6 months
Caroline at 6 months

Paige at 12 months
Jon at 10 months
Caroline at 8 months

What do you think? Does she look more like Mommy or Daddy?

Mother's Day Weekend

We had such a wonderful (and busy) Mother's Day Weekend! Friday night, we had our friends Ron and Lauren over for dinner. They are about to welcome baby Ruthie in a matter of weeks, so we wanted to see them one last time before then! I neglected to get pics, which is too bad, because Lauren is the most precious pregnant mama EVER!

Saturday, we went to 2 pool parties! First, Caroline's friend Grayson turned 1, so we were very excited to celebrate the big day! Miss C even got to try some birthday cake for the first time...YUM! Once again, no pics, but hopefully I'll get some from Grayson's mom ;)
Next, we met up with our new neighborhood friends at their pool soiree. It was a blast, but we were TIRED after all that fun in the sun.

Saturday night, Jon headed out to a bachelor party for his friend Marcus. Peter and Philip joined in the fun, so their wives, Sarah and Meghan, came over to our house. We had a girl's night in, complete with pizza, wine, and a chick flick. YEA! (and I got a pic :))

I love these girls!!! Sarah, Me with C, and Meghan (who is 21 weeks pregnant...you can't even tell!!!)
Sunday, we headed to church, and then after I got to pick a spot for lunch after...anywhere I wanted...the possibilities were endless...I chose CHILI's. I hadn't been there in forever, and their grilled chicken sandwich (with bacon and cheese, of course) was totally calling my name.

Me with my little punkin after lunch

After a scrumptious lunch, Jon and Caroline took my car to get the oil changed, leaving me with the house to myself...AHHHH...so relaxing! For dinner, Jon made me all of my favorite things, including homemade mac n cheese and his famous peach delight for dessert. WOW!
I couldn't have asked for anything better :) Thank you!!!!!!

Hope all you hot mamas out there had a fabulous day!!!!!

Having fun and Hanging out...

Little miss loves to swing! Here are some pics from the neighborhood park earlier this week...

Hey Mom! This is awesome!!!!!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
My mom, my mom's BFF Beth, and Jon's mom Nina all came to visit us this week. The ladies celebrated Cinco De Mayo at The Oasis. We had such a great visit!! Thanks for all your help with the house!!!!!!

Caroline's room is finally painted, and our house is finally feeling much more put together!!!!!!
Yea!!!

Pool time!

We took Caroline swimming for the first time on Sunday. She LOVED it!!! She loves bath time, to I was hopeful that pool time would be equally as exciting :)

She is ready to rock at the community pool!

First, we tried the baby pool...it was VERY chilly, but she still loved it :)

YO, YO, YO...Swimming is da' bomb!

Next, we went to the kid's pool, which has a "beach" entrance. She really loved this one. It wasn't quite as cold, and she could crawl around and splash...So cute!

Then, Daddy took her cruising around the deep end. She was such a little fish!
We are looking forward to our first pool party this weekend!

Wedding Bells...

So, Jon and I have been to a LOT of weddings over the past several years. Between his friends, my firends, family, etc. We have seen it all! This past weekend, we went to a wedding of some friends here in Austin, and we must say it was mong the nicest and most fun weddings we have ever been to. It was so great!!!!

Of course, Jon ran into a buddy from Baylor. I swear, everywhere we go, Jon runs into someone he knows. Really. EVERYWHERE!

They had an 80's cover band, Molly and The Ringwalds. SO FUN!!!!! They handed out glow necklaces and flip flops, and we danced and danced and danced!!!

The sweet groom, Wes, and bride, Shaun.


Some of the ladies...

Some of the fellas...

As we left the reception, there was a taco stand set up up just for us! Breakfast tacos for the ride home. Seriously...How great is that!?!?!?!?!

We had a blast!!!!!