We're Home...Sadly!!

We made it home....burnt and covered in sand. We had a blast!! Caroline was very well behaved and everyone loved her...she was known as the baby with the flower headbands. She was so happy pretty much the entire time. Best part....the trip was 100% FREE...well, except that Aruba charges you a tax of $12 for infants to leave the country...not a bad trip for $12! I hope Tom does well this next year so we can go again next March! If anyone is looking for a good vacation with kids...Aruba is the place! It's very family friendly.
I'm on a roll with these cheap trips. In May Caroline and I are going to WI to visit my brother and his family...total cost $8 plus tax! So excited!
Here are some pictures from our last 2 days there...

Todays Happenings

We are all sunburned! Caroline isn't too bad, but she's still a little crisp on her shoulders and arms. It seems you need spf 1000 here in Aruba...and to put it on 10 times a day!! We put sun block (spf 50) on every time we went in the water...but it didn't quite work.
Anyway, we had a lot of fun today. Caroline is amazing. She has been so good. So far I don't at all regret bringing her....except that I don't get to go to the fancy dinner on Saturday night because no children are allowed. Bummer!
At first she wasn't so sure about the ocean...but she warmed up to it when she realized she could splash. She loved to play with her toys in her tent. Such a good girl!










She is so tired from all this ruff vacationing. ;)

Don't be Jealous!

A little preview as to what we have been doing so far:

We left at 4 am yesterday...I had a pretty bad cold (feeling better today) and Caroline wouldn't sleep...so I went off 3 hours of sleep. Not fun...I was a little cranky. Caroline was an ANGEL on the airplane. They let us bring the car seat and she just slept except to nurse when we took off and landed.


We took her in the pool. She LOVED it! She was all smiles and would not stop splashing. I can't wait to take her back as soon as she wakes up.
Yesterday was kind of a funky day since I wasn't feeling well and we were tired...but I plan to get LOTS of pictures today.

Caroline and daddy!


The view from our room!

Happy St. Patty's Day

We're Leving on a Jet Plane

The passports are ready...



In about 12 hours from now we will all be on a plane headed to ARUBA!!!!!!!


If you need to get a hold of us before Monday send us an email or call the Hyatt!

PS: The move went great! It was really rainy that day which really stunk, but other than that it was good! We are already unpacked!

Spring

The weather has been so nice the past few days. I love it, and hope it decides to stay!

7 months

Caroline is 7 months...as of a week ago.

She's getting so big! She likes to "talk" these days. Her favorite is "dadadada" and "babababa" and "Blablabla". She screams! A VERY high pitched scream that actually really hurts my ears. She just loves to hear herself. She can also fake cough. She will do it for real, then she likes the sound, so she just keeps doing it. Very cute. No crawling...I'm thinking she might just skip this milestone (I'm not complaining...makes life easier for me). She can stand up while holding on to something. She is very proud of herself when she does this. I can tell because she gets this cute little look in her eyes. She went to a Gymboree music class for the first time on Saturday. To say she loved it would be an understatement. We had a gift certificate (thanks Lisa) so we signed up for 6 more classes! I can't wait. She had her first cold. I'm not even sure if she actually had it or if I was just paranoid because her nose was running and I was sick. Whatever it was, it only last 2 days for both of us.
Caroline (and us of course) will be moving to a new house this week. We are very excited to have a bigger place and a yard. Caroline LOVES children. So...I am going to attempt to find one or two little rascals to watch in our house since we will have a little more room. I'm excited for her to hopefully have a friend or two to play with every day or maybe just a couple days a week. I know she will love it.

Here are some pictures of her at 7 months. I can't get her to look at the camera so much anymore because the light irritates her.

Cattlemens Steakhouse

My brother in-law, Nick, just opened up a steakhouse in Lindenhurst, NY. It is a pretty amazing place right on the water. If you live in NY you should go!

Cattlemens Steakhouse

Playing in the Snow

We took Caroline out to "play" in the snow. She seemed to really like it! I would have kept her out a little longer, but her daddy is her protector! He didn't want the snow in her eyes. I love how protective he is of her. It's kinda cute, and I know she will always be safe with him.

First Ponytail

Caroline has enough hair for her first ponytail!

Snow and Giggles

We've been getting A LOT of snow lately. I should have gone grocery shopping yesterday, because I 'm pretty sure we are stuck today. This is what we woke up to this morning...and it's STILL snowing! I don't know about you, but I'm ready for Spring! On the plus side, only 20 more days till ARUBA!


Caroline in her pretty dress before church on Sunday.


Here is a video of Carolines cute little giggles!

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day...tomorrow!

What I Love

These two are why I love to wake up every morning. They both make me laugh every day!





Lately, she has a lot of trouble keeping her eyes open for the camera. I guess the light just gets to her...but she's still my little cutie!

Snow Day

Today is the big blizzard! Although, it's really not bad at all...it's supposed to get worse this afternoon. Tom only has to go in for a couple hours this morning, so we all get to be home together today! Good thing I stocked up on hot chocolate and soup...yummy!

Isn't she just so cute??

Baby Shower

The past two Sundays I had 2 baby showers to go to. Both of my sister in-laws here in NY are expecting in March...at one point, we were actually all pregnant at the same time. I forgot my camera at Elizabeth's shower, but I have a couple from Denise's surprise shower.

The sisters in-law


Denise


Nick helping his mom open presents

The Life of a Mother

The life of a Mother...

My last 27 hours:

8 PM - Baby in bed sound asleep
8-11 PM - Tom and I watch TV and chat
11 PM - Tom and I go to bed
11:30 PMI'm still awake because my mind is racing. I can't stop thinking about everything I have to do and how MAD I am that my landlord has decided to raise my rent by $200...$200!!!!! The last thing I want to do is throw away $200 more to RENT! Blah
11:55 PM - Finally start to drift off to sleep...
12 AM - Baby screaming in bed...I give baby her pacifier
12:10 AM- Baby screaming in bed...I give baby her pacifier
12:20 AM- Baby screaming in bed...I give baby her pacifier
12:30AM - Baby screaming in bed...I give baby her pacifier, pick her up and rock her for the next 20 min. She falls asleep, I lay her in bed.
1:00 AM- Baby screaming in bed...I give baby her pacifier
1:10 AM-Baby screaming in bed...I give baby her pacifier...I decide NO MORE...I'm going to do what the doctor said and let her cry herself to sleep.
1:15 AM- I return to bed, only to not be able to sleep due to a screaming baby and a snoring husband. I put a pillow over my head. Doesn't work....
2:30 AM - I bring her in my bed with me. She promptly stops crying and falls asleep.
2:45 AM - I pick up sleeping baby and put her back in her crib.
3:00 AM - Still can't sleep cause Tom is snoring...I take 1/2 a sleeping pill
3:15 AM - I fall asleep
7:00 AM - Toms alarm goes off for work.
8:15AM - Baby screaming in bed...I get up feeling extremely groggy from the sleeping pill. I bring her in bed with me and nurse her. I fall asleep. Tom picks her up to change her diaper.
8:40 AM- Tom brings her back to me and kisses us goodbye...he's off to work.
9:00 AM- Breakfast for both of us.
9:30 AM - On the computer paying bills...today is PAYDAY!! Whohoo
9:45 AM - I put baby in the bouncer and turn on Signing Time so I can take a shower and get ready.
10:30 AM - I'm all ready. Pack up the car. Drive around till baby falls asleep.
11:00 AM - Went to mall to pick up something.
11:45 AM - Head out to eastern Long Island to spend the afternoon with my sister in-law and my adorable nephews.
3:30 PM - I receive a phone call from my old job asking me to come back for just a fe hours in the afternoons. I am just so awesome that they need me back ::wink, wink:: I think NO WAY!
4:00 PM - Tom meets me at my sister in-laws home. We hang out for a little bit longer.
4:45 PM - Dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. Takes forever because we had to feed and change Caroline in addition to feeding ourselves. Tom has fish, I have an overpriced salad, and Caroliine has squash.
6:00 PM - On the road again... talk to Tom about how my old job wants me back for a few hours a day. We decide I will do it. I need to socialize and the $ is a plus!
6:45 PM - Arrive at the mall to use our 50% off Kenneth Cole coupon! Awesome!
8:30 PM - Leave Kenneth Cole $250 poorer....but we got like $700 worth of stuff for $250!!!! Tom needed new work clothes. He got a suit, black shoes, brown shoes, 3 shirts and 2 ties, and I got 2 shirts.
8:45 PM - Arrive at Wal-Mart for baby food and diapers
9:30 PM - Arrive home to a nice package on my doorstep from Dad and Cathie (***THANK YOU***) Bring groceries in the house.
9:45 PM - Bath time for Caroline
10:00 PM - Nurse baby to sleep :) zzzzzzzzzzz....I put her down in my bed tonight. Hoping that maybe she will sleep through the night if she is in bed with us. My hope is to trick her until she doesn't wake up anymore because she thinks we are in bed with her. Hope it works!
10:10 - about 11PM - TV and blogging....

I am contemplating my last 24 hours, and I have come to the conclusion that:
A. This post is probably not going to make any sense
B. I love my life as a mother. It may be crazy, but it's the best and most rewarding job ever. Whenever she looks at me and smiles, I know I have done good.
C. I'm so grateful for my mother and the sacrifices she made. I'm sure she lost sleep, and I'm sure a few of her gray hairs were from me. I wish I could give her a big hug and kiss and say THANK YOU for helping me become who I am today. Wednesday will mark 4 years since her passing. The pain is finally gone, but I will forever love her and remember that she is the reason I am here today and can be Carolines mother...the best thing in the world!

6 months

Wow, I can't believe she is already 6 months! Happy half birthday Caroline!
Today she had her 6 month check up. She got a shot and she didn't even cry! The nurse came in to give her the shot and Caroline gave her a big smile. The nurse poked her and Caroline just looked at her and went back to playing with her toy. Amazing! Gosh, I love her!

Here are the numbers:

Weight: 15 lbs 2 oz (25th percentile)
Height: 26 in (50th percentile)
Head: 16 1/4 in (10th percentile)

She is of course always changing and learning new things. Her major accomplishment this month was learning to sit up by herself. She refuses to spend very much time on her belly...she just likes to sit and play with toys, be in her Jenny Jump Up or her bouncer. I have a feeling she will just skip crawling and go straight to walking, but we'll see what happens. She REFUSES to take a bottle. The doctor gave me some tips today on how to change that so I can leave her every now and then. I'm not sure if I'm up to that challenge quite yet. It involves giving her nothing but the bottle until she HAS to take it or she'll starve! She also told me how to get her to sleep through the night...her solution was to make sure she is okay and just let her cry. I'm going to try it tonight. I hope I can make it because I REALLY need more sleep. Sometimes I just want to let her sleep with me because then she will stay asleep...but that's not a habit I want to create. I think we all need our space.
I love how happy she is. She loves to just scream...it's like she wants to hear herself or something..so cute! She is such a pleasure to spend my days with! Tom and I are both so happy to have her in our life and proud of all her accomplishments!


6 months

Jenny Jump Up

Caroline LOVES her new toy. I think she would be content to sit in it most of the day... as long as I am in sight of course. She loves to jump, swing... and chew on her tongue... comes from teething I guess. 

Sorry so many pictures. She's too adorable for me to leave any out!