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.
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!
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!
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??
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...
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!
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
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.
I recently taught myself how to crochet...well, actually I should thank the Klutz books. I learned how to make Kufi hats. They are pretty popular these days for baby girls. You can weave some ribbon through it or just add a flower or bow. I also make bows and flowers.
If anyone wants one just let me know. For now hats are $5 or 3 for $10 and can be made for any size head. Set of 2 little bows are $2. Flower clips and bigger bows are $2.50. I can also make the headbands that the bows and flowers hook on...you can either have a crochet one or a nylon one. Email me at sarah.gounaris@gmail.com and we can coordinate what colors you would like since I don't have all the colors on here. You can also make a request for any color.
I'm working on making a non-private blog so you can see all I can do.
For all my family with baby girls, I already gave most of you some or I am planing to. If any of your friends want some too, let them know that I can make them!
I'm also in the process of learning how to make the gourmet crochet patterns...like baby booties and mittens for boys and girls and also hats for boys. :)
Sometimes I go to craft shows around here and nobody has anything like this yet. I am thinking of getting a table at an upcoming craft show and selling my hats and bows. If you live in NY, what do you think? Are these hats and bows just a west coast thing, or do you think they would sell here? I guess I will find out.
Caroline is now a pro at eating. It took her a couple weeks of eating once a day to figure out that she needed to open her mouth and not just stick out her tongue. Here's my cutie eating sweet potatoes.
We're starting early with the piano lessons. Haha! Every time I play the piano she watches me so I figured I would let her try. She seemed to really like it! She has perfect piano playing hands...long fingers like her daddy. A couple weeks ago I tried, and she cried when she heard the noise it made. Today I tried, and she seemed very interested in the sound... as you can see in the video.
Caroline has decided to start smiling for the camera which makes me so happy! She used to just stop and stare...now she is trying to steel it from me, like in this video. Enjoy!
For Christmas Caroline's Yaya got her the Baby Signing Time videos. She LOVES them! Every time I put them on she smiles and starts waving her arms and bouncing. I don't like her to watch TV, but I'm ok with these videos...they are educational and help me get the dishes done! :)
And this picture is just because she's so cute... even when she's sleeping! She fell asleep while Tom and I were playing a game of scrabble...which I won! :)
Caroline LOVES her baths! She loves to squirm around and splash. I can't wait to take her swimming for the first time. I think she will really like it. Just ignore me in the video...I told Tom not to film me, and he filmed me telling him not to film me. Haha!
Splish Splash
All ready for bed!
Caroline turned 5 months today and we celebrated by eating peaches! Yummy! I'm not sure she knew what to think of this new experience, but we'll give it another try tomorrow.
Caroline went to the doctor today. She got the Polio vaccine and barely even made a fuss. She is now:
Weight: 13 lbs 14 oz (10th %)
Height: 25 in. (36th %)
Head: 15 7/8 (>3rd %)
She's a petite little girl!
*This month she has just become more and more alert. She laughs, she screams in happiness... and sadness sometimes. *She can roll, but chooses not to most of the time. *She's getting closer and closer to being able to sit up on her own. *She can grab things. She grabs most everything in front of her and puts it in her mouth. *She now has her 2 bottom teeth. They are adorable, but very sharp! She has done pretty well getting her teeth in. We've lost a little bit of sleep, but still better then when she was brand new :) *She's a little flirt. She loves getting attention and smiles for almost anyone. Although, whenever we go to the grocery store she cries when people talk to her...don't know what that's about? *She went on her first airplane ride and was AMAZING! The second the plane took off she was asleep.
We're excited to see how she grows and develops this next month. We love you Caroline and think you are the cutest baby in the whole world!
Her first time eating is documented VERY well! I LOVE the facial expressions! Just like her daddy!
