The Fritsche Five

The gift

2011-12-28T07:57:00.002-06:00

I have been given a gift. It has the power to transform every single moment of my life for the better. This gift holds all the answers to every problem I'll ever have, and I have direct access to it 24/7. Even more, because of this gift I have assurance of a perfect eternity. My gift is Jesus. I have received Him and chosen to follow Him, trust Him, and let Him lead me. I have chosen to live in reality... the reality that God the Father, creator of all things, is Holy and I am fallen, and Christ's death on the cross is the Way the loving Father provided for me to be made righteous. I can't come to the Father on my own, I can only come through the righteousness that was bought for me on the cross of Christ.

The reason I'm writing this is that this gift isn't just for me. I want to share this gift with anyone I encounter, and especially those who I love. My great big loving God is so real, so present, so active in my life and He has changed everything for me. The god of our culture is small, judgemental, and has been treated like a sad Sunday hobby. That's not my God.

If you want to know more, I would love to grab coffee or a phone conversation. This is what I'm passionate about. I'd be so privileged to introduce my God to you.

Rest. Breathe. Abundant life.

2011-10-03T11:46:00.003-06:00

Matthew 11:28-30 says
28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

I love that He says "learn from Me". He is our teacher in this life....He shows us how to rest and how to lighten our load. He has gone before us and prepared in advance good works for us to do. (ephesians 2:10) Thank you Lord for teaching me, I definitely haven't been able to teach myself! Thank you for the freedom that comes from saying Yes to the things You have for us, to say No to the other things, and for our counselor, the Holy Spirit that works within us to show us the way.

Acceptance

2011-09-19T13:16:00.004-06:00

Acceptance... acceptance... I'm not good at it, it's not natural for me. I assume there's better, there's more I could be doing, there's something I'm missing. But my Father says "Be still and know that I am God"(Ps 46:10) and "if you ask for bread, would I give you a stone?" (Matt 7:9) He is good, He is aware of my circumstances, and when I'm seeking Him, He will lead me. I strive, I scurry, I google, I try try try to change where I am, but He has me here. The truth is He could miraculously heal me.... zap me with change.... but that's not usually His way....He calls me to a process of struggle, a walk of obedience, a deeper trust in Him. Zapping, snatching, quick fixes.... they are too easy, they don't produce the perseverence, character and hope that He wants for me. (Romans 5:3-4)
Where am I today? I am lots of places that aren't necessarily pleasant.... most easy to share is my struggle with chronic headaches. I've asked Him for healing, I've pursued many forms of treatment...all of them costly in both monetarily and emotionally. But I still have them. He is permitting them. If He wanted to heal me now, He would provide the way. I hope for a treatment or method to provide relief one day very soon... but I am accepting that His good for me right now is even better... instead of healing my pain today, He has it FOR me-- to learn from, to accept, to grow deeper in trust and knowledge of Him... to learn to let Him be my shepherd. I shall not want. I will accept this from His kind and good hand. For He is good in all things.

Luke getting seconds

2010-10-24T17:03:00.004-06:00

Tonight at the dinner table, Caroline briefly abandoned her plate.... Luke calmly climbed down from his chair, grabbed HIS plate, climbed into Caroline's chair and dumped her macaroni and cheese onto his plate. He caught us looking and laughing at him, and gave us a knowing look of mischief. He returned to his chair and casually finished off sissy's plate. Nicely done Luke, way to survive in this crazy family!

Potty Training and Roly Poly

2009-04-26T05:54:00.002-06:00

There seems to be no time for comprehensive blog posts these days, so I'll just take a moment to post a quick update.
Caroline: Potty Trained!!! Hurray!!!! Now that she's trained, she will only wear dresses-- I think she wants quick access to show off her big girl panties to anyone and everyone. They told me that she took off her dress at school last week and they let her walk around in just her underwear for a lot of the day. Caroline also just figured out how to turn on the water in our bathroom downstairs, and now proceeds to "wash her hands" practically all day.
Luke: Rolling over!!! He flips over on his tummy the second we lay him down now. It has been a little bit of a problem in his crib, he'll flip over and get stuck like that and just do a little fret cry until we go in there and get him sorted out. He is precious-- his personality so far is so laid back and sweet. He smiles all the time and loves to "talk."

Easter

2009-04-15T19:17:00.003-06:00

Today's Cuteness (and it's only 1:30)

2009-03-03T13:29:00.002-06:00

Ear-greens = earrings. Used in a sentence "Mommy I ike your ear-greens"
Dimon-sore = Dinosaur. We went to the library today and the theme of storytime was dinosaurs.
Caroline's current request = Mommy I want a ittle snack.
Luke gave me his first hug today-- he grabbed my arm with both of mine while I was rocking him to sleep. He coos and smiles now all the time, especially loves music.

Better run and go get a ittle snack now.

Recent Pics

2009-02-20T09:41:00.002-06:00

I've finally downloaded a few of our recent pics and thought I'd share:
Mom, Caroline, Luke and I at the Zilker train:

Luke with a little smirk:

Family picture at Grammy's house:

With Grammy and Ron Ron:

Caroline in her petti-skirt at the Zilker Playground:

With Poppy and Dee Dee at Shady Grove:

Melt my heart:

Did I ever share these two from Christmas-- I love them:
Happy girl

Sad boy

1 month stats

2009-01-27T15:32:00.003-06:00

He's going to be a big guy! Luke is in the 95th percentile of weight, and the 75-90th percentile in height at one month old (22.6 inches and 11 lb 7 oz, respectively). He has already outgrown a few 0-3 month onesies, and we've moved the straps up to the 2nd notch on the carseat. He's such a cutie and I'm really enjoying his newborn-ness, like the gurgles and coos, and stretches with scrunchy faces. Caroline is a great big sister already- she tells Baby Luke that she loves him, and brings me his diapers when it's time to change him. She's also abbreviated her name for him from "Baby Luke" to "B'uke"-- pretty darn cute. I'll post pics someday.... we take them, but getting them onto the computer seems like a big task for some reason.

Luke Douglas

2009-01-07T19:46:00.004-06:00

It's taken me this long just to get the pictures from Luke's birth onto my computer!!! Announcing the arrival of our precious son, Luke Douglas, on Dec 22nd at 5:18 am. He weighed a whopping 8 lbs 15 oz, 22 inches long. He is perfect! My good friend Elle took some amazing newborn pictures of him-- check them out at her website: http://www.ellabellaphotos.com/blog/2009/01/happy-newborn-year/

Some Caroline conversations

2008-11-05T19:23:00.002-06:00

Caroline is cracking us up each and every day with the words that she says... most of the time Jeff and I look at each other and say "who taught her that? did you??!!" Like today, she fell and said "I trip." Not an SAT word, but definitely not one that we have said often since she's been around. The other night, she exclaimed "Daddy, doggy go pee pee outside." We were proud of this very long sentence. She's also learning her colors, so we asked "What color is Mommy's hair?" Caroline: Bown; "What color is Daddy's hair?" Caroline: Bown; "What color is Caroline's hair?" Caroline: Piddy (pretty)! She replies to every compliment with "It's piddy." Yes, she is. We are really soaking up these last few weeks of her being our only child. We can't believe that in just a few short weeks she will be a big sister-- so fun!

Pumpkin Patch Pics!

2008-10-21T11:09:00.003-06:00

We had a great time at Play Group yeserday at the Pumpkin Patch. Here are some fun pics of Caroline and her friends!
Georgia always has the best snacks to share--
Palmer chewin' on a piece of hay :)
Resha's Caroline posing pretty
What a doll!

Here's my very favorite shot of Caroline from that day-- thanks to Olivia for getting her to look UP!!

What is she doing now?

2008-10-01T19:12:00.002-06:00

Forgive me, but I have been using this blog for a bit of a dual purpose-- one, to update family and friends on the happenings of our family; two, as an "online baby book" for Caroline. So this post is mainly a log of what Caroline is doing now.... so I can look back on it later and feel good that it's written down somewhere :)
1. She can do some fun dance moves: reach up high, touch her toes, shuffle, jump, shake, turn in circles.
2. She can identify most shapes.
3. We're working on colors-- most everything is still "lello"
4. She can count to five-- from memory, not from really counting.
5. Loves to sing ABCs and Itsy Bitsy spider. She has made up a new song called "Mommy Daddy." Love it!
6. She can answer "What's your name?" LALINE!!! (Caroline) "Where are you from?" Axxes!!! (Texas)
7. Knows so many words, animals, noises, items in her favorite books. It's so fun to watch her learn new things and recall things from a book we haven't picked up in a while.

Okay, thanks for letting me document Caroline's life :) I guess that's what these kinds of blogs are all about! :)

Swinging in the Backyard in a Pretty Dress

2008-09-27T13:54:00.000-06:00

2008-09-15T21:51:00.002-06:00

Jeff and I went to Cancun a couple of weeks ago and came home to a much more talkative toddler. She now asks "What's mommy/daddy/doggie/etc. doing?" and "What's that?" all day long. It's so fun and causes each day to be a constant dialogue. She also loves to sing-- it's always to the tune of "ABCs" (which is the same as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) but the "words" are ever changing.... usually the word "shoes" makes its way into the song a few times. We are really loving this stage and find ourselves laughing with her and at her all the time. Here's a pic of her-- she's great at saying "Cheese!"

We took her to Sea World and she loved waving to the big "fish" (killer whales).

Finally, she will wear bows in her hair! She even asks for bows in her hair at night when she's going to bed... a girly girl.

It's a BOY!!

2008-08-19T22:15:00.003-06:00

We found out a couple of weeks ago that baby #2 is a boy!! We are so excited!!!

Are these shoes too big?

2008-07-09T09:03:00.001-06:00

Happy 4th of July from Caroline

2008-07-05T20:23:00.001-06:00

S..L..O..W..... D..O...W..N

2008-06-22T15:24:00.006-06:00

I feel like things need to slow down. Caroline is growing up so fast. I know one day I'll look back and think that she's still such a baby right now, but for now I feel like she's getting to be a big girl so fast. She is learning new words every day. Yesterday it was "bug" and today it was "ice" and "bye guys!" She's also really enjoying her cousins and friends. This is a fun age and I'm loving her new communication skills so much (and her newest relief for my back-- she's walking up and down the stairs on her own!!!)
Oh and for anyone that reads this that hasn't heard yet, she'll be a big sister this December!!! We are so thrilled and thankful!!!

Caroline in her Big Girl outfit:

A special outfit from Karen and Katherine for her 1st birthday that I've been patiently waiting for her to grow into:

Getting ready for the swimsuit competition:

Happy on the swing with her cousins, Cameron and Ashlyn:

18 Months Old!

2008-06-06T18:45:00.003-06:00

Happy 18-month bday, Caroline!!! We love you so much and count it a blessing to spend our life with you and watch you grow!
Some of the things you do now that I want to remember: You say "no" when you mean "yes"..... you insist that everyone wears their shoes at all times, and you bring them their shoes and put them at their feet... once everyone's shoes are on, you declare that we're going "bye-bye"..... you always greet Casey by shouting "hi dog!!!!"..... sometimes you lean your head into Casey's so that he'll give you a bath by licking you-- gross!.... you grab anything with a handle and pretend that it's a purse, then you'll usually start saying "bye-bye"... you always have a sippy cup with milk in it..... you've gotten really good at getting things you want by signing "more, please".... you love to crinkle your nose and sniff every time you see a bunny in a picture or stuffed animal....you ask for Daddy constantly and when I tell you he's at work, you say "okay"....you love to "lello" which means color-- you think that's why we're at a restaurant (to color).... you love to play with your friends of all ages and especially your cousins....you love to "talk" on the phone....you snuggle and give the best hugs and kisses, especially right before bedtime....
WE LOVE YOU!

Summertime???

2008-05-22T14:18:00.004-06:00

It sure does feel like summer around here. Caroline is really enjoying being outdoors and playing in the water. Mommy and Daddy, on the other hand, prefer the air conditioning :) She seems to have a new word every day. Our favorite thing she says now is "Mommy, Daddy, Dog".... like she's taking attendance for our family. Sometimes she'll do the sign language sign for "more" while saying "dog".... nope, sorry Caroline, but we're not getting more dog right now. Here are some recent pics-

She loves her new water table in the back yard

We went to the Strawberry Patch and Caroline really loved her homemade popcicle!!! What a sticky messy face :)

Getting ready for church one morning

She's really enjoying our piano

Happy Easter!!!

2008-04-01T21:15:00.001-06:00

A girly girl

2008-03-21T20:02:00.005-06:00

Bracelets, shoes, bows and purses.... these are a few of Caroline's favorite things. We have a girly girl on our hands!!!!

Caroline started Mother's Day Out this week-- here she is holding her lunch box on our way out the door. I think we both had a great time-- when I went to pick her up she was outside on the play ground having a ball with the other kids!

A few of the cute things Caroline has been doing lately... she really loves books, and there's a picture in one of her books of some puppies. She started kissing the puppies every time we got to that page. Adorable. In another book, there's a picture of a Mommy, little boy and a little girl with their hands in the air and the text says "We like to give thanks to God for His love for the shoes on our feet and for Heaven above." Well, she puts her hands in the air just like the kids in the picture. Adorable again. And slightly charismatic ;) Lastly, sometimes when I'm on the phone with Mimi or Grammy, I'll put it on speaker so Caroline can hear their voices and "talk" with them. The first thing she does when she hears their voices is blow them a kiss. How cute is that?!!?

Spring!!!!

2008-03-18T09:08:00.003-06:00

We had so much fun this past weekend-- Grammy and Ron got married!!!! Caroline got to spend some fun time with family and really bonded with Baylee, her 5 year old new cousin! The wedding was held in our chapel at church, and Jeff officiated-- there wasn't a dry eye! Then we went up to Lakeway for a fabulous dinner at Rocco's, and stayed at Vintage Villas on the lake. What a perfect weekend!!!!

Black Bean Goatee and recent pics

2008-02-25T09:38:00.005-06:00

A serious moment:

Sweet time with Daddy & the Wiggles:

What a day!!!

2008-02-20T19:18:00.007-06:00

We had quite a day today! It will be such a wonderful memory for years to come. About a week ago my friend Karen told me about an open casting call for Pampers. They were looking for babies about Caroline's size and so we went to the call and had our picture taken. We couldn't believe that we got a call back on Monday!!! I thought that this call back would be another round of snapshots, but found out last night that it was actually a full scale commercial photo shoot! We went to the location this morning at 8:30 and there was an entire crew of production people there... this crew included a make-up artist (thank you from Mandy) and a baby wrangler (thank you from Caroline) plus about 15 other people. The photographer is a well-known artist from Austin (http://www.toscaradigonda.com), and when I went to her website to see her work I realized that I had a piece of it on my bedside table... a cover of Wonder Time magazine (my favorite!) Needless to say, it was an amazing blessing just to have her take photos of us at all!!! I got to see some of the images on the computer monitor during breaks and I just hope that someday I can have a couple of prints but for now the pictures are locked in my memory. I was so proud of Caroline and was thankful that God gave me peace throughout the day.... I was tempted several times to become anxious and not enjoy the moment for what it was. We're not sure when or if we'll hear if the images are selected for Pampers ads or packaging, but for now we're just happy for the fun day and experience!!!!

Time to catch up

2008-02-11T13:04:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted a new blog entry in so long that I'm stalled since I feel the need to "catch up" on everything so there aren't any annoying blog-gaps. As if this is going to be published or something.... regardless, there have been a few milestones in the past 2 months since Caroline's bday.

Started walking: (her first steps were on Thanksgiving day, and she really got good on Christmas day. Thank you Caroline for making this easy to remember.)

First time Mommy & Daddy left her for more than one night: We actually went to the other side of the world for 10 days.... I don't think she even noticed since she had so much fun with Grammy, Aunt Mary and Mimi!!

First Trip to the ER: Casey (our 85 lb lab) and Caroline got into a tight squeeze and Casey knocked Caroline into a wall. She got glue stitches and the "bonk bonk" is healing nicely.

First Haircut: It was time to cut the mullet-- I did it impulsively one morning while she was eating her breakfast. It's really hard to cut hair... I have a new appreciation for my stylist!! It's not a professional job by any means, but I like to think it looks like the "Posh Spice" bob. Bye bye for now, pigtails :)
Before:

After:

Happy Birthday Caroline!!!

2007-12-12T21:07:00.000-06:00

We had an amazing time at Caroline's first birthday party on Saturday!!! Caroline was a trooper and really enjoyed her first taste of cake. The lime green icing was all over the place and made for some great pictures. The weather was 84 degrees and just cloudy enough. We had a bouncy castle for the older kids and a sandbox for the little ones. It was such a fun day!!!
Here are some pics:

Christmas Photo Shoot

2007-12-05T13:15:00.001-06:00

My friend Elle and her little boy Hunter (1 month older than Caroline) came over today for a fun Christmas photo shoot :) Here are some favorites:

Pigtails & Personality

2007-12-04T12:11:00.000-06:00

With her 1st birthday approaching this week, Caroline's personality is coming through more and more :) Here's her latest "trick"... feeding Casey his dog food by hand :)

Our mullet dilemma is solved! Pigtails!!!!

Caroline's also found out how to climb through our kitchen cabinets:

Thanksgiving!!!

2007-11-25T20:36:00.000-06:00

We had a great visit in Little Rock for Thanksgiving! On the way back, we stopped in Dallas for a wedding and to see family! Here are some pics from the trip:
Playing in the leaves with cousins Cameron & Ashlyn! Our first Thankgsiving meal together... Caroline ate as much as we did!!!
Mimi, Anne, Mandy and the girls:
Caroline got to spend a whole day with Aunt Mary & Uncle Kim-- she had a blast with them!!!
Jeff was the guest preacher at Allen Bible Church--we were so glad to be there!!! Here he is with Mike & Buddy:

An incredible week!

2007-11-15T07:43:00.000-06:00

We just got back from our week-long trip to North Carolina! It was one of my favorite vacations ever!!! We got to see some of my dear friends and spend the weekend at a beautiful family camp in the mountains. The camp completely exceeded my expectations! Not only did we enjoy fellowship with friends, we were completely refreshed spiritually. Jeff and I didn't know how much we needed this. The staff led us in worship, encouraged our marriages and walks with the Lord, and babysat our kids during the sessions so we could really engage with the message. I am looking forward to going back year after year. Here are some of our pics-- I took over 300 this week! North Carolina is so beautiful!!!
Holly Leider Parker-- one of my friends from my Camp Ozark days!!!!

We visited Betsy Swoboda and her amazing family in Knoxville-- here are the girls: Mandy, Caroline, Bessie Mae, Maggie, Lily, and Betsy

The whole gang-- the Fritsche's and the Swobodas!

An unexpected surprise-- we got to visit Pepaw and Dee during our layover in Chicago!!!!

Biltmore Mansion-- incredible!

Our reunion group: the Clark's, Fritsche's, Corson's, Michaud's, and Svejda's

Happy Halloween!!!

2007-11-04T18:02:00.000-06:00

What a Halloween!!! Caroline joined her good friend Hunter for a photo shoot with him in their costumes! Then we went to visit some neighborhood friends, and finally off to the church Fall Festival! What a fun first Halloween we had!!!

Pumpkin Patch!

2007-11-03T18:16:00.000-06:00

Happy 30th Bday Daddy!

2007-10-02T17:51:00.000-06:00

We had Jeff's birthday party at Ski Shores on September 14th-- it was so much fun!! Caroline went on her first boat ride and seemed to enjoy it! We celebrated Jeff's actual birthday at Taylor & Gayle Clark's lake house-- it was such a nice vacation for us!! Enjoy the pics :)

Caroline loves to dance

2007-09-27T22:03:00.000-06:00

9 month check up

2007-09-26T20:10:00.000-06:00

So we got to visit our favorite pediatrician in the world, Dr. Hargrave, last week for Caroline's 9 month check-up. Okay, so we're a few weeks late. She weighs in at a whopping 18 lbs and 13 oz, and 27 inches in length. Right at 50 percentile. She had to have a little heel prick and blood test, and one shot. Oh, these are getting harder as she's more aware of what's happening.
After her appointment, we took Casey to our friend Trent's house, then loaded up the car and headed down to our 4th Impact retreat with FEFC. I love going to retreat, but was a little skeptical at how much I would be able to participate with Caroline in tow. She did great! She actually dropped her 3rd nap this weekend, which caused her to take 2 long naps per day. My monitor reached into the main meeting room, so I could put her down for her naps and then go to the sessions-- barely missed a thing. We had a fabulous speaker-- Gideon Tsang-- who I learned so much from. We are hoping to hang out with he and his family soon, as they live in Austin and he pastors a church here.
So we're now back in Austin for a while-- I say this because we've gone on 3 trips in the last 2 weeks.... all fun stuff but it's nice to unpack our bags and the Pack'n Play for a while!!!

2007-09-12T15:06:00.000-06:00

We always have a lot of fun with Caroline around, and it's also great to share her with others-- she has a way of brightening any room with her sweet smiles and giggles. She has become INTENT on making friends with everyone she sees, and this plays itself out the most when we are at restaurants. She will stare and smile at anyone around us until they look at her and smile back. It's really funny to watch-- it doesn't matter if it's across the room or at the table beside us. Last night Jeff and I went to Cypress Grill for dinner, and our table was clear across the restaurant from the bar. But Jeff saw Caroline smiling at someone and when he looked to see who it was, it was the bartender. The bartender even came over to our table to visit Caroline. She is definitely an extrovert at this point in her life.... hmmmm.... wonder where that comes from???
During the last week, Caroline has gotten to spend a lot of fun time with Mimi, Aunt Anne, Grammy and Ron, and Aunt Mary & Uncle Kim. Oh how she loves the "special people" in her life-- she recognizes her family and is really bonding with them. Here are a few pics from this week. Enjoy :)

Such a big girl!

2007-08-07T21:03:00.001-06:00

We have a little crawler on our hands now. She started a few weeks ago and now is really an expert. She also has a fetish for these Fisher Price blocks (really old school ones) and likes to have one in her hand at all times. Well today one of those blocks was under our kitchen table and she navigated through chair legs and table legs to get to it. Such a good crawler :) (such a proud mom too!)
Another new thing this week-- she's pulled up to standing on her own. I went in to get her up yesterday morning and found her at eye level with me-- standing up in her crib holding the top rail. Good thing we lowered the crib last week!!!
Between crawling and finger foods, pulling up and playing peekaboo, we certainly feel like Caroline is growing and learning so fast. Where is our tiny newborn baby? Time is flying and I just want to slow things down and savor these sweet times with her.

2007-07-10T20:53:00.000-06:00

Caroline has a knack for making friends with everybody... she will smile at you, lean her head to the side and give you sweet eyes, reach for you.... just about anything to win you over. So everyone comments on what a happy and sweet baby she is, and she is.... most of the time. But there are some things that really get her diaper in a wad...such as:
1. Riding in her carseat. Sometimes I can distract her with a new toy and she won't mind getting strapped into her seat as much, but usually after about 5 minutes in her seat, she starts screaming her head off. I think she fears that we're driving to Dallas again.. how can I help her understand that we're in the HEB parking lot 3 minutes from our house?!??!
2. Getting her diaper changed.... again, another non-optional frequent activity in her life like the aforementioned carseat. She just doesn't like it and squirms every which way in order to avoid being re-diapered. I'm getting good at putting them on backwards while she's on her tummy.
3. Getting a booger picked out of her nose.... I know, I wouldn't like that either. For this one, she doesn't scream, but rather has some sweet defense moves. It's pretty impressive!
4. Occasionally, she really gets upset when there's a loud noise. Sometimes that loud noise is me on the phone, and I'm learning to tone it down a little ;)

Busy month so far....

2007-06-17T15:05:00.000-06:00

Well, it's been a busy month so far! We went to Galveston for vacation, then did 4 weddings in 2 weekends (June 2nd and 9th), and then today we had Caroline's baby dedication at church. Lots of excitement, and it doesn't end there :) We had visits from Mimi, Grammy, Papa, Nannie, Daniel, Matthew, Aunt Anne, Uncle Jeff, Cameron and Ashlyn today for the dedication! On Tuesday, C and I will fly to Little Rock for a couple of days, and then on Friday, my two best girl-friends from college are coming for a visit!!! YAY!!! The next weekend is our 5 year anniversary, and we're going to Dallas for a special wedding and we'll celebrate our anniversary by staying at the Melrose Hotel-- the same hotel we stayed in on our wedding night!

Caroline has started doing a few fun new things this week-- playing patty-cake, babbling up a storm (there are lots of "da-das" but no "ma-mas" yet), and playing "ride a little horsy" by bouncing up and down herself!!! It's been a fun time-- watching her personality come out more and more as she expresses herself!

Here are some recent pics to share:

Some Caroline Factoids

2007-06-09T21:37:00.000-06:00

So I thought I should start writing in more detail the fun things that Caroline does, so I might as well write it here in my blog :) We went in for her 6 month checkup this week. She is growing so big-- 16 lbs 8 oz. I went to visit my good friend Jennifer's new baby girl this week and the difference between holding a newborn vs. Caroline is crazy. I can't believe how small she once was and how big she is getting. The Dr. was impressed that she is already sitting up by herself-- he said that she's a little early doing that-- way to go C!!!
She does so many cute things now-- today she reached for me to hold her when I came home and hadn't seen her in a few hours. It was so cute-- she has never done that before!!! She laughs easily and smiles at everyone-- she's a total joy. I'm so thankful for her sweet temperament!!!

2007-06-06T12:18:00.000-06:00

So my friend Jan tagged me to do this quizzy thing... I guess I haven't posted in a while so this is a good place to jump-start my posting again :)

FOODOLOGY
Q: What is your salad dressing of choice?
A: I love ginger salad dressing at Japanese restaurants :)

Q: What is your favorite fast food restaurant?
A: Chick-fil-A or Thundercloud

Q: What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
A: Shogun or Sekisui-- both Japanese restaurants (in Little Rock)where they cook in front of you :)

Q: On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant?
A: 20%

Q: What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick off of?
A: I eat cereal every day, and usually a turkey/cheese sandwich for lunch. But I kinda get sick of them

Q: What is your favorite type of gum?
A: Extra

TECHNOLOGY
Q: What is your wallpaper on your computer?
A: Pictures from "My Pictures" folder-- most have either Caroline or a flower arrangement in them... that's the subject of all my photos lately

Q: How many televisions are in your house?
A: two

BIOLOGY
Q: What’s your best feature?
A: That's a hard one.... I'm liking my eyes more now that Caroline has the same ones

Q: Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
A: Teeth and a baby

Q: Which of your five senses do you think is keenest?
A: Taste-- I love food

Q: When was the last time you had a cavity?
A: Not sure-- a while ago

Q: What is the heaviest item you lifted last?
A: Flower arrangements-- they are so heavy but I'm a control freak so I usually carry them myself

Q: Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
A: No

YOU-OLOGY
Q: If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
A: No.

Q: Is love for real?
A: Absolutely

Q: If you could change your first name, what would you change it to?
A: I like my name

Q: What color do you think looks best on you?
A: Not sure-- I wear a lot of light pink

Q: Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake?
A: Not that I'm aware of

Q: Have you ever saved someone’s life?
A: Not that I'm aware of

Q: Has someone ever saved yours?
A: Jesus :)

DAREOLOGY
Q: Would you walk naked for a half mile down a public street for $100,000?
A: No way!!!!

Q: Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000?
A: No way!!!!

Q: Would you never blog again for $50,000?
A: Sure.

Q: Would you pose nude in a magazine for $250,000?
A: No.

Q: Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1,000?
A: Sure

Q: Would you give up watching television for a year for $25,000?
A: Sure

Q: Give up MySpace forever for $30,000?
A: In a heartbeat

DUMBOLOGY
Q: What is in your left pocket?
A: A key to my house

Q: Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie?
A: I like it-- lots of '80s throwbacks like the Caboodle

Q: Do you have hardwood or carpet in your house?
A: Carpet and Tile

Q: Do you sit or stand in the shower?
A: Stand

Q: Could you live with roommates?
A: Yes.

Q: How many pairs of flip-flops do you own?
A: More than 10

Q: Last time you had a run-in with the cops?
A: It's been too long to remember, thankfully!

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: Not sure yet :)

LASTOLOGY
Q: Friend you talked to?
A: Jeff
Q: Last person you called?
A: Mom

RANDOMOLOGY
Q: First place you went this morning?
A: I haven't been anywhere yet today, but we go to the pediatrician in 30 minutes for Caroline's 6 month appt.

Q: What can you not wait to do?
A: Honestly, I have 2 weddings (floral design) this weekend and I'll be glad when they're behind me.

Q: What’s the last movie you saw?
A: Elizabeth-- it wasn't good

Q: Are you a friendly person?
A: Yeah!

Picture People

2007-03-12T08:23:00.000-06:00

So, I have really been aching to get Caroline's picture taken at a portrait studio. I know that these places are BIG on the hard sell, and most of my friends walk out of the studio $300 lighter.... I was determined not to go overboard. We went to Picture People in the mall on Friday and what fun! Jeff and I pulled out all of our "make Caroline smile" tricks-- and they worked! We got some amazing shots... hopefully I can share them digitally once we've made our purchases today :)
Speaking of pictures-- no one told me that "photo & video management" goes right alongside diapering, feeding, dressing, playing, and cleaning up after a baby. I absolutely LOVE taking pictures of Caroline and this crazy guilt comes over me whenever we have a sweet moment or cute outfit on that isn't chronicled yet in the digital realm. For instance, her cry has changed.... from the newborn cry (always the same pitch and duration) to more "grown-up" protest cries (varying in duration and pitch). So now I have a little worry that I didn't ever capture her newborn cry on video.... I'll have to let it go. These days are all about living in the present... she is ever-changing and I am just trying to take as much time as possible to stop and smell the roses, or the lavendar baby wash....

Blessing

2006-12-12T21:14:00.000-06:00

I feel like shouting to everyone “I’m the MOST blessed person in the whole world.” But I won’t, because when someone is extremely blessed, it reminds most others of their trials and the reasons that they don’t feel blessed. We’ve had our share of trials, no doubt, and during the trials, it was hard to imagine any time of blessing. But the most difficult trial of my life is the reason that I now recognize my blessedness—the arrival of our precious daughter, Caroline, six days ago, is the inspiration for my joy. I could never have imagined or prepared myself for the heavenliness of her arrival. She is so perfect—I love the way her mouth moves when you stroke her cheek, and I love the way her eyes look when they are wide open and the way her face changes shape depending on whether she’s asleep or awake (chubby when asleep, slender when awake, by the way). I love the way we can soothe her when she is so troubled with gas or some other “baby trauma.” She makes me want to be a better person in all ways, most importantly in the way that I follow Christ and live out His will for my life. I feel undeserving of this amount of joy. My heart overflows with love for her and for my family and friends. My eyes overflow with tears (I know there are hormones involved, but….) at my blessing.

Labor

2006-12-06T02:00:00.000-06:00

How to know if you’re in labor…… no wonder there are a million lists in every book and on all the pregnancy websites… it’s kinda tricky to know if it’s really “time.” So, it’s 1:08 am on December 6th and I’ve been timing contractions since about 9:30. I’ve been having them all day, but now they’re getting closer together and a little trickier to ignore. We’ve been praying that Caroline would show up without having to be induced—I think this is our answered prayer! We are so excited to meet her—that is an understatement. After 2.5 years of infertility and two miscarriages, we sometimes were scared to think that this day might never come. Praise the Lord for His mighty plans—our faith has grown throughout this journey and as difficult as the trial was for us, we know He used it to shape us and draw us closer to Him and each other.
Jeff and I have enjoyed our six years together as “just the two of us” so much. We are absolutely best friends and really can’t imagine life with kiddos. But I know that in just a few weeks or months, we’ll have a hard time picturing what life was like before Caroline came. Thankfully we have been able to travel together, enjoy movies and cooking at home, and dote on our precious dog to our heart’s content these past few years and we have lived the “before kids” part of our marriage to its fullest. Now we start the next chapter that will last the rest of our lives, Lord willing. We can’t wait to be parents and get to know our kiddos and watch them grow. We pray that their ministry greatly surpasses any ministry we have – that would be our greatest joy.
Just wanted to journal a few of these random thoughts as I sit here at my computer waiting to make a call to the doctor to go to the hospital. How surreal to think that my next night that I am home, we will have a precious daughter at home with us. Another contraction… 1:17 am. Seven minutes from the last one… it won’t be long now.