Baby's 1st Christmas

Merry Christmas & Happy Holiday's from our family to yours!

I hope everyone had a magical holiday celebrating Our Lord & Savior, we certainly did!

We spent this special time with both sides of the family.

Christmas Eve we went to the Candlelight Service at the First United Methodist Church.

Now I've been to Christmas Eve services before, but I've never seen anything like this. 

I loved it. The music and the readings made me feel even more joy for the glorious season.

I was moved. Don't laugh. I really was. 

I'm thinking this will be our Christmas Eve tradition. No matter where we live.

Christmas morning, goodness it was exciting. Watching Caroline take it all in was the best. 

Santa came to visit Caroline at her Sassy & G's house. She was in awe. 

I really don't think she knew where to go first. Her head was flipping back and forth as she scanned the room looking at all her new things. 

Let's not fib- her favorite thing was the wrapping paper. And anything that wasn't hers.

And of course, Christmas morning isn't complete with out a breakfast casserole.

Late Christmas morning we were in Niceville. (we're all about seeing everyone on the Holiday's)

We had Christmas morning all over again, and Santa even stopped in at Nonnie's house. :)

Again, Caroline crawled around from toy to toy checking everything out.

This child is so spoiled, it's unreal. 

Same as earlier in the day- the boxes and wrapping paper were probably her favorite.

Then we had a Christmas dinner, family and friends came over to join in on the amazing meal my mom cooked. 

This woman should seriously be a chef. I've considered hiring her to cook for my family personally. 

Yeah, she's that good. 

And of course, the following Saturday we had Turner Christmas! More "Food & Family." Turner Holiday's are always fun. Nana's house is filled to the max with aunts, uncles and cousins - and now the next generations :)

We had such a great Christmas. Another successful 1st for Caroline. The best part about it was being surrounded by everyone we love. 

It was a Christmas to remember. Happy Birthday, Jesus <3

11 Months Old!!

Caroline is 11 months old!

I cannot believe we are here. 

This is the last month we will be able to call this little one an infant.

And then.. she's a.. sniff sniff.. toddler. :(

These months went by so fast. 

I always find myself looking back at her pictures..all the way back to the day she was born. 

It amazes me to see the transformation she has made.

She was a dark haired, light eyed little beauty when she was born.

Now she is a light haired, color changing eyes cutie.

I wouldn't change anything about these months. 

To watch her grow has been the biggest blessing of all.

I love being able to teach her things and then watch her get the hang of it.

It's like something just clicks and then boom- she's doing it all the time!

I've said it once (or twice) and I'll say it again,

this girl is so freakin' smart. 

And on another note- did you notice the prop in the picture above? Joseph's glasses.

Yeah. She wouldn't sit still for the picture. Girlfriend does not like laying on her back.

So we improvised.  

Fun Facts About Caroline:

• weighs 22 pounds
• is 29 inches long
• says Mama and Hey
• waves hello & bye-bye
• loves yogurt melts
• can climb up and down steps
• loves meeting new people
• beats on everything like it's a drum
• crawls to meet mommy and daddy whenever they come home
• can stand up on her own without touching anything
• claps at the right parts during "If You're Happy & You Know It"
• has now been to seven different states: Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina and North Carolina

Santa!

We met Santa today!

It was such a great experience.

Joseph and I had a whole lot of fun waiting in line in Pensacola for just about 2 hours.
Caroline played with us, some other kids and looked around the whole time. We did quite a bit of people watching at this prime location. She was just as happy as could be!

We thought she might be getting tired towards the end of our wait. Like she was ready for a nap. Naturally, we began to start thinking that this situation could head south real quick.

We weren't sure how she would react to Santa anyway. I mean we have an almost 11 month old baby meeting this giant bearded man in red. It could get crazy. 

Like everything else though, she amazed us.

She loved him. She sat down as happy as could be on his lap and just looked at him. She checked him out up and down and then even played with his beard. When she felt comfortable enough, she looked at the camera and gave us a big smile. #moneyshot

She was the cutest, most well behaved child in that line. Success!

We love Santa Claus!

Thanksgiving

There is so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, and everyday.

I'm so blessed to have a wonderful husband who is so loving and an extremely great father. I'm so blessed to have such a healthy and beautiful daughter who calls me Mama. I'm so blessed to have such understanding parents and a brother I can confide in. I'm so blessed to have such great in-laws that took us in for these next couple months while we house hunt. I'm so blessed to have such true friends that I can laugh and cry with and that take me as I am. I'm so blessed to have my fur baby, who comforts me in sickness and health.

I'm so very thankful for each and every person in my life. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

This year we were so lucky to be able to spend Thanksgiving with everyone.

We started Thanksgiving in Niceville, surrounded by friends and family - minus my daddy, who might I add was missed dearly (but I still got to talk to him a lot throughout the day). Then we finished up the day with another Thanksgiving in Brewton - surrounded by more friends and family.

We even got to have Thanksgiving a 3rd time: Turner Thanksgiving. Joseph has such a larger family that it's hard for everyone to get together on the actual holiday. So they have their very own Turner Holiday's. So we had that on Saturday :) More food & more family!

It really is wonderful being back close to everyone. It makes these special days that much more special.

Caroline's first Thanksgiving was a success. She had some mashed potatoes... how she felt about them is still up for debate ;)
 

Double Digits ;)

Caroline Ann has hit the double digits

and is 10 months old!

We just moved and are working on settling in..

with all of that craziness I feel as if I slacked this month on her pictures.

HOWEVER.

There are 2 pictures every month that are a necessity:

laying on daddy's chest & laying next to Ellie the Elephant. 

As long as I don't miss those two, I feel accomplished. 

Not to mention, I take 20+ pictures a day of this little beauty so all I'm missing is the posed ones.

And sometimes impromptu pictures can be better :)

So i don't feel as bad!

This little girl is growing like a weed.

And she is smart as a whip!

Fun Facts About Caroline:

• weighs 21 pounds
• is 28 1/4 inches long
• loves "Wheels on the Bus" and "Old MacDonald"
• bounces and dances to music, especially the songs on the Kia Soul commercials 
• walks by guiding herself on furniture
• thinks it's funny to make popping sounds with her mouth
• her newest favorite game is throwing toys for us to pick up
• doesn't like to sit still for pictures
• loves her puffs
• has figured out how to get around in her walker - forwards, backwards, u-turns etc. 
• has gotten her flu shot 

#letsgo

We're moving, we're moving, la la la la la!
If only you could hear the excitement I have when I say this!
I'm ecstatic. I'm dying with excitement over here and I can hardly contain it.
Everyday I remind my husband: "This is our last Thursday in the house; This is our last Friday." And guess what..? Today is our last Saturday in this house! Woohoo!
Not just this house, but also in good ole Lake Mary.
It's been good, but we're ready to bounce ;)

We are counting our lucky stars.
Joseph accepted a new job opportunity that we just couldn't pass up.
It became available much earlier than we expected, but we jumped on it and are getting gone!
It is in the location we wanted, with the perks that we wanted.
We will be close to home. aka friends and family :) Finally.

My house is stacked. box on box on box. 
My child is loving it. She likes playing in the boxes. Although we have had to stop letting her in them due to the fact that her goal is to tip it over .... ummm no more of that. 
My other child is loving it too. Ace loves that the dining room table is no longer in the dining room. What does this mean? lots of running room. (The weather has been nice lately, so Ace now runs out the back door, back in and through the dining room around the kitchen and back outside. It's quite entertaining.. as long as you're not in the running route. 

We're moving!!
I literally cannot hold back my excitement.
The overwhelming tasks of moving are not evening phasing me.  
I've got my countdown calendar going and getting things done..one thing at a time.

Wish us luck in the big move!
Safe travels, no traffic, good tunes, a cooperative dog and sleepy baby for the 7 hour trip.  #letsgo

Caroline is 9 months!

The little bambino is 9 months old today.

Our sweet little baby is not so little anymore. 

I don't think I have ever seen a happier baby. Caroline is always smiling or laughing and chatting up a storm. She has so many expressions- it's so funny to watch her as she checks out this great big world. 

She has so much curiosity for everything around her. 

We did learn this month that she is not a real big fan of hay. With it being October, we took her to a pumpkin patch....interested in the pumpkins - however, weirded out by the hay bales. It was quite a sight to see. 

And after doing this months "monthly pictures" we have realized that the process is becoming more and more difficult, as you can probably tell in the pictures. It's a joyful process ;) it's so worth it though. 

 

Fun Facts About Caroline:

• weighs 20 pounds on the dot
• 27.75 inches long
• pulls up everywhere and on anything (even if she has to bend over to stand) hehe.
• laughs hysterically when she thinks something is funny
• her favorite toys is her blocks
• knows how to clap and does it often (especially when you say "yay" in her direction)
• is really curious about jewelry- plays with mommy's rings any chance she gets and loves a good necklace ;)
• likes to play peekaboo and "where's the baby"
• is really skeptical about grass and hay bales
• loves her lovey more than she ever has before - best friends for life we're thinking
• her head is measuring in the 99 percentile now - she gets it from her daddy ;)
• walks from room to room while being held by her hands (only when she feels like it. if she's feeling lazy she will life her legs into a sitting position and refuse to put her feet down)
• is extremely ticklish 
• extremely happy

 Every day is a blessing with this little sweetheart. It's truly amazing to be her mommy.