Caroline Has Her First Tooth

Caroline's first tooth broke through on Thursday the 27th of December. What a milestone! It is her bottom front tooth on the right side - the other one will be coming through any day. It looks so cute - it is still just a little showing through but it will grow in. Once it is showing more I will take a picture and post.

She continues to grow and develop every day. She is sitting up so well, picking things up and putting them in her mouth - the little puffs that are made for babies to eat. It is so cute when she gets one in her fingers and puts it in her mouth. I also bought her first training sippy cup and she is doing well with that. No crawling yet but I'm sure that is coming soon. Each day is a new and joyous day.

This has been the best holiday season - I can't imagine my life without her. She is so amazing and brings me so much love and joy.

I HAD A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS - 1ST CHRISTMAS

Look at my BIG present
Caroline, Grandpa, Grandma Kathy & cousin Kylie

Santa, mommy, and Caroline

A little scared of Santa

My new pink ball

My new hat

Glendale Glitters - XMas lights

Glenadale Glitters with mommy & the Topeka Girls - Kelleen & Kyndra

Caroline had a very merry first Christmas. Everyone came to our house on Christmas Eve for dinner and gifts. We had a surprising visit from Santa Claus. Caroline was not so sure about that unless mommy was close by.

Christmas morning came early and Grandma, Aunt Amy, and Uncle Brian were here to celebrate. Caroline opened her gifts on Christmas morning. She got lots of neat toys and cute clothes. She got a Radio Flyer wagon from Grandma and Aunt Amy - she can't wait to use that when it warms up.

We went to Grandpa's on Christmas Day for our traditional dinner of Swedish meatballs, potatoes, lefse, etc - it was yummy. Caroline ate lots of potatoes and creamed corn - she loved it.

Here are some pictures from our first Christmas.

What a gift she is!

She is getting so big!

Happy Girl
Sitting Pretty

So big!

Oops, falling over

Sitting with my blocks

Look at me sitting by myself

Just went to the doctor this morning and Caroline is 17 1/4 pounds and 29 1/4 inches long. That is a lot of growth since October 1st (Gotcha Day). I now completly understand why people keep having babies, they grow so fast. Don't worry, I'm not ready for another one yet.......

She is also sitting up - she has been doing it with support for about a week but now she can do it all on her own. Here are some pictures. She can sit for a pretty long time but eventually she will fall over. She also wants to stand - of course with support but her legs are getting so strong.

I can't believe how much I love this child. Each day I love her more. She is so amazing and keeps me laughing and smiling all day long. I can't wait to play with her at the end of each work day - I miss her so much during the day.

We are getting ready for Christmas. She has been such a good girl so Santa will certainly be stopping at our house. My girlfriend Kyndra will be in town this weekend from Denver to meet Caroline so we are going to go to the mall to get her picture taken with Santa. I also had a photographer over this past weekend for Christmas pics (some posted).

Enjoy the new pictures.

xoxo,

Gretch

THE REAL WORLD BEGINS

Naked baby

At the zoo with the giraffes

At the zoo

Thanksgiving with Aunt Amy & Uncle Brian

Thanksgiving with mommy

Today was the first day of the real world for me and Caroline. I went back to work today and she went to her first day of daycare - Monday's are not with her Grandma or Grandpa - truly a daycare day. I'm getting ready to go pick her up. It was so hard to leave her this morning. It was nice to be back to work but I have missed her very much. I know that it will get easier - the rest of the week will be split with Grandma and Grandpa which will make Caroline very happy. I head out of town on Wednesday - Friday for a work trip - nothing like getting right back into it. I know it will be very hard to be away from her for 2 nights and 3 days.

Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks and a few from Thanksgiving. She was all dressed up for Thanksgiving and looked beautiful in her new dress.

Hugs and kisses to everyone.

Gretch

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving to all.
I am so excited for these first holidays with Caroline. Last year I remember my only wish being that she would be home for the holidays this year. What a wish come true! Each day gets better and better - we are so in love. She makes me smile all through the day.
She is getting teeth and she is not happy - today is so far a much better day than yesterday. Poor little thing she wants to chew on everything and clenches her jaw and grinds her gums. I wish I could take the hurt away. I keep telling her that once she gets teeth she will get some new foods - that should make her happy - she loves to eat. She will look so cute once those teeth poke through.
I'll post some pictures from our Thanksgiving over the weekend.

Have a safe and happy holiday. Love to all from us.

SHE'S GROWING

As I knew she was, Caroline is really growing. We went to the doctor on Monday for her flu shot and they weighed her for me. 15 pounds. She loves to eat. That is about 3 pounds since she has been smoothered with love and feed plenty of food. She is thriving.

She wants to hold her own bottle, loves to roll back and forth from tummy to back and is sitting up pretty well. I have a feeling she will be crawling before the end of the year. Yikes, my house is not ready for that yet.

She had her first overnight with Grandpa last Friday and they both loved it. I went out with some friends and had a good time. The plan was that I would sleep in a little in the morning - well, that didn't happen - I was at dad's at 7:45am because I couldn't stand to be away from her any longer.

We are looking forward to the upcoming holidays. I'll be sure to take some cute pictures and get them posted.

Love,

Gretchen

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Train park in Austin
Happy Girl

Fell asleep in her swing

Sleeping in her swing

Mommy & her catepillar

Caroline & Lady Bug Meredith

Little Catepillar

Caroline and I went to Austin to visit our dear friends the McMahan's for Halloween. We had a GREAT time. She was so good on the flights to and from and she loved being with the McMahan kids. Here are a few Halloween pictures. She was a catepillar - the costume only lasted about 30 minutes and then she was sick of it. It was pretty big on her and the hat kept falling over her eyes which made her mad. She will probably be the same thing next year since it will likely fit better.

In addition to the Halloween pictures here are some other cute ones.

AMY & BRIAN UPDATE

This is not a Caroline update but very worthy news and I thought by posting it on the blog it might be the quickest way to spread the word.

AMY AND BRIAN ARE ENGAGED! YEAH! He asked her last night and of course she said yes. We are SO happy. They are an incredible couple and will have a life full of love and joy.

I'm sure she will keep everyone posted on the details.

Here are a couple of pictures from last night. They went to dinner and he proposed at dinner then he had arranged for her family and friends to be at the Hyatt hotel as a surprise after dinner so that we could all celebrate.

FUN AT THE PUMPKIN PATCH

Mom and I took Caroline to the pumpkin patch today, very quickly. She did not want to stay for long but we got some cute pictures. She's had a rough week of some doctor's appointments - chest x-ray on Monday and blood work yesterday. Very hard for me - I had to hold her down for both - the blood work was rough. They tried to pull from her right arm first and could not find her vein - they then worked on the left arm and finally found it - thank God. I did not want to have to go back to try again another day.

Caroline and I are heading to Austin on Monday to spend Halloween with the McMahan's. We are looking forward to it - yes I am crazy to get on a plane with her again but we are looking forward to spending time with our friends.

WE ARE DOING GREAT

Tummy Time
Mommy & her girls
Mommy & Caroline

Love my floor mat

Clean baby

Caroline & Grandpa

Caroline & Emma (my god-daughter)

We are doing great. Almost been home 2 weeks now. We are getting into a routine and loving each other more and more each day. I have been showing her off - I am so proud. We have had a lot of visitors - I have such amazing friends who love her.

Here are some new pictures.

SHE IS GROWING

Caroline had her first doctor's appointment yesterday - poor thing got 4 shots - 2 in each leg. I think it was harder for me than it was for her. She is doing fine now but she was pissed. She is growing as I knew she was - she weighed 13lbs 6oz and is 26" long. That is over 1lb weight gain since our appointment in Kazakhzstan 2 weeks ago. I knew that the love and nutrition she would get would get her growing quickly.

We are settling in at home. Her days and nights are still mixed up but getting better. I'm trying my best to keep her up most of the day with only a few naps - she wants to sleep all day and then be up all night which is killing me. We will get there.

She is so incredible. Aunt Amy had been blowing raspberries at her and now she tries to do it herself. She is eager to learn. It is the cutest thing.

Everyone home in Arizona is in love with her. She is meeting new people each day and greets everyone with a smile. I am so proud of her.

I'll post some new pictures soon - have to get them uploaded onto my computer.

Love,
Gretchen and Caroline

WE ARE HOME!

New babies - Mia, Caroline and Kaleb

Mommy's favorite picture

Kazakhzstan mountains

Kazakhzstan mountains

Almaty Kazakhzstan

Napping with mommy

Caroline & Aunt Amy

Sweet baby

Heading out for dinner

At the mall - 1st of many trips there and when we get home

Love my stuffed kitty from Joyce

1st full day together

I love Aunt Amy

At the Embassy for her passport and visa

Kisses from mommy

First bath ever - scared baby

Caroline's favorite pose

Introducing Caroline - Gotcha Day

1st Introduction - Gotcha Day

Here I go into the orphanage

We are home safe and sound and SO glad to be here. Made it home on time last night and were meet at the airport by family and friends. We were so excited to be home. Caroline is doing great - her sleep patterns are off since her body feels like there is a 13 hour time difference but hopefully after several days she will get on track because mommy is very, very tired.

Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Thanks to all for your kind words and thoughts while we were away - we needed them - there were some rough times but all was worth it.