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.