Caroline is now 5 weeks old, but here are some sweet pictures that Rachel & Nathan took when Caroline was 2 weeks old (they were in town for the baby blessing). There are a lot of pictures, but I really selected just a few! I’m so glad they caught these tender moments for us with their fancy camera. 
This is what our sweet baby looks like right now.
Yes, she still sleeps all the time! It is amazing to me. When she’s awake, she calmly looks around and I just love gazing at her. But really, she’s the sleepiest newborn I’ve ever had. And the easiest newborn I’ve ever had. Not that I think newborns are easy… But really, Caroline has been fussy like maybe once so far. And she doesn’t spit up. Well, she DID have a few random projectile episodes at first. Once, she projectile vomited all over Charlotte from head to toe which made Big Sister start to cry… But that hasn’t happened in a couple weeks now.
Caroline weighed 9 lbs. at her 2-week appointment, so she’s doing well in her weight gain.
Look how tiny this bundle looks in her crib. Before we know it, she’ll be as long as this crib! I don’t remember what my other 2 newborns were REALLY like. That might be a good thing. But it just goes by too quickly and I know it! I wish I could bottle up all the (good) newborn memories so I could really remember it all a few years from now.
My mom had to leave a week ago. It was hard to say goodbye. It was crucial to have my mom here to help ease us into the newborn lifestyle. She hung out with us, spoiled us, folded laundry, did our dishes, & helped tremendously with Caroline. I especially appreciated sharing the “load” when it came to the diaper changes! haha, get it??
Charlotte is great with her little sister. She likes to get really close to Caroline’s face and talk in a high-pitched voice. Charlotte HAS been more defiant/opinionated & crying more lately, but she’s been doing alright overall. I try to make time to spend with just her.
Chase is very tender and helpful with his baby sister, also. He goes & gets things when I ask him to. I still have to remind him not to carry Caroline around. He doesn’t seem as affected by this whole situation as Charlotte, maybe because he’s older & more independent.
Here’s my little family, all holding each other on their laps!
Pace has been great, too. He has been patient with me having baby gifts everywhere, dinner NOT ready when he gets home, & my boxes of regular clothes all over the bedroom as I transition to my normal clothes. I am grateful for my wonderful husband. Even if he’s a little crazy (see picture below).
That pic was taken after a bath time. Caroline really loves her baths! And I love when she’s all fresh & clean & snuggly.
Here we are! We haven’t fallen off the face of the earth, just adjusting and enjoying the Little Bundle. We’re so grateful to our friends, family, neighbors, & ward members, who have been showering us with love, food, & gifts!
It feels good to have our baby here (& not in my belly anymore… although Chase tapped on my flabby belly the other day & said, “Oh good, you still have a drum”).
Caroline is a regular part of the family! She’s so snuggly, relaxed, & good-natured so far, crying just when something is up. To me, she doesn’t look much like Chase or Charlotte did as newborns– maybe the head of hair throws me off. She also sleeps a TON, especially during the day… a lot more than my other two did as newborns. Maybe that’s a sign of good night sleep to come in the future! Maybe!!
I’m happy to say that Chase & Charlotte love baby Caroline. She gets lots of kisses & adoration from them. Charlotte likes to say our baby’s full name every time (she pronounces it: “Keh-line Jean Mc-Call-law). The older two are helpful & somehow understand that Mommy just has to sit & nurse our baby a lot! It’s a challenge for me to balance everything & make sure I’m spending time with each of them. But I know we’ll all be okay.
Chase is pictured below wearing his all-time favorite outfit: Camouflage shirt & shorts (he’d wear camo underwear too, but that pair of underwear is too small now).
This proud big brother loves holding Caroline & always wants to carry her. He goes & gets her & then I have to confiscate her as soon as I catch him carrying her around. What age do you usually let kids do that? This seems too young. I’m just afraid he’s going to trip & fall on her!
I am very glad that my mom has been here to help with all the things that need to be done. Namely laundry & dishes, & just extra hands in general! & she also helps with diaper changes in the night, which helps me get a little extra sleep. I’ll have to get some photos of her & Caroline so I can post some of those! GG (Pace’s mom) has also taken the kids out a couple of times to run around & have fun. I SO appreciate the help!
So, here’s our Kindergarten Boy. First day of school today.
There’s no denying that our kindergartener, Chase, is full of energy, opinions, & curiosity.
Just this morning, he:
Showered & got dressed, made some things with his Legos, scarfed down a banana because I made him eat SOMETHING, listened to a story, made a few paper crafts (a butterfly for me, some boats, & even the Eiffel Tower), did a couple chores, did a science experiment from a box to explore acids vs. bases, had a neighbor friend over to play, watched a TV show on Benjamin Franklin, and did his own music experiment with glasses & varying amounts of water (pictured below). THIS WAS ALL BEFORE LUNCHTIME at 11:30 am! Whew.
There never has been & never will be any stopping this guy!
But when it came down to it, Chase was a little apprehensive about his first day of school today.
In the car, I told him that it’s normal to feel nervous about something we don’t know about yet, & that he’d probably feel better once we walked him to his class. We said a prayer together in the car. He was still a little hesitant before entering the classroom, however, & didn’t want any pictures taken. But I quickly took a couple of his faux smiley face.
Chase was just fine after walking inside, seeing Mrs. Miner’s friendly face, finding his name tag, & sitting at a table with his friend Vaughn (who was on his soccer team last year).
I’m SO excited that he’s in school now. Personally, I loved elementary school & all my fun teachers, and I hope he will, too. We’re all ready for Chase to be back in school!
(They look so cute & I am so…. pregnant. 2 WEEKS LEFT!)
Very fun day. At the same time, as I said goodbye to Chase, my voice caught a little & I was feeling a tiny bit emotional. Probably pregnancy hormones, as usual… But seriously, I didn’t know why I felt the least bit weird leaving him, since we already did a year of Joy School AND preschool to gear up for the real thing! And kindergarten is only 2 1/2 hours per day, anyway!
But I guess part of me was thinking, Oh my, he’s getting older. And here we go on the slippery slope of SCHOOL! No turning back! & we’ll be doing this every day! And he’ll be graduating from elementary school before we know it…
Well, here’s to enjoying the journey!
Charlotte went to a Princess Tea Party today for her friend Mollie’s birthday. She got all dressed up for the occasion!
My kids get sooooo excited for birthday parties! I love it because I remember how exciting parties were for me as a kid, too. I took a couple of quick photos while dropping her off, & then left her to enjoy her pink punch & all the other goodies at the tea party!
Chase did Charlotte’s hair the other morning. She sat so patiently. I had to get out the camera for this one.
His technique was to thoroughly drench her hair with the spray bottle (not only before, but also during & after the styling of her hair).
So, what do you think of it??
Charlotte is just about the most wonderful little child a parent could ask for. She is very easy to entertain, get along with, joke around with, snuggle, take places, etc. I can see how, if people have a kid like this as their first, they feel that they could have like 12 kids no problem. I mean, she is a toddler & has her moments, but overall, she’s an absolute delight.
She pronounces the letter “r” like “–uh”. So “show-uh” for “shower.” I joke that she has a British accent.
This week she’s been into naming the people she knows & correctly calling each one a girl (“gull”) or boy (“buoy”).
Charlotte likes to line things up a lot, especially books & Band-Aids. She would love it if she could put on a new girly Band-Aid every single day, for no reason at all.
This girl really likes books, and I’m glad that I have time to read to her when she asks a few times a day. (I think this will be extra helpful in less than 5 weeks when I’m going to be sitting & nursing a newborn). Charlotte also likes to read to herself & to me, which I love (especially when she quotes exact lines from the books with her cute voice).
Charlotte is into makeup (I just let her have makeup brushes), purses, & jewelry. I know this is not uncommon for a girl, but I still find it entertaining. She’ll fill up her purses with rings, tiny toys, & her pretend cell phone, & carry them around all day. She’ll even take the toy cell phone out of her purse & “text” someone.
She also loves the colors pink & purple. One day, she dumped out all my hair elastics, sorted the pink & purple ones from the rest, & put them all up one arm as her bracelets for the day.
Charlotte’s favorite/ most quoted quotes these days:
— “So, how’s YOUR day?”
— “Trick or treat, smell my feet” (when I go to get her out of her car seat, she points her toes at me & says this)
— “This is a nice day for a picnic.”
— “Wanna see my cool trick?!?”
— “That was so much fun!!!” or “That was a fun day.”
— “I can’t go get it. My nails are paint.” or “I can’t! I have winguh-nails!” (=fingernails)
— “We don’t say, ‘Oh my gosh.’ We say, ‘Oh my my.’ ”
— “We need to buy that.”
— “It’s the same!!!” (when she recognizes something that’s familiar or the same as what we have)
We recently decided (on a whim) to improve the hallway bathroom a bit. I know, we’re always doing something! It’s bad. We need to change. Pace & I decided that we won’t do any home improvements in the year 2012. We’ll see how that actually pans out. (It’s just so tempting when your husband is not only good-looking, but also very handy & can use his manly skills to execute these projects.)
But anyway, back to the subject of the hallway bathroom. The vanity was falling apart, and Charlotte couldn’t turn on the tricky faucet for the life of her, even with my teaching & encouragement. So I always had to go turn it on for her, or lift her up to whatever sink was closeby (not ideal with my large belly), or otherwise she’d just go on her way with dirty hands…
Something needed to change.
Here are 2 photos of our bathroom BEFORE:
Of course, we couldn’t simply replace the vanity & faucet that needed replacing… That would be too easy. So Pace dutifully painted the walls & baseboards while I cheered him on. He also volunteered his dad’s talents & had him replace the linoleum floor with some beautiful tile that I’d selected at Home Depot. Pace helped his Dad out, so they had some priceless bonding time. Jim LOVED coming down to our house several days in a row (haha right, Jim?!?!).
Luckily our bathrooms are TINY, so the whole project was quite inexpensive. In case you wondered about that.
Now, here are the BEFORE & AFTER pictures next to each other:
The vanity is just a cheap one from Home Depot, but it’s perfectly great! The sink/counter is all seamless & very easy to wipe down. Yay! (We still need to get a toilet paper holder thing.)
I can’t even describe how nice the tile floor is. It seems so elegant compared to the linoleum that was there before. Thanks to Jim & Pace for the beautiful tile job (& Gretchen for letting us have her husband here helping us so much)!
AND, Charlotte is thrilled that she can turn on the faucet now. She washes her own hands. Mission (thoroughly) accomplished!
Tonight we enjoyed some homemade watermelon popsicles in our backyard with Jessica (my sis) & her husband, Casey.
Summertime at its best! (Especially with the kids in pajamas even though it practically looks like it’s still noon outside!)
Chase saw the idea for these “Whatta Melon Pops” in a Disney Family Fun magazine during one of my dr. appointments a couple weeks ago & was dying to make them. I found the recipe online, & we finally made the popsicles today.
Chase is always thrilled when we do projects, crafts, or recipes… Especially anything that was his own brilliant idea!
…And here are a couple of cheesy family pics. Jess made me get in some of the pictures, too. 
We love summertime!
This is my last California post!
Our beach outing was wonderful! It wasn’t cold or windy, so it was just perfect. And the overcast skies made the shadow-free pictures so easy & fun to take. I love the photos I was able to get (despite not having the skills)!
Chase & Charlotte were so very busy & happy at the beach (until the very end, when Chase had some sort of awful stomach cramp & tantrum rolled into one & we just had to book it outta there… But we won’t dwell on that).
The huge pile of seaweed was disgustingly fascinating.
Chase constructed a “water obstacle course” in the sand.
Charlotte collected treasures.
Grandma had a cold, but was a good sport & still had fun!
Quite the collection of beach treasures.
I love these two photos of Charlotte.
Afterwards, we stopped by the notorious pink & white striped shop. I’d never been inside! Chase was still throwing a wild fit & screaming in the car, so I left my long-suffering mother with him while Charlotte & I went in to check out the whimsical little shop.
I was amazed by the variety of unique salt water taffy flavors they had there: Buttered Popcorn, Pomegranate, Birthday Cake, & Root Beer Float, to name a few! I bought salt water taffy, some little polished rocks, shark teeth for Chase, & a bracelet/necklace thing for Charlotte. Yes, my kids are spoiled. I’m working on it…
Charlotte wouldn’t take her eyes off of her bracelet for a quick photo! You just can’t separate this girl from her jewelry.
