Caroline-7 months

She is technically still 7 months for almost another week...

Here is what this little girl is up to:
• Grabs at everything--and quickly!
• Has discovered her toes/feet and is figuring out how to clap.  I love both of these activities so much.
• Loves to (and is getting better at) feeding herself.  I rarely try to spoon feed her anything but the occasional soup or yogurt.  She munches quite well on cooked carrots and apples, broccoli, pears, strips of meat, etc.  She is a happy, messy thing when she eats.  And by eat, I mean put things in her mouth for a while and then spit most of it out.  More is definitely left on her tray in some form than in her stomach, but she is learning!
• Sits in the tub (closely supervised).  Baths are usually required after meal time and she is steady enough that she can sit and share a tub with Emmett.
• Is a very distractible nurser.  Unless she is really tired, she is on and off frequently. This tendency is somewhat maddening.
• Throws her head back unpredictably when being held.
• Has dealt with her first bouts of sickness.  First a few days of fevers, then a cold/cough/croup spell.  This has disrupted her once lovely sleep habits, which I'm hoping return soon.
• Chatters away with lots of da-da and ta-ta sounds.
• Is adept and picking up and putting her binky in her mouth.
• Sleeps unswaddled probably 70% of the time.
• Rarely spits up, for which I am still so grateful.  :)
• Is playful and interactive.
• Is starting to get frustrated with her relative immobility.  I'm getting glimpses of the busy times ahead when this girl figures out how to crawl.

 Sick baby = late nights

 Bath time just got a lot more fun!

 Signs of hair!

 A big reason for nightly baths...

 Not crawling, but still able to get places!

Sweetest siblings.

Baby's first claps.

How she grows! Six months with no signs of slowing.

Baby girl turns seven months in less than a week, which means I must get her 6-month post up right away.

weight: 16 pounds 14 ounces
length:  26.4 inches

I can't believe it has already been six months!  And it still amazes me how time passes so differently during pregnancy than after pregnancy.  It's like a completely different time continuum.  Whether I like it or not, Sis is already half a year old and learning and growing more each day.  She sits up on her own (though she's a bit tipsy still) and rolls from back to tummy with ease.  She's started experimenting with new sounds and tricks--like gurgling and blowing--and she's deliberate about what things she grabs.  She's right in-between diaper sizes, which means blowouts are frequent.  Her blonde hair is slowly filling in, and her blue eyes are getting a little darker and more gray.  One of my favorite things is kissing her neck after she's swaddled for bed or nap time.  It makes her giggle and pop out her binky every time.  She continues to be a good sleeper and overall dreamy baby with abundant grins and rolls to adore.

 Pink is definitely this girl's color.  

 Loving autumn in the South.

Happy girl(s).

Not all her best rolls are appropriate for pictures, but her knee rolls are pretty fabulous.

Still as cute as they come--5 months

Height: tba
Weight: 16.6 pounds

Baby girl keeps on growing.  Or as Emmett would say, "growin', growin', growin'!"  At 5 months, she has mastered the roll--particularly from back to stomach.  She's getting close to sitting up, loves to hold onto and munch on toys, and can hardly be contained in a swaddle.  She continues to thicken up nicely.  I love her chunky thighs, chubby back rolls and her especially awesome knee rolls.  Her extra layers make her even more fun to snuggle, squeeze and tickle.  I really love her latest vocal experimentations--she makes all sorts of high pitched and sliding sounds that are pretty darn cute.  This week I reluctantly moved her from the cradle to the crib.  I'm hesitant to let this little lady grow up so darn fast.
Sweet Caroline has so much brightness inside her.  She looks at us with such anticipation, expectation and joy.  She fills our hearts to the brim.

While Momma's away, the others still play...

There was certainly no need to feel bad for abandoning Clark while I had my girls' weekend in Asheville.  Plenty of action went on with out me.  In fact, they practically had a Schmutz family reunion!  Celia and Benson came down from DC; Vaughn, Margaret and Lucy came up from Charlotte; and cousins Emily and David Garcia and their boys came over from Chapel Hill.  They had a big birthday bash for Celia's birthday, complete with "Maurice cake."  My kiddos were in good hands and stayed plenty entertained.  It was definitely one of those weekends where I would have liked to be in two places at once!

Dreamy Asheville

Best friends, beautiful mountains, fabulous food, charming town. That is how I spent the first weekend in September. And thanks to a super husband, I did it sans children (though the pump was almost like a child...).  It really was delightful to be with Hil and Cass in such a great place. It had been seven years since our last girls trip together, and we were long over due for our "roommate reunion." Cass flew from Seattle to Durham, and Hil drove from South Carolina to Winston-Salem where we picked her up on our way to Asheville (my favorite city of all time).

Sweet Caroline--4 months old

Height: 25 inches (71%)
Weight: 14 lb 13.5 oz (63%)
Head circumference:  16.5 inches (85%)

Four months is such a lovely age.  Caroline is just delightful in so many ways.  She is sleeping great (almost always through the night), naps well and eats well (takes a bottle well too!).  With those bases covered, we are also enjoying fewer blow-outs and more giggles.  She's quite a ticklish little thing, though sometimes her laughs sound more like grunts.  She always giggles when I lotion her chubby thighs after bath time.  She's even spitting up less than she used to.  I've had some sweet time in the evenings with her where I just get to soak in all of her wonderful baby-ness with cooing, snuggling and tickling.  It's just so great.

The Wedding Vacation: DC and dear friends

When we found out our friend, Martin, was getting married in the D.C. Temple, we knew it had potential to be a pretty fabulous getaway weekend--especially once we got Dave and Jessica on board.  Thanks to many people who watched our kiddos, we were able to spend the weekend sans children--with the exception of baby girl.

Emmett got to spend the weekend with Vaughn, Margaret and Lucy in Charlotte.  It made for some extra driving for Clark, but we knew he'd be well cared for and have a TON of fun.  Way more fun that he would have had with us.  After getting Emmett situated, we finally got on the road in the late afternoon.  We had decently good traffic and made good time to Celia and Benson's new place in Arlington where they had Cafe Río waiting for us--bless them!  We had a nice evening talking with them, watching a little football and going through baby things.

The next morning we all headed into D.C. where we met up with Dave, Jessica, Regan and Ethan for a fancy little breakfast.  From there we walked around the White House and then checked into our apartment for the next two nights.  The place was a bit different than we were expecting from the pictures on Airbnb (we weren't expecting a basement apartment), but it turned out to be just fine.  After all, we managed to all sleep until 9:45 am the first night we were there (bless that baby girl who ate at 6 am and went right back to sleep).  I'm pretty that hasn't happened since, you know, back before kids came!

Best friends, jellyfish stings, and a lot of hand-holding

As soon as we got back from our summer trip to Utah, Clark started a five-week clinical rotation in Goldsboro, causing him to be gone a good portion of the week.  To avoid the monotony of being a single-parent at home, I decided to head down to South Carolina for some quality time with close friends.  The kids traveled great, and we had a relaxing couple of days in Conway.  We kept things pretty low-key.  The kids had a fantastic time playing with each other around the house and in the backyard, while Hil and I had a great time talking about pretty much everything.  Among our topics of conversation was the overall cuteness of our kiddos and schemes of how to help them fall in love...

The celebration: Emmett turns 3

Emmett's birthday was so fun, simply because this year he really understood, anticipated and enjoyed the festivities.  The morning of his birthday we went to the free showing of The Lego Movie at the mall with his buddy, Ethan, and his family.  It felt appropriate since the main character's name is Emmett (but with different spelling).  Our afternoon was pretty low-key and included decorating the cake and riding his bike at the park.

3 years & 3 months

Well, hello there.  It's been a while.  And for months I agonized--maybe that's too strong a word--let's say fretted--about being so far behind and feeling the need to catch up and thinking of maybe forgetting about the whole thing altogether.  That may still happen, but I've accepted the fact that there will be no catching up other than to say that since my last post I've done pretty much all the stuff I normally do and I had a baby.  So there we are.  All caught up and ready to talk about my sweet, sweet growing kiddos.

Emmett--3 years old
weight: TBA (drs check up scheduled for Sept)
height: TBA

• He's impressively coordinated at all things sports.  He loves kicking, throwing, catching, and swinging at balls.  
• He goes for both rather than either/or.  For example, at meals he must have milk and water.  For breakfast he prefers to have at least 3-4 different items--such as oatmeal and cereal and an egg.
• He must have separate spoons for his cereal and oatmeal.
• He sings all the time.  What he sings ranges from pop songs to primary songs to Daniel Tiger jingles to Let It Go to songs of his own creation.
• He is very quick to learn lyrics of new songs.
• He pronounces "think" and "things" like "hink" and "hings." It's adorable.  "I hink that hing is broken, Mom."
• He's got the use of "he" and "she" totally backwards.
• He adores his mom (a slight case of "Buster-itis" may be at hand).  He needs to know where she is at all times, he loves to snuggle up with her and ends up in her bed almost every night.
• He is a super big brother.  Baby Caroline gets kisses multiple times a day.  He talks to her in a sweet goofy voice, and often talks about how cute she is and how much he loves her.
• He is a mighty fine artist.  He can draw people, cats, letters and more.
• He doesn't like getting his hands dirty.
• He has a strong opinion about how I wear my hair.  He very much prefers it down and not in a ponytail.
• He loves the beach.
• It's not usual for him to ask "How was your day?" or "How are you feeling?"
• He's an early riser, often awake in the five o' clock hour.  He has learned that he cannot watch any shows until it's at least six o' clock.
• He wears big boy shorts!  Wahoo!
• His favorite shows to watch are Daniel Tiger, Dora, Curious George, and Mickey Mouse.
• He does not like shut doors.
• It's super entertaining to listen to him play and create play narratives with his toys and animals.
• He does a lot to help around the house (and a lot to mess it up!).  He helps unload the dishwasher, set the table, prep food, put away toys and fold clothes.
• He loves jumping on trampolines, riding bikes, climbing on playgrounds, sword-fighting and most all other things typical of young boys.
• He is goofy, funny, tender and sweet.  We love this little man with all our hearts.
*special thanks to Rebecca Mudrick for the fabulous images

Caroline--3 months
unofficial weight: 13.7 pounds
unofficial length: 23 inches

This little girl is such a beauty!  Her big, bright blue eyes are what everyone initially sees and compliments; but if you keep looking, you'll find a precious mouth with soft, full lips and the most delicious chubby thigh rolls.  She smiles, chats and has started to giggle, but my very favorite thing that she does of late is a vocalized yawn.  It's long and drawn out and oh, so adorable.  She has recently discovered her hands--when she isn't staring at her long fingers, she is usually munching (and gagging) on them.  She holds herself up well and is a great sleeper most nights.  She goes down for the night around 9 p.m. and usually doesn't wake to eat until 5 or 6 am.  Despite tummy troubles that make for lots (and lots) of spitting up, she is pretty pleasant most of the time.  She'll take a bottle if necessary and generally takes her pacifier when she's sleepy (though you may have to try a time or two).  Her current nicknames include baby sister, sissy sis, little lady, girly girl, little miss and baby girl.  This growing girl is moving into 3-6 month clothing and is just as sweet as the come.  We all adore her.

Halloween and the Announcement

Fall Break in Philadelphia

Amid a busy fall semester, we decided to venture north to Pennsylvania for a few days during Clark's fall break.  We stayed in New Jersey at night, explored Philadelphia during the day and then spent a couple of nights in York with our friends, the Weekes.