Caroline 9 Months

Leave it to me to think of a weird date comparison, but Caroline has been on the "outside" almost as long as she was inside me.... In other words, Caroline is 9 months old!!! I am almost in disbelief that our Sweet Caroline is on the down hill slide to being 1 year old. The first couple months seemed to drag on, but now they have certainly picked up and seem to be flying by at warp speed.

I feel like in the last month, Caroline has just exploded, growth and development wise. We went to the doctor this past Tuesday for her 9 month well visit. She now weighs 17 lbs. 5 oz. A real heavy weight. I swear, I'm not sure the kid is ever going to make it to 20 lbs. She is also now 29.5 inches long, which means that she has grown almost 3 inches in the last 3 months. That puts her in the 25th percentile for weight and the 87th percentile for length. I asked the nurse if we should be concerned about her weight being in the 25th percentile, and she said not at all, because she has stayed in the 25th percentile since she was born, which means she is growing consistently. So, in other words, she is still long and skinny.

Probably the biggest news for this month is that my darling girl has taken her first steps. This actually happened a little more than a week before the 9 month milestone. Yikes. At Caroline's 9 month visit, I told the nurse that she had taken her first steps and her response was "Ok, so she is starting to cruise now". I had to correct her and say, "No, actually, she has been cruising the furniture for the last almost 2 months, she is now actually taking steps without holding onto anything. In other words, W-A-L-K-I-N-G." The nurse didn't quite know what to say. I actually didn't quite know what to say either after seeing Caroline take those first 3 steps. The good news is, she isn't too interested in walking to really get anywhere. If she really wants to get somewhere, she sits down and does her crazy side-winder-crawl to get there. But, she is getting braver every day. I am so not ready for this.

Sweet girl

Still can't leave the bird alone

Drool box. This is pretty much the story of Caroline's life right now. The nurse noticed the other day that she had a tooth that was riggghhhhttt on the verge of popping through. Since we are spending Christmas in Lafayette, I am sure that tooth will choose the most inopportune
time to pop through. But, as of now, she is sitting tight with just her bottom two teeth.

"Cheese!"

"What?"

While we were doing her 9 month photo shoot, Daddy came home. I love how excited she gets when he gets home. It is just too cute.

Daddy's girl

So, I mentioned Caroline's side-winder-crawl above, but here it is. It really is too funny. It is like she has a kick-stand. But, it doesn't slow her down a bit. In fact, Steven and I have discussed that it actually makes her faster because she gains a few more inches each "crawl" by sticking that leg out. What is funny is that she started out crawling totally normal, but as soon as she started pulling up, she started the side-winder. And, she can still crawl normal, because she still does it from time to time, but she just chooses not to. Who knows.

There's the kickstand

Crazy little leg.

Merry Christmas from the Broussards

Merry Christmas! We hope that you have a wonderul holiday. Most of all, we hope that every one can take a moment from all of the excitement of unwrapping presents and remember the real reason for the season: The birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

From our family to yours, have a blessed and Merry Christmas!

Caroline and Santa

Sorry that I have been a bad blogger here of late... Things have been crazy with Christmas around the corner.

Speaking of Christmas, I haven't really shared anything that we have been doing to get into the holiday spirit. My mom came down to visit the weekend before last and we took Caroline to the mall to see Santa. I think Santa was a little nervous about how Caroline would react and kept telling me to let her get used to him before I handed her over. Well, I didn't really think it would be a problem, and as I guessed, it wasn't. Caroline went right to Santa and hammed it up for the camera.

The people behind us were laughing at how goofy she was being. Caroline just kept turning around to look at Santa and touching his beard. She never once got upset. It was too cute.


I'm sure next year will be another story, but for now, Caroline loves Santa. Steven and I are going to try to take her again while we are in Lafayette for Christmas, but in case we don't make it, we at least have one picture with Santa. I just can't wait for her to really "get" the whole Santa thing. I think that will be one of the best parts about being a parent. Oh the fun to come!

Book Worm

Caroline has become quite the bookworm lately. It is actually kind of astonishing, because you would never think that she would sit still long enough to get through a book (can you say busy-body?), but she will sit there as long as you read, even if you read the same book over and over. She really loves the books with the flaps that you can fold back/down to show a surprise. She will just sit in the floor by herself and look under all of the flaps in a book. Caroline can also turn the page with no problem at all. When I am reading a book to her, I can tell her to "turn the page" when I am finished reading it, and she will just turn the page like a pro. I can't tell you how happy it makes this nerd to see that my Sweet Caroline loves books as much as I do.

"What's in here?"

You can't really see it here but she is smiling ear to ear. She loves pulling down that flap and seeing the reindeer.

"What?"

Peaking inside the gingerbread house

Hopefully Caroline continues to take after me in this regard. Steven NEVER reads, except for work (which in his defense, the manuals that he has to read/study are HUGE and intense, so he doesn't have much of a desire to read for pleasure after that). He was that kid that looked at reading as more of a punishment than entertainment :( Either way, it still just tickles me to death that Caroline is so interested in books.

Oh Christmas Tree

Last week, we went to pick out and buy our Christmas tree. I wish I could say that we went to a farm and chopped one down a la Christmas Vacation, but Lowes it was.

Caroline and Daddy amongst the trees. Which one will it be??? (Doesn't she look thrilled?)

We found it! Our perfect tree!

I decorated the tree the next day while Steven was at work. I did a little while Caroline was napping and she helped me a little when she woke up. Steven was a little annoyed that I didn't wait for him, but let's face it, Caroline has no idea what is going on, and he isn't exactly Buddy the Elf (he is not lacking enthusiasm, but his attention span doesn't last long enough to get the job done). I have so much to do before Christmas and as a mom, you learn to make the most of EVERY single second of the day, so I was really anxious to just get it done. In years to come, when Caroline actually "gets" it, we will most definitely decorate it as a family... And Steven will probably watch ;)

When Steven got home that night, he and Caroline put the angel on the top of the tree.

Meeting the angel
And up she goes....

Admiring their work. We fixed the poor angel after this since we realized she was about to take a nose dive off the top of the tree (please ignore the pile of folded clothes on my coffee table in the background; at least they are clean and folded right?).

We're getting pretty excited about Christmas around here!

It's that time of year again...

No, I'm not referring to Christmas. I'm talking about BEDLAM!!!!!!!!! The day that my beloved Oklahoma State Cowboys take on the Oklahoma Sooners Gooners. The rivalry between my Alma Mater and that "other" school has always been intense, but this year might top them all. With all of the craziness that has been happening the last couple weeks in College football, this is a really important game for both teams.

Of course I want my Pokes to annihilate the stupid Gooners, but I will be proud of them either way. OSU has had an amazing season this year, and that is not something to dismiss. Win or lose, I will still bleed orange tomorrow... Which is more than I can say for some gooner fans.

Caroline is ready for Bedlam!!! Yes, I have an OSU tree, duh.

Go Pokes!!!!!!!!! Beat OU!

Thanksgiving

I am running a little low on energy tonight (big surprise), so I am going to save you all the boring details and just basically let the pictures do the talking.

We had a nice Thanksgiving this year. We spent it with my parents and it was nice to see them. I am pretty sure that we succeeded in driving my parents totally crazy, so our holiday mission was accomplished.

Thanksgiving morning started with this:

Fred has a problem with staying out from underneath your feet, so Grandma Daisy secured him in the mudroom while we were trying to cook. Apparently Fred doesn't like being by himself. Who knew?

Before dinner that afternoon, my brother Drew and his wife Heather came over with their kiddos Hudson and Gracyn. They were up from San Antonio visiting family in Guymon, so they came on over to see us and my dad.

My niece Gracyn turned 3 two days after Thanksgiving, so we had to do a little present opening. Don't you love her shades??? She is just too funny. I love love love how sassy she is ;)


Caroline and Hudson had fun playing with the bow from Gracyn's presents. It was so fun to see Caroline kind of play with her cousins. She is the youngest cousin on Steven's side of the family by about 10 years, so it is nice that some of her cousins on my side of the family are closer to her age.

Family Pic! This was about the best we could get of everybody. I think it is pretty good considering all of the little ones in the pic. My dad just can't seem to take his eyes off his grand kids ;)

It was horribly windy Thanksgiving Day (Really? In Oklahoma???). Nevertheless, we all headed out back to say hi to the horses.

Gracyn wasn't too sure what to think of the horses. Drew was trying to get her to feed them.

I wish I could have gotten her face here. It was hilarious!

"Ewwwww!"

My Sweet Caroline's First Thanksgiving!

After lunch, my other brother Hunter and his daughter Zayne came over to visit. Zayne hadn't met Caroline yet, so she was really excited.

Zayne is such an awesome big cousin! She was so sweet to Caroline and was so good with her. Caroline loved her!

Zayne and Caroline playing.

Another family pic. Of course Fred had to be in it. Poor Steven. At least my Dad and Hunter didn't put him in the middle like they did in our last Thanksgiving pic.

Caroline really did love Zayne, despite what it looks like in this pic. It was almost nap time, and poor Caroline had had a big day. I just love my sweet little niece!

On Saturday, Mom and I were determined to just get one tree up so that we could get Caroline's picture in front of it. Needless to say, it was a little harder to do this year, thanks to a certain little busy body.

Checking out the tree and probably devising a plan to climb it.

On the go!

Caroline read her Christmas book while we decorated.

I have mentioned this before, but my mom has an entire storage building dedicated to nothing but decorations, 99% of them being Christmas decorations. She has been wanting to get rid of some stuff, so we went shopping in her shed for some goodies for my house.

Since we were going to my parent's house in the middle of nowhere, and we had already packed the kitchen sink, I didn't bring the stroller. But, never fear. Grandma Daisy can solve that little problem. I give you the Redneck Stroller:

We got some good stuff!

It was kinda chilly that day, so I bundled Caroline up so well that she couldn't even move. She was totally content though!

And of course, Grandma Daisy can't wait until Christmas to spoil Caroline, so she had to get her some goodies a little early.

Caroline, in her Elmo PJs reading her Elmo Christmas book with Grandma Daisy.

Overall, it was a great Thanksgiving. We had so much to be thankful for this year. It has been a crazy year to say the least. Last year we spent out last Thanksgiving in our house in Charleston and the movers showed up on Black Friday to start packing us up. I just can't believe that we are quickly approaching 1 year since we moved to WF from Charleston, and that it has been almost 9 months since Caroline was born. Crazy!