Tourists in our own town

To commemorate our six-year wedding anniversary, 11-year dating anniversary and the 1-year conception anniversary for Caroline (wink, wink) we took Caroline to Nana and Poppy's and headed to a local bed and breakfast.

Betty Davis at the Yellow Rose Inn in downtown Indy was extremely hospitable. Full of beautiful antiques, the inn provides a getaway without getting too far away from home. We enjoyed riding bikes nearby, playing pool and rummikub in our suite, taking a private bath inside the suite, giving each other massages on the massage table, making a special toast while soaking in the hot tub on the roof...and much more...

We also took in the sites downtown by getting an apertif at Amici's, then dinner at Dunaway's. On Sunday we had lunch at the Eiteljorg Museum, which was delicious. The second night Caroline joined us. We ate pizza with Nana and Poppy, played pool and watched TV. It was great to do so much without driving very far!

Happy October!

October is a celebratory month for the Stanley family. We've enjoyed raking leaves, visiting the pumpkin patch, hanging out with friends and dressing up. Caroline dressed up as a penguin - to satisfy the running joke we had with Jason's Grandma that we were going to have penguins.

Jason and I were characters from our latest series of choice, "Heroes." I am the immortal cheerleader and he is the Asian who can bend time.




We went to a party while Caroline relaxed with her cousin Kaete. Thanks, Kaete, for making the first babysitting experience smooth!

Katie's Bachelorette

Before she became my sister-in-law, we celebrated Katie Swain's final single days before becoming Katie Sutton.

The evening began with tapas at Usual Suspects - where we enjoyed the world's cutest little male server, Karson, who has better hair than most women! (and totally knows how to rock a flat iron - go boyee!) Then we journeyed to Broad Ripple Tavern, where we served as cheerleaders to a couple random guys who had to borrow a quarter to play pool. From there, we took in a street concert by Hairbangers Ball. Below is video of us rocking out to Bon Jovi's "Shot through the Heart."
The evening ended at the Vogue where we shook our tailfeathers until the wee hours. Not bad for a 30-year-old mother of a 7-week-old!

Fun times with friends!

Rachel and Quinton visit

Check out Jason spinning Quinton in a cardboard box. (we have expensive toys here at the Stanley house! ha)

August was full of fun with friends at Brian and Kasey's wedding, Symphony on the Prairie and tubing on Sugar Creek!

Lake Wawasee Highlights

Aug. 8-17
Lake Wawasee

While we were at the lake, we visited with Jason's family. We finally met Emma, our new niece, Joe and Brooke's daughter who is exactly three weeks older than Caroline.





We enjoyed playing cornhole, cooking out, watching the Olympics...You can see a video here of Great Grandpa Troyer singing "Caroline, please be mine" while Great Grandma Troyer holds Caroline.













Not only did we visit with family, but we also caught up with our neighbors, the Hasbrooks, who were staying at the lake at the same time. Their daughter, Lily, is also about three weeks older than Caroline. In this picture to the right, she weighs about 13 lbs.



But Caroline isn't the only little pip-squeak anymore! Tim and Layla had their second baby, Anna, on July 24. She has a full head of red hair just like her mom, but her facial expressions look like her dad! Big brother Jack was really entertaining. You can tell he will be very protective of his little sister.






Anna Elaine, as she is named, is the 8th baby born this summer among our close friends and family. Six of the 8 are girls.

Grandma and Grandpa watched Caroline while we took in a movie, American Teen. It tracks the lives of four teenagers in Warsaw through their senior year. If you haven't seen it, you should go. It's different - I won't ruin it for you by tainting it with my views. But it was the darling of the Sundance Festival for a reason. For a documentary, it was put together in an entertaining, cinematic sequence.


Although the weather was a little chilly for for a few days, we still managed to get some time out on the boat. We also enjoyed two dinners at the Channel Marker with Caroline. She was so good, and slept the entire time. It was nice to be able to enjoy dinner at a restaurant again.













Heather and Ryan came to visit for a day, which was one of the sunniest days on the lake.

There also just happened to be a concert at the sandbar, so we were treated to the tunes of the band "Lake Trash" led by Rich Hardesty. It was interesting...check out Caroline dancing to the music...

Caroline: 2 mos old!

I can't believe it's been an entire month since the last blog! But then again, we have been busy living life!

Over the past month, we spent a week at Lake Wawasee with no Internet and limited TV - which was wonderful; visited with both sides of the family; Caroline enjoyed her first camping trip, symphony on the prairie and her first day at daycare as Mom assimilated back into the traditional workplace. But it's not all that traditional - in fact, it's pretty unique. Celeste started a new job at TriMedx, a faith-based, family-friendly healthcare services company that is growing. She also started classes again, so life is busy again, but very full and rich. It's never a dull moment at the Stanley house!

As you can see, Caroline is growing fast. She is about 11 lbs now, and very long. She's still working on holding her head up completely on her own, but she loves to straighten her legs and support her whole body when you hold her up. We wonder if that means she will walk sooner? She is very strong. Her teachers at daycare say she is their favorite, so she gets a lot of extra attention. She still loves music, and has begun to smile here and there, but it's not constant just yet. She coos sometimes, too, which is such a wonderful sound.

Caroline: 4 weeks old today!

Caroline gets her own "crib"

To commemorate being 4 weeks old, Caroline moved to her own room this week. Translation: Mom and Dad have enjoyed two nights of sleep, glorious sleep!!

We employed a dual-pronged strategy to achieve this newfound status:

1) swaddle with Kiddopotamus "straight jacket"

2) only feed breastmilk at night to avoid gas

The result: she slept through most of the night, waking only twice at 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. for feeding. To accommodate her aggressive appetite, we increased breastmilk intake from 2 oz. to 4 oz.

By sticking primarily to bottle feeding, we have been able to reduce feeding time from 45 minutes to an hour to less than 20 minutes. This allows us to get back to sleep much faster and feel more refreshed in the morning - and puts Caroline in much better spirits, too!

She seems to sleep better in her crib than she did in the portable bassinet in our room, which may be a contributing factor to her recent extended slumber.

Caroline also isn't so much of a bobblehead that she once was a few weeks ago. When propped up, she turns her head from side to side, taking in the entire view. While she stills sleeps a lot, she is very alert and attentive when awake.

Mary visits from California

Mary became a real, bonafide aunt last week when her niece, Presley Claire (photo below), was born July 24 weighing in at 6 lbs, measuring 20.5 inches. Aunt Mary came to town to meet Presley and Caroline.

Fun times at the pool

Caroline experienced her first pool party and her first day at the YMCA pool this week.

She is quite the water baby!

Aslan's encounter with a squirrel

With all the attention towards Caroline these days, it seems our feline friends have resorted to reaching out to others in the neighborhood for company. Poor Aslan and Venus. Maybe we'll have to devote a blog to them in the future.