Fall 2009

Approaching Caroline's 1st birthday

Caroline is quite the water baby. She loves the bath and pool. She recently discovered splashing, which doesn't seem to bother her at all even when she douses her entire face with water!

The last few months have been pretty busy...I know, we always say that, but seriously...After Celeste graduated, we have been on the go soaking up every free moment possible. Just in June alone we have been camping, paintballing, swimming at the pool, skiing at the lake, visiting friends in Ft. Wayne and Celeste even went to Seattle.

More adventures lie ahead as we journey to Lake Wawasee for 4th of July. More details coming soon!!

Life is great at 8 months!

Caroline is now officially 8 months old. Sorry Mom and Dad have been a little negligent on the blog! Here are pictures from Caroline's professional photo shoot:

http://www.specialtouchphotography.com/Slideshows/SweetCaroline/index.html

To view all of her pictures, go to collages.net
User ID: SweetCaroline
Password: 9484

Six months and growing

CAROLINE UPDATE
Caroline is growing fast! As of Dec. 5, she weighed 15 lbs and was 25 inches tall. She is starting to sit up, roll over and talk in phrases (rather than just goo-goo, ga-ga). She has a strong grip and just started reaching for things. Her curiosity continues to soar the more she sees.

Recent tricks
Her latest trick is raspberries. We don't know if she was inspired when she observed her friend Lily doing them on New Year's Eve, or if she just figured out how to do it one day.


No teeth; Rough sleep
She still doesn't have any teeth breaking through, but we're pretty sure she's teething. Even though her teeth haven't come in, we've begun introducing solid foods. She isn't a picky eater, but her favorite foods are:
- bananas
- carrots
- sweet potatoes

Here's a picture of one of the first feedings


She also isn't sleeping through the night consistently, but we're beginning to let her cry and soothe herself. In fact, she threw such a fit last night that she tossed herself onto her stomach and slept for at least four hours on her belly. Mom was a little paranoid about SIDS, so she still got up a couple times to check on her. Since she can turn her head we would hope she would be fine - but as new parents, we're not completely confident just yet!

Soon we are scheduling her 6-month photos with a professional photographer. Watch for more pictures coming soon!

Aunt Ang, Uncle Alex and Aunt Court visit

Caroline's 4-month milestone was greeted by Aunt Ang, who flew in from Florida, and Uncle Alex and Aunt Court who drove six hours from Iowa City to play with her.

It was great to catch up and watch all the babies play together. Court and Alex brought their baby, Rico, a chihuahua, who played with Aslan and Venus all weekend. He was so well behaved! What a cutie!



And Aunt Ang was nice enough to watch Caroline on Friday while Mom went to work. She enlightened Caroline on what's new in heart health - sharing insight from her latest Cardiology rotation in Tampa. Maybe Caroline will want to be a heart doctor, too, someday?!

It's hard to believe I've known Ang and Court since elementary school. I remember when Angie came to Avon from Ohio. And I remember when I first started hanging out with Courtney at sports camp in 5th grade. No matter how much time passes between our visits, nothing changes...I know when we're old and gray we can still sit around and chat just like we did back in the day. Caroline is so blessed to have such wonderful people in her life. And Uncle Alex is an extra bonus! Can't wait until our next visit sometime in 2009. Just imagine how much Miss Caroline will grow between now and then...

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!