Three Months

Caroline is three months! Well, she is actually almost 3.5 months if you go by week-week count vs. the 3rd of every month, but you get the jest :) She is doing really, really great! She is already a WAY better sleeper then Brooke was at her age. She sleeps through the night and when she wakes up around 4:00/5:00 a.m. she may want to have a little bit to eat, or she may just want to cuddle with dad for awhile. She is usually ready to eat and play for good around 7:30. Not too bad huh?!
She is starting to lift her head up more and more during 'tummy' time. I feel a little guilty regarding the lack of time she is on the floor. With Brooke, I was always working on it with her-it is WAY harder to find the time with the 2nd when the 1st is climbing into baby toys, opening doors to exit the house or eating something that wasn't cleaned up off the floor from the prior meal (or from two days ago if I'm being honest).

Caroline LOVES to stand. If she could stand all day that is what she would do-that and smile. The girl wakes up smiling. It is almost as if she is so surprised and equally excited that we are all still there waiting for her!! You don't really have to do too much to get a huge grin-say her name, cuddle or make a face and she is all gummy and grinning. She even does it while sleeping which is the best :)

Caroline also has a best friend. Brooke never had an attachment to anything-minus a cup of water and 12 POWS (otherwise known as pacifiers). This is killing us now when we are working on potty training and breaking the paci habit. I introduced Caroline to a small, soft blanket (lovey) complete with tags on the sides that was a gift from our friends Eric & Nicole. She adores it...to the point where I think I need to find out where it came from and invest in 12 more. When you put it next to her she coos, smiles and is fast asleep. Thank you so much to E & N!


Caroline has also turned into a thumb sucker. This habit is new in the house of POWS. She is completely content with a fist in the mouth-don't get me wrong, she will take the pacifier, however, she much prefers her thumb. It is SO cute and makes her even more irresistible to me :)

We took Caroline to the doctor this week for a cold and they got her weight, but not her height. Drum roll please....14.5 pounds. YES-a chubby 14.5 pounds! She is 3 oz shy of doubling her birth weight-not too shabby Caroline :) I think that she has gotten a TON longer too. Brooke always wore the same month size clothing as her age: 3 months at 3 months, etc. Caroline is way too long to wear 3 month sized clothing. He knees have to bend if she is in a one-piece or her ankles show in pants-poor girl whose mom dresses her in wrong sized clothing!

So that is the 3 month update on Miss Caroline. She and Brooke have so many similarities at this age, yet they are so, so different. It is so amazing to me to watch them both at 3 months and to see how they are both interacting with each other. I think that it will continue to get better as they get older :)

I thought that i would throw a Brooke picture in when she was around Caroline's age. She is about 3.5-4 months here. Very similar I think-both just chubby and cute as can be!

College Hair

For those of you readers that I went to college with, you know that I had one 'signature' hair do. I LOVED to put my hair in a ponytail-almost obnoxiously on top of my head-and walk around like I was pretty freaking cool. I started doing my hair this way when I was very little-ask my mom-I called it a "Wild" pony. Pretty original right? So, tonight, as I had my hair in said wild pony, Brooke asked for her hair to, "be like moms!" I have been waiting for this day my entire life...

Like Mother, Like Daughter...Caroline will join us soon...
Poor Gary...

because otherwise we would be boring

How was your weekend? Both of our girls are sick with colds. Caroline has had to sleep in her car seat the last two night to stay elevated. The night before that *Dad of The Year* Gary held her the entire night sitting upright on the couch so she could sleep better. The last two night I have had to sleep with Brooke to keep her calm enough so that her cough doesn't wake her up every hour on the hour.

Did I mention that we got a contract put on house? Yeah. I am not getting too excited yet as we did not accept the first offer and had to counter offer and are now sitting and waiting for a response....(4.5 hours and counting...).

Oh, and I guess I had a lax moment and decided yesterday a.m. when I left for my parents house that I wasn't going to straighten up before I left. I mean, what are the odds that someone would want to see the house yesterday. The big news was that we actually had people interested enough to make an offer right? Mistake. As soon as I am walking out the door to head home with the girls in tow the phone rings. They wanted to see our house at 3:00. 3:00! One hour to get home, clean, straighten, etc. I guess I should have listened to my mom...and always clean every morning, but that would make my life organized an boring. I pulled it together but not without the help of my in-laws who took the girls while I was mad cleaning the house.

I stayed out of the house for an hour-standard time. I came home with dog on my lap, two girls in their car seats and 3 loads of laundry jammed into one basket on the front seat (remember, I live in my car). I pull up to my house and there are three cars outside. I am not completely stupid. I am well aware that there are actual people in my house when I am away, but it is totally strange to see these people standing in my house looking around and (maybe) going through my stuff. It's good stuff right? I had to drive around the area for ten minutes, dog freaking out at every other person/animal/building she sees digging her claws into my thigh-I have the scars to prove it-with Brooke yelling at Bella to "be quiet! you annoying" Thanks Brooke, yes she is.

I am back to needing to lose 3 pounds. I had it all lost-not sure if it was me or the flu, but it was gone. The stress is getting to me. 3 more pounds before the addtional 5 I was hoping to take off before wedding season. Oh well, why would I want to have our life be boring?

TMI?? Maybe...

Gary comes home last night from work and informs me that he was so disgusted with himself all day. See, we had a house showing yesterday morning and he had a million things to do outside of the house before heading to work. This equaled him not being able to shower (side note: he would KILL me for writing this-obsessive shower taker). I didn't really feel too sorry for him, you see, I hadn't showered since Sunday.

Go ahead-throw up in your mouths a little bit. It gets worse, I had been out in public-numerous times. Grocery store, Science Center, Target-really, I could go on. You see, Gary doesn't have to deal with all of the time restraints that I do. I don't get the luxury of showering on a daily basis-most of you don't see it as a luxury do you? More of a requirement? Not with two under three. I spend my mornings, afternoons and evenings changing diapers, making meals, cleaning up messes, dealing with temper tantrums, making bottles and cleaning up my chubby baby Caroline's projectile spit-up (we are seriously going to have to get new couches in our new house..). Don't get me wrong, I have tried to shower while alone with the girls-here is how it goes. Caroline is perfect hanging out in her crib. Brooke comes in the bathroom and climbs in the shower...fully clothed. It is SO fun to try and get a screaming child out of the shower in wet clothes while your soaking wet..try it out sometime :)

Do any of you moms out there feel like you have given up SO much of your 'pamper' time since you had the little darlings? Maybe it is just me.

My last haircut? October-gross right? I just feel too guilty dropping the $100 at the stylist. Maybe I will become a Custom Cuts gal? No. I am too stuck up for that (sorry for all of you Custom Cuts fans out there). I will just stick to only getting my hair done twice a year and grossing you all out with split ends and roots (or was that grease from aforementioned non-showering?).

My last clothing purchase? Skinny Jeans from Target...which I came to discover were really 'denim leggings.' I have never been good at 'trendy.' I went to Target-which I guess from looking over this blog and previous entries has become the only place that I shop-yesterday and thought maybe I would check out some of their new clothes. Didn't happen. Headed straight to the kiddos section and picked up a couple of swim-suits for the cuties. God knows they are the only females in this house putting on a bikini anytime soon! I seriously feel guilty buying anything for myself! I would rather end up on What Not To Wear apparently.

PS-when do you have to stop shopping in the Juniors department at Target and head over to 'Ladies?' I have to admit I feel a little weird when the 15 year old and I are checking out the same clothing rack. Don't worry, I completely turn them off from that 'going out top' just by standing 2 feet from it. Have I really crossed over? I am putting my foot down at shopping the Women's floor at Macy's.

Moral of the story-took a much needed 30 minute shower this morning. Feel WAY better and more human then I have in days. That should cover me until Monday right?

Dressing Up

I have been saving old clothes for some time now. Some of them I just couldn't part with yet-old sorority clothing, girl scout uniforms, etc. Some of the items are pure hideous and I seriously wonder to myself why I ever purchased them and how in the world they ever fit. I have been storing all of these items in a box for the kids so that they can play dress up, make Halloween costumes and completely make fun of me for some of my clothing choices.

Since Aunt Maggie was in town, we decided to get the dress up clothes out and have at it!

Brooke was in heaven! Since she cannot make fun of me yet, she just admires how 'beautiful' all of these items are! She could not believe all of her good finds! I mean, who doesn't love a purse with a man and woman on it staring into each others eyes?? Complete with some sort of bedazzledment.

This is her tu-tu / tank top / bandanna / never been worn still has the tags on it nightgown combo. It totally works right??

Totally working the tu-tu / Junior Girl Scout vest and zebra bikini-perfect for a play date with friends or just hanging around the local playground. (still has not removed the never been worn still has the tags on it nightgown)

Hey there Little Red Riding Hood!
I have been wanting her to try this one on. She got this for Christmas from her Aunt Lisa & Uncle Brian-how cute is she? For some reason she also wants to wear her Zebra headpiece, but that is ok.

I will leave Maggie's dress up pictures for a blog entry all of its own :)

A Little Sister Love

Both Brooke & Caroline have puzzles that are cut out to spell their names. The other day (after removing every article of clothing from Caroline's closet) Brooke brought her sister's puzzle into the family room to play with. A conversation ensued...

Gary: Brooke, that is Caroline's puzzle. You need to put it back and play with your puzzle.

Brooke: I want to play with Carowine's puzzle

Gary: Well, then I think you need to ask Caroline if that is ok with her

(I think that we thought this would end her desire to play with this unopened toy)

Brooke: Ok

She then walked over to her sister who was relaxing in her bouncy chair watching the latest episode of Wow Wow Wubzy.

Brooke: Carowine...can I play with your puzzle?

Insert long pause...

Brooke: OH Carowine...thank you! You are so nice!!

She then proceeded to give her sister a big kiss on the cheek and walk over to me to fill me in.

Brooke: Mom, Carowine is so nice!

Me: Yes, she is! And Brooke, you are so nice for asking her permission to play with her puzzle!

Brooke: I wuv you Carowine! I wuv you mom!

And..off to the puzzle playing she went :)


Sometimes Brooke can be a bit jealous of Caroline, but it is times like these when I just cannot help but smile and LOVE that I have these two little girls that I hope will grow up to be the best of friends :)

Caroline's Baptism

This weekend we celebrated Caroline's Baptism. She did great throughout the entire Mass and we were so proud of her! Afterward, we hosted a luncheon at our house and it was great to catch up with everyone we hadn't seen since the holidays.


One of the most thoughtful gifts that Caroline received was a handmade bonnet from all of my mom's sisters. It was made out of one of my Grandmas Buchheit's handkerchiefs and rosette buttons. It was SUCH a special gift since she is no longer with us. She knew that I was expecting Caroline and was always checking in on how I was doing. We miss her so much and it was nice to have a special item of hers for Caroline that day :)

The bonnet was a little small...or Caroline's head is a little large :)

Brooke had the BEST time at Mass that day. She could not believe that everyone from both sets of her grandparents to all of her aunt's, uncle's and cousins were there! She just kept yelling out all of their names as she spotted them. She is going to be pretty disappointed at church next week when it is only Gary, Caroline and me (and when we don't have cake when we get home).

Caroline's God-Parents are my sister Amy and Gary's brother Michael. Although, the priest did thank Gary for being her God-Parent which we were a little confused by...oh well!