half-birthdays

This weekend we celebrated six months since Baby Caroline joined our family.
We love a birthday, so we took some time to celebrate Caroline's half birthday*.

To mark the occasion, we let Lauren pick out a cupcake and headed out to the park.


We played and ran around in the humid Texas heat
while thinking about how quickly the last six months has gone.
It's so cliche,
but it is something every mother feels.
Despite your best effort to soak it in,
take your time,
and enjoy every little moment,
they pass before your very eyes.




Here's to six more months
of soaking it in,
taking our time,
and enjoying every little moment
we have with Baby Caroline.
Because before we know it,
she'll be the little girl in the picture,
blurry,
because she runs so fast.



Just like her sister.

* I didn't really think about it until writing this post, 
but half birthdays may become a running theme for Caroline. 
With a day after Christmas birthday,
we're going to have to find all sorts of creative ways to celebrate. 

26 weeks || six months

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At six months, our darling babe...

... is one smiley girl. Her whole face lights up when she smiles and it is contagious.
... is happy. She is just a content little lady. Her sister can often be heard saying, "Caroline is happy". She is a go with the flow kinda gal, which we are so thankful for during our busy summer days. She hangs out at the splash pad, the park, and thoroughly enjoys watching her sister dance, and has been enjoying library time from week to week.
... is sitting up. It became baby book official this weekend. She has been wobbly for a while, but as we played on the floor this weekend, I realized that she had yet to fall down. Hopefully this little fact makes it to the baby book.
... loves to be held. That happy smiley thing... especially when she is held. Her pattern tends to be that she is a morning gal. More content to be in the exersaucer or play on her own in the morning. But afternoon she likes to hang with mom. I don't complain too much... and I have been quite surprised by some of the things I am able to accomplish with a babe on my hip. That being said, her new skill of sitting up seems to alleviate some of the 'baby on hip' time.
... has regressed in the sleep department. Just a bit. We had a stretch where it was through the night. I was hesitant to even say those words for fear that it would stop. She is waking up about twice a night, once near the 5 o'clock hour, which isn't considered the middle of the night.  Whether it's a regression, a growth spurt, or our new normal, it still isn't complaint worthy.
... is squishy and delicious. She has the best thighs. For reals.
... loves her sister. She lights up around her, loves to pull her hair, and reach for anything in her hands. Big sister has also taken an interest in anything that is in Caroline's hands. Lots of talk about sharing in this house. Caroline also loves toys that make noise and anything that is soft and snuggle worthy.
Which is one the many things we love about her...

25 weeks

24 weeks

Little Gymnast

Lauren loves to run.

She loves to jump.

She loves to play.

The Little Gym has been a great place for her 

{cough cough.. us} 

to run, jump, and play

while building both motor skills and social skills.

Last weekend was Show Week where the whole family attends and the little gymnasts show their skills. 

I used to take Lauren to class during the week.

After Caroline was born, we decided to switch her class to Saturday and make it a special time with dad.

Lauren has grown a lot this year. 

Her warm up and listening skills have improved greatly and so have her forward rolls!

She loves hanging from the bars and will jump off any surface.

Although the jump is really more of a step off... 

We're working on 'sticking' the landing.

After we saw her skills, she received her medal

and stood up there for all of 3 seconds.

She gets so excited when we mention Little Gym

and it's not hard to see why.

She exudes pure joy 

running and jumping in a padded room full of little friends.

And I think getting to spend some extra special time with dad

may have something else to do with that smile. 

23 weeks

April

April was a big month at our house.

We had a visit from our besties,
Caroline's first flight
and
Lauren's debut as a flower girl.

So...
let us forget, for a moment, that it is indeed June
and go back to some April highlights.

Kathleen and Gracie came south for a little girls weekend.

I'm not sure who was more excited about their visit,
Lauren or I,
but we both enjoyed every moment of having our Chicago friends here.




The girls kept busy - which kept us mamas quite busy,
giving this girls weekend a much different feel than those we have attended in the past.

Another special part of the Schroeder girls visit was to introduce them to our Caroline.
Kathleen is expecting another precious baby girl this summer,
so it was so sweet to watch Gracie practice her big sister skills
and chat with Kath about all things pregnancy
& the things you forget about those itty bitty babies.


Since their visit Lauren has spoken quite often of Gracie,
recounting the highlights in her little toddler mind.
It was so special to have my bestie and her little spend an entire weekend with us,
coming into our home and filling it with little girl giggles,
and friendships,
new and old.

The best part -
we're heading to Chicago for the 4th.
We get to do it all again.

April brought the start of another baseball season.

The Royals played the Astros as the season opener
and we got ourselves some tickets.
En route to the game, Lauren got sick.
Like vomited all over herself & Matt's truck
as we were pulled over on the interstate in downtown Houston.
This was the first time Lauren has been sick and I was surprised how well Matt and I both handled it.
{He did most of the cleaning up}
Our poor dolly's biggest concern was her Royals t-shirt.
Her first request was that we get her a new one.
Immediately.
We didn't make it to the game.
We turned the truck around,
watched the Royals pull a W on the television,
and noted that apparently our eldest gets a bit carsick.


The following day, Caroline boarded her first plane and we discovered that she is a fantastic little traveler.

The same used to be said of our Lauren,
but we discovered that two is a whole different ball game.
On our flight into Des Moines, Lauren did fabulously.
Until the last 5 minutes.
She then decided she wanted to get off the plane and scream for the last 5 minutes.
There was another toddler who screamed the entire flight.
I found myself silently praising my daughter and myself for her good behavior.
Note: Never do this again. Karma is indeed, a nasty witch.

The girls were thrilled to spend time at Grandma & Grandpa's house.
With some beautiful Iowa weather,
we enjoyed time at the park,
rabbit watching in the backyard,
and some quality play time together.

But the real fun began when the cousins arrived.
We got to spend some quality time with Claire, before the boys came.

Out of the 8 McQuinn grandchildren, there are 5 boys and 3 girls.
We happen to have 2 of them.



Lauren loved playing with all her cousins,
especially Hayden
and Caroline enjoyed all the extra snuggles and love
{you know that girl loves to be held!}

We also got to visit with friends while we were back.
Schetzsle's were nice enough to host a little pizza party
where we all brought our little families and got to catch up
while swapping babies,
sipping cocktails,
and dodging toddlers.



One of the highlights of our Iowa trip was Caroline's baptism.
We were able to schedule it at OLIH during our visit so that family could be a part of Caroline's special day.
It turned out to be a lovely little celebration
and Caroline looked just as sweet in that Christening bonnet as her older sister.










Our flight home was cancelled due to flooding in Texas and we were rescheduled and rerouted through Chicago the following day.
Our the second flight we didn't have seats together and it fell right around nap time.
You know where this is going right?
Lauren finally fell asleep on dad as we prepared for descent and a flight attendant came and told Matt she had to be in her individual seat.

She lost it.
Like in all the wrong, awful, cringe worthy ways.
She screamed, cried, kicked.
It was not good.
We attracted the attention of a flight attendant who came to ask her what was wrong and then said something about her not having to pay 'property taxes or a mortgage'?
That didn't help.
When she finally calmed down,
she apologized for 'throwing a big fit'.
Her words coming in between deep gulps of air,
her big eyes looking shocked,
as tears continued to fall on her tear stained cheeks.

A couple people around me chuckled.
I still don't think it's funny.
We've spoken a lot about throwing fits on planes since then.
I hope to never have to reference this post again.

We finished April with Lauren's debut as a flower girl in my uncle's wedding.
He lives in the Houston area so we were lucky enough to host my entire family for the weekend.

We spoke to Lauren about her flower girl duties for several weeks leading up to the event,
we read books,
and even practiced with the basket and flowers,
but I know enough about two year olds,
to know nothing.

There are no guarantees.

I am happy to report she did fabulous.
She made it down the aisle.

She didn't throw any flowers,
but I don't think anyone noticed.






Whew,
April was a busy month.
Filled with family, friends, celebrations, lessons, and a lot of love.
And isn't that what this life is all about?

Here's to many more Aprils...