Grass, dirt, bugs, shoes...

Thanks to Aunt Laurie, Caroline has been on her stomach since Day One... therefore, she loves her tummy time. Now she knows how to sit up and play, but always prefers to get on her belly to explore. She has now discovered dirt, grass, bugs, birds, shoes...anything that you can name that is close to the ground. She has to watched like a hawk or she will have it in her mouth in no time flat. It is fun to watch her face as she notices all of these things as they are the most amazing things ever. This video on the bottom shows her "creeping" abilities now. Enjoy!!

The high chair.... and the spoon

After a difficult start (remember Caroline preferred the spoon to the actual food), we are eating quite well now. Bananas, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, pears, peaches, etc. -- she is a good eater and though she is short for her high chair -- she loves sitting in it and still loves the spoon as well! She is a very vocal baby with lots of facial expressions. Her face is the same every time she takes the first bite at a meal -- a look of disgust and then, give me more. She likes to talk with her food in her mouth -- looks like we'll have a lot to look forward to!

Relaxing in St. Louis

Following the Von Gunten family reunion, Caroline and I went to St. Louis to visit family. It worked out fantastic as my five cousins, Aunt Marlene and Uncle Jim were visiting from Texas and my Aunt Linda and Uncle Rich were visiting from Minnesota -- so we were able to visit with everyone. We spent an afternoon in the park where these pictures were taking -- Caroline loves to swing and her smile is contagious -- she had all the other kids around us laughing and smiling. She wasn't sure what to do with the St. Louis humidity -- I think she experienced true sweating for the first time and also saw her first rain storm (it hasn't rained in CA for over 5 months!).

Family Reunion in Fort Wayne, IN

Over Labor Day Weekend, we went to Fort Wayne, IN to meet up with Trent's family including his cousins and his grandmother. It was a beautiful weekend and the perfect time to get all of the cousins together -- 5 of them under 16 months! We got to meet little Abby (Tye and Kelly's 3 month old baby) and Paul (Tracy and Kevin's 10 month old) and see little William, who is not so little anymore!! We had a great day at Uncle Jeff and Aunt Pam's house on a lake -- such a beautiful setting. Caroline had so much to look at and thought that cousin William was the funniest thing going. Here are some pictures of everyone together.

Sweet Summer

With my first summer off (I guess you could call it off since I am not getting paid for my work!), I am realizing how beautiful the California weather is. We have lots of new friends in the neighborhood and this week, we went swimming. Caroline kicks her feet and splashes, but mostly she just chews on her rubber duckies like we are in one big bathtub. This is a picture of her friends -- she is the youngest in the group but she tries to hold her own. Still working on the feeding, though Caroline much prefers the taste of her plastic spoon to her mother's homemade baby food. I don't think she can hate her mother's cooking already, do you??!! Enjoy the video at the bottom to see what I am talking about.

The best way to get around...

At 6 months, Caroline decided that she no longer wanted to just play on her tummy or sit there -- she needed to be moving! The latest video (at the bottom) is of her "scooting" where she is able to work her way up to all fours and then she just lunges forward... I guess that is one way of getting there! Get ready to baby proof the house! This is a picture of her relaxing after the "scooting"!

Sweet potato, carrots, applesauce...

Let's hope that Caroline likes her vegetables more than her mommy did! We started Caroline on solid foods and from the pictures, you can see that she did not take to them right away. It is a challenge as her mouth is like a moving target and she thinks she can feed herself already. Plus, I think she is wondering why she has to eat this mashed up, mushy banana when Mommy is just eating it from the peel. Before you know it, she is going to be asking me for ice cream!