Caroline is six months old!

Our sweet baby girl is six months old.  At her 6 month check-up, Dr. E said she was a healthy little girl.  She weighed 15 pounds and 13 ounces.  She was 27 inches long.  Here are a few things about her and what she's been up to:

She is now sitting up all by herself.  This happened on November 7.  I remember this because Jed had flown to the Bama vs. LSU game, and he missed it.  But Connor and I just laughed and laughed at her.  We were so proud!  She was a little wobbly at first, but now she's a pro!!

She's also drinking some juice out of a sippy cup.  She's not holding it by herself, but she can sure suck on it.  I don't do this often but occasionally.  I had to because she almost attacks Connor to get to his cup.

 
She's finishing up her stage 1 baby food and eating some stage 2.  She'll be completely on it by next week.  She's also finishing up size 2 diapers and moving into size 3s.  The 2s were beginning to look like bikini underwear.  She is wearing a few 3-6 month dresses, but she is mainly wearing 6 months and 6-9 month sizes.  

She REALLY loves her bottle.  If there is one in sight, whether it's empty or full or whether she just ate, she will pitch a fit until you give it to her. 

She cries if you take a toy away from her.  She will also lung herself to get to an object, especially earrings, necklaces, watches, and diamonds.  I think we're going to be in trouble in this aspect.  She loves all things sparkly!!

She squeals to get Connor's attention.  And when she gets it, she laughs and bangs her toys to make him laugh.  It thrills my soul to see them playing with each other and loving each other!!!

She loves her toys.  Yesterday she sat in the floor while I was decorating the tree.  I put her basket of toys beside her and she grabbed out what she wanted.  She has a little baby doll that she likes right now.  She also loves rattles.

She has been sucking on her pacifier a little more lately and not her pointer finger!!  Hooray!!  Maybe she will continue to love her pacifier more....

Sweet Caroline, we love you SO much!  You are precious--a true blessing!!  

Happy Thanksgiving! (yesterday)

Lately, I've been days or even weeks late on everything that I've posted, but I couldn't let this holiday go by without posting several things I'm thankful for.....

I'm thankful for....

• God.  He is so wonderful and mighty.  I've seen Him work so much in my life in the last three years.  He loves me more than I can even fathom.  He sent his Son for me (and you).  I never really knew what a sacrifice that was until I had children of my own.  Now I have a whole new perspective....  It brings me to my knees to know that he sent his precious Son for me.  Thank you God for forgiving me of my many sins and blessing me daily!
• my husband.  He loves me and our children with all of his heart.  He is a good man, a loving husband, and a great father.  He watches our children (by himself) for me to work out two nights a week.  He bathes both Connor and Caroline everynight.  He loves the Lord and strives to be a good example for our children (except during the Alabama and Auburn football game, but we're working on that!  Ha, ha!!).  
• my children.  I have two wonderful children.  It is so hard to imagine what life was like before them.  They are such blessings.  I love watching them grow, discover, and love each other everyday.  They both bring me so much joy and happiness!!!
• my health.  I kind of took this for granted until I became pregnant with Connor and had SO many complications and such a close call the night he was delivered.  I am so thankful that the Lord was with me, Connor, and the doctors and nurses that took care of me that night. 
• my family.  I am so thankful for my family, all of my family--my parents, brothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephew, and my in-laws.  They have all been such a support throughout my life.  We love getting together and being with each other.  They all love me for who I am and for that I'm thankful. 
• my friends.  I have had so many friends during my lifetime.  Some are close friends; some were high school friends; some are "teaching" friends; some are blogging friends; some are college friends; some are camp friends.  Every one of my friends have a special place in my heart.  I am so thankful for each of you!!!   
• my job.  I have a wonderful job.  I work at a great school with good people.  I have been teaching for almost six years.  I have taught approximately 100 different children.  They have all taught me so many things.  They make me laugh, sometimes their situations make me cry.  I am so thankful that the Lord blessed me with the talent to teach.  I pray I touch my student's lives as much as they touch mine!         

This is just a small list of what I'm thankful for.  There is so much more.  But it's late, and I'm getting tired! We had a great Thanksgiving and are looking forward to Christmas...

I couldn't post without doing a picture or two.  Here's a few more fall pictures of the kids....

Go-Go

Jed and I were on our way Saturday to Destin to do a little Christmas shopping when we got a call that his Go-Go (his Dad's mom) passed away.  So, we turned around and headed to Pensacola to visit with family.  On our way home, our thoughts turned to Go-Go and her life.  Her 84th birthday would have been the first of December.  She lived 83 wonderful years.  She was married to Pops for 62 years.  

Jed and I agreed that if we could use one word to describe Go-Go it would be STRONG.  She had such a strong mind and spirit.  Her health and body failed her greatly over the past year, but she held strong and fought hard.  She  suffered a stroke.  Here's a picture of her with Caroline in June.  This was the first time she met Caroline. 

Please keep our family in your prayers, especially Jed's grandad, Pops.  He's going to need lots of prayers and support. 

One fun weekend....

Okay, I should have posted this like three weeks ago, but as you can see I've gotten very behind.  We had a very busy Halloween weekend.  Friday night we had the Church Fall Festival (which I've already posted about), Saturday we did the Halloween thing, and Sunday we went to the Covington County Fair with the cousins.

Saturday, we trick-or-treated at our families homes and then headed to my mom and dad's for our annual Halloween get-together.  All of my family comes over and we enjoy good food and good fun.

We always have such a great time.  Here's a picture of all of the grandkids together. They all love each other so much!  And no, this is not my mom's couch.  It's my grandmothers.....

Sunday we went to the fair.  We were so worried that none of the children would love it.  Well.... We were WRONG!!!  They all loved it.  Everyone had a blast!!!!!

Caroline loved riding in her stroller, playing with her toys, and looking around at all the people and rides.  She was so good.  She even took a little nap.

While Caroline was strolling, the other kids were......RIDING!!!!  Look at the smile on Connor and Brock's faces.  Can't you tell how much fun they had? 

The kids rode the rides over and over again, and didn't get tired of them one bit!  I think we've found another tradition!  We are so blessed that our children have so many cousins their age that they can enjoy life with....

Church Fall Festival

Every year at church we have a fall festival.  We have a costume parade, a meal, games, pony rides, hay rides, and a bonfire.  We really enjoy the fellowship with other Christians!  Jed and I have been in charge of it for the past three years.  It always comes together and is successful because we have so many wonderful people who are able and willing to help!!!

Connor really enjoyed himself this year.  Caroline was good, but she had no clue what was going on.  As long as we gave her the bottle and her baby food, she was happy!

Connor dressed up as Elmo or Melmo has he calls it.  Caroline was a (girl) sock monkey.  This costume was actually Connor's from last year.  I just couldn't find anything that I loved for her, so at the last minute I decided to just add a bow to the costume.  I think she was cute! 

Connor was into the games this year.  I was able to walk around with him.  He even sat still to get his face painted.  He got a pumpkin; of course, it was rubbed off within five minutes.  But, it was cute!  (I don't know what is going on with my pictures.  I uploaded some from emails, I guess that's it?!)

After the games, we went down the hill to ride the pony.  Connor and Caroline both loved it.  She sat up there by herself for pictures and even grabbed the horn on the saddle like she knew what she was doing!  Of course, we got plenty of pictures!

 We ended the night with a hay ride.  It wasn't too cold.  Actually, it was very pleasant!  Connor loved it.  He sat in my lap, and we looked for the moon.  It kept going behind the clouds, and he would say "Bye, bye moon".  He snuggled with Jed and me.  Jed and I ate it up!  We both know it won't be long, and Connor will want nothing to do with us.... 

I'm closing with a few more pictures from our fun night.  The one below is of Connor and cousin Brock.  Brock was a puppy.  He showed up a little late and was unable to be in the costume parade. (that's why Connnor is not in his costume.)

Connor and Bailey posing.  Cousin Bailey was Tinker Bell.

 I can't help but post another picture of our baby girl. 

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to post about Halloween.  If anyone knows what is going on with my pictures, please let me know!

"Falling" for you.....

So, as I was editing my three weeks worth of pictues, I realized that Connor turned 22 months on the day that Lauren came over to help me take their fall pictures on the square.  So, I'm combining these posts! 

Connor Ward means so much to Jed and me.  We "fall" more in love with him everyday!!!!  He is constantly learning new things (good and bad) everyday; we love to watch him discover. 

As I type this, he's sitting in my lap and trying to type on the keyboard.  He thinks he's hilarious when I push his hand away.  He just giggles and giggles...  I could listen to him all day! 

His vocabulary is really beginning to develop.  He is saying more words everyday.  We can better understand him now (most of the time!).  Jed is going to have to watch himself, especially during the Alabama games!  Connor heard him say "Oh, gosh!"  and now it's his favorite phrase! 

He also is beginning to recognize places and objects.  When we are on the way to my mom and dad's house and pass Mrs. Rose's road, he will say "bye, bye Rose".  He will also say Nay Nay and Maw Maw when we pull into their yards.  Just this morning, we drove by a truck hauling a green tractor, and Connor started yelling "Tractor, Momma!  Tractor!".  This afternoon on the way home, we saw a helicopter flying low.  Connor saw it out of his window and yelled "Copter, momma.  Copter". 

Connor has also started trying to help out with his baby sister.  If she's in her baby bed and starts to cry, he will find her pacifier or a toy and throw it up into her bed.  We're really going to have to watch him with this one!

We've started trying to get him to bow his head when Jed blesses the food.  He doesn't have that concept down yet, but he is so cute!!  He'll sit quietly and watch Jed and me during the prayer.  After we say Amen, he bows his head and says his jiberish.  We have no clue what he's saying, but we know the good Lord does!

He's also been doing a great job about going to sleep in his own bed.  Lately, he's been telling us he's ready to go nite-nite.  We take him and lay him down.  He wants his pillow and covers and lays down and goes to sleep.  For the last few weeks, he has done this without yelling and screaming!

Connor Ward Blackwell, you mean so much to us and bring us SO MUCH joy!!!  You are such a great boy and big brother.  Daddy, Caroline, and I love you so much!

*******I couldn't post this without showing you two pictures of Caroline by herself.  She wouldn't smile the day we took the pictures.  All she wanted to do was stick out her tongue....

I hope to be back tomorrow with church fall festival pictures.  Until then.......

Behind....

I'm so behind on blogging it's not even funny!!!  The last three weeks have been absolutely CRAZY!!!  Today finshed up the last big event on my calendar that I have to help with, so I plan on spending the next week blogging and enjoying my great family! 

I have to go back and blog about Connor turning 22 months, fall pictures, the Church fall festival, and Halloween.  I'm sure I'm probably missing something, maybe I can remember everything.  Lauren, if you can think of anything I've left out, let me know. 

Stay tuned...................