Koller Grandparents

We were really excited to have Jack's parents with us this week. They got to meet their newest granddaughter, little Miss Caroline.  Watching them with her, I was reminded that these two successfully raised five great kids. They are no strangers to babies and were great with Caroline.  As always, we were blessed to have them as guests.

We had a wonderful visit with them. Jack and I taught Barbara and Kerry a card game we play with my parents on occasion.  As with my parents, Barbara and Kerry beat us soundly. 

Barbara and Kerry were also able to hang out with their other kids (and grandkids) in the area. We had a great family dinner all together on Tuesday night.

We also made a discovery this week.  Everyone who has seen Caroline in person agrees that this little girl looks like her Daddy. (She has my nose, but the rest of her facial features and expressions are very much those of Jack).  But, what I realized by talking to Barbara this week (and thus paying attention to her facial features) is that Caroline looks more like Barbara than even her Dad.

So, here is a picture of Caroline with her Grandma Barbara.  (Please excuse the worried expression. Caroline couldn't seem to figure out what I was doing with that little black box called a camera!)

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Influence Of A Mom

Everyone says (and it is of course very true) that parents have a huge impact on their children.

Today, I put that to good use. As you can see, I "helped" Caroline express the obvious--I'm the best. :-)

She was a pretty happy camper yesterday so she was giggling in the picture to the left while I was taking it. When I told her what her onesie said, however, I got the skeptical look below.

Caroline was pretty pleased with me most of the day yesterday. It was beautiful out so we took a long walk. She generally enjoyed it until near the end when a fire truck and then an ambulance went by. Of course, they were spread out enough to wake her up twice from a nap. She was less than pleased and looked at me with a look that asked "why are you letting them make that noise?".  

Later when we got home Caroline had a little accident with a bottle and a bath became necessary. At that point she was very, very sure that she wasn't so pleased with me any more. She forgave the indignity of the bath later, but she was not so happy at the time.  

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He Is Risen Indeed

Happy Easter!  What an amazing and wonderful day...He is Risen Indeed!

Caroline celebrated her first Easter at church this Sunday morning.  We had a wonderful time praising the Lord. However, she was too little to understand that church is not when one is supposed to be eating. So, I spent the sermon feeding her out in the hallway. Our church is full of babies these days.  I had plenty of company out in the hallway with parents bouncing, rocking, and feeding babies! 

I started what I hope will be an Easter tradition with Caroline by reading her the story of Christ's death and resurrection from the children's Bible (thanks Biffy!!).  I'm trying not to be too concerned that she fell asleep at the point in the story when the disciples fell asleep in Gesthemane. 

We had a few people from church over for brunch afterwards. It was a great time for fellowship. We are really enjoying getting to build community with so many of the wonderful people in our church.  They were nice enough to take our first family photo with Caroline. 

Thanks to Jack's Aunt Anne and Uncle Brian, Caroline had a perfectly adorable Easter dress.  We think she is pretty cute all of the time, but this dress made her particularly adorable. 

With her first Easter service, her first Easter basket and all of the visitors, it was a long morning for Caroline. She was pretty tuckered out by the end.

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Who Needs Sleep

Caroline's onesie says it all...the family moto of the week. As I posted before, we've been working on our basement bathroom. And, it reached the point where we needed to "get 'er done."  So, Jack and I set to work on our first attempt at tiling. While certainly not perfect, we think it turned out alright.

For those of you who haven't been to our house, the walls used to be a purple/blue and there was old (rather icky) linoleum on the floor. We've upgrade to tile (thank you Lowes).  We learned that the stuff you use to level the floor sets a little more quickly than you expect and moves around way faster than you want. (We managed not to get any down the drain, so we though the endeavor a success). 

After a number of rather late nights, we managed to get the below done. (We did the floor and the fixtures, the expert painting and much of the other work was done by our fantastic brother-in-law Russell). 
There are still a few finishing touches that need to be done - baseboards put in, etc. But, it is back to being a functioning bathroom. (I can't tell you how exciting it is to have a washer and dryer for the first time in weeks).

Through it all Caroline has been a champ. As you can see from below, her onesie was really a saying for Jack and I.  She continues, with one small exception Friday night, to sleep through the night. I think the longest stretch is now 9 pm to 5:15 am. She's a champ. She is now smiling all of the time and starting to giggle more. It is lots of fun to watch her grow.

I'll post Easter pictures tomorrow. But, for now, since we are finally finished...I am going to bed.

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Yet Another Government Agency

Today Caroline and I made a trip downtown to my office. We visited my coworker (who confirm that she is adorable). Not as exciting as the Pentagon, of course. My office (or more accurately cubical) is located in a big office building downtown. But, it is full of nice people who fussed over Caroline.

We also checked out the day care where Caroline will be going. It is on the first floor of my building, making the trip from my desk to Caroline about 3 minutes (2 of which are waiting for an elevator).  

Of course, Caroline had to get dressed up for the occasion. Here are some pictures of how cute she looked. Thanks Aunt Elizabeth!

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Palm Sunday

I had to share how cute Caroline was yesterday when we took her to church. Clearly from this picture, Caroline wasn't quite as sure about the outfit (she is not too keen on hats). But she behaved wonderfully in church. She loves the singing and looking at the stained glass. 

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Six weeks

Lest there be any question . . . 

Caroline is definitely growing.  Here is a picture of Caroline shortly after she was born in the bassinet.

And now we have a picture of Caroline in the bassinet today - when she is six weeks old. I think she has grown!!

She is now smiling and occasionally giggling (most likely to happen when we are playing with her yellow duck rattle).  The joys of being a still small baby. 

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Can Someone Explain How This Happened?

This is what Caroline is supposed to look like when we come to get her in the morning--all carefully swaddled.  Alternatively, here is another good picture of Caroline swaddled.  

Recently, Caroline has been getting her arm(s) out of the swaddle. But, this morning was truly unusual. After yet again sleeping through the night (HOORAY!) this is what we found this morning.

When I initially found her, Caroline's arms were down by her side and she looked all angelic (the free legs not withstanding). She was, by the time I went and got the camera, working on getting her arms free as well.  We use a pre-made swaddle at this point, with a little pocket for her legs and flaps that fold over for the arms. Apparently someone (Mom) didn't velcro the leg pocket to the appropriate arm flap last night. When Jack checked on her around 5, she was still snug inside. But, by 6 am, she had worked her Huodini magic.

Caroline thought the whole thing was pretty funny (I admit, we did too).

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The Beginning of a Beautiful Trend?

When I came downstairs last night after being on the phone this is what I saw. Both Caroline and Jack were sacked out on the couch. It was about 10:30 or so.   Careful not to wake Caroline, I woke Jack. We got her upstairs, swaddled and cozy in her crib.  

We didn't hear from her again until 6:00 am this morning, smiley and very hungry. 

Now, we're not sure yet whether to be very excited. Caroline has been a bit under the weather lately, so this may be her way of working it out. But, she slept from 11:30 to 5 the two nights before.  Here's hoping that the Koller genes have kicked in and she showing herself to be an excellent sleeper. I'm not ready to declare any sort of victory at this point. But, boy did Jack and I feel great this morning. We'll keep you posted on whether this trend continues.

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Our Other Project

Lest you think that all we do is sit around and take pictures of Caroline, we thought we would show you our other current project.  As some of you may know, we discovered a leak in our downstairs toilet just before Caroline was born.  As a result we had to pull up part of our linoleum and pull out wallboard and baseboards.  And when you pull up a little bit of linoleum...it all has to be replaced.

So, we are redoing our downstairs bathroom. Our brother-in-law Russell has been doing a lot of the work (and a fine job at that).  Jack is redoing a lot of the electrical to make us nice and safe.  So, now that everything has been ripped out, now all that has to happen is all of the pieces have to go back in. 

Of course, we do have to take time out to take pictures of Caroline on occasion.  She was having a particularly smiley day today. I couldn't get a full smile quick enough, but here is a happy little Caroline. 

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