Apparently this book, Olivia's Opposites, is very funny to Caroline. O.k. it is probably the funny voices that I put to it. But, I've read it to Caroline the last couple of days and every time I do she cracks up.
Caroline was five months old yesterday. She's growing like a weed. A few weeks ago we started trying Caroline on solid food. But she wasn't so sure about what to do with it. So, we put it away for a bit.
This weekend we had another fun and exciting weekend because Caroline was christened (along with a little baby boy in our church, River).
My mom and dad came out for the occasion and Caroline's godparents were are our dear friends Jeff and Kim. So, of course we got to enjoy their company and that of their fantastic children Olivia and Elliott.
We are really blessed by the opportunity to bring her up in a Christian home. We also feel really blessed that she can have such great godparents who will pray for her as she grows!
It is always a blast to have my parents in. (The fact that Caroline is dead to the world asleep in this picture should be taken as the exception rather than the rule. She LOVES playing with Nana and Grandpapa).
Fearing spit-up and other gross things that can happen with babies, Caroline had an impromptu change in the nursery moments before the service, but she didn't seem to mind.
We think she turned out rather cute. Our pastor Dave walked her down the aisle to introduce her to everyone. Apparently she liked her long dress, because she picked it up and started putting it in her mouth. Not particularly ladylike, but she was saved by the slip I made for underneath. Whew.
I made Caroline's christening gown from material left over from my wedding dress. It was pretty fun to have the same fabric being part of two very special days in our family's life.
The weekend wasn't all serious though. We took a great trip to Annapolis, took some boat tours, checked out the Naval Academy and, of course, at crab cakes. But, I think the other highlight of the weekend was the Nationals v. Cubs game we went to. This is the view from our seats. Well, technically, the wheelchair row two rows up from our seats that we filled in when it was apparent no one was using them. At the time Caroline was asleep in the stroller so we thought she could just stay in her stroller and sleep. It was a night game that didn't start until just past her bedtime at 7:05.
Caroline, however, had other plans. As you can see, she was much happier hanging out, watching the game. She was entranced by all of the people running around. Oh, and the jumbotron. She loves the jumbotron.
The game was SUPER exciting. It was a one hit game most of the night. Nationals had the bases loaded a few times (and blew it each time I might add). But it was close enough through the 9th inning to be pretty exciting. Caroline didn't decide she was tired and ready to be done with it all until we were on the interstate, just about home. We thought that was pretty amazing. (Might explain why she fell asleep during the service, after she was christened the next day)
All in all Caroline has basically been without routine naps all weekend and seems to be having a blast anyway. She thought Nana and Grandpapa were SO much fun.
She giggled for Olivia a good deal. She was also rather fond of chewing on Olivia's finger. 
But, I have to say that I think her new favorite person might be Elliott. Oh he can make faces that just make her laugh. She was so excited to see him and just laughed every time he started talking to her. I think she's going to be a little bummed this week when she figures out that his entertainment isn't permanently around.
As promised here are the rest of our pictures from our trip last weekend to the Upper Peninsula. (We had a big weekend this weekend which is why we are a little behind, but more about that in our next post). This is the Eagle Harbor lighthouse, which we stayed right around the corner from.
As I mentioned before, Caroline was quite enamored with her Aunt Laurie (and who wouldn't be, really).
She was a great traveler too. Even with some skipped naps she was pretty charming to be around most of the time. It was so much fun to watch her with her grandparents!
And, as you can see, we had a pretty great time with them ourselves!
Jack, Caroline and I took a much needed mini-vacation this past weekend to the upper penninsula of Michigan. As you can see from the picture above, it was absolutely beautiful. We stayed with Jack's parents who rent a house just a few hundred feet off the lake, with a great view of the water.
We spent lots of time visiting, relaxing, reading and napping. Caroline had a great time seeing her grandparents and getting to meet her Aunt Laurie and Uncle Mike.
On Sunday afternoon we went for a good walk along the beach. Laurie and Mike came with Kerry, Barbara, Jack, Caroline and me. It was cool, but sunny. So, as you can see in the picture, we had to put two hats on poor Caroline - one for the sun (underneath) and one for warmth. It wasn't exactly fashionable (though each hat is cute individually), but it worked.
It was a great walk down the beach, though Caroline was not too excited (i.e. she cried a lot) about walking back into the wind. But, we turned her around in the baby bjorn, so really all she had to cry about was that she couldn't see anything other than Jack's coat.
I really enjoyed being able to see Laurie (as you can see from our goofy picture). We spent all day Saturday with them. Jack won Settlers of Catan in a pretty impressive way. We went to the local strawberry festival too, though we apparently missed the parades. That was o.k. we got great brats anyway!
Caroline also got an introduction to Saddie (the dog pictured here) and Tiger at Laurie and Mike's. She seemed generally unphased by them. Saddie kept her distance as a general rule (though there were a few exceptions as you can see). She has apparently learned that babies pull on doggies and Saddie isn't a big fan of that. But, Saddie was good natured and just generally sniffed out Caroline to see who she was. 
Yesterday was a very eventful first Fourth of July for Caroline. She got to start out with going to one of the community centers in our neighborhood where a lot of the neighbors had gathered. There had been a little parade with the kids (and their decorated bikes, trikes and other modes of little people transport). We missed the 10 minute parade (it isn't too long for the sake of the little riders). But, we did get to see the fife and drum players
We had a great spot to watch the fireworks over the Memorial Bridge here in D.C.
I really thought that Caroline would cry (both because of the noise and it being nearly 2 1/2 hours past her bed time.) But she was intrigued. She sat like this the entire time and watched all of the pretty colors. She actually seemed to think the booms of the fireworks were interesting or funny (she kept "talking" whenever it got loud).
Read more...
It is too bad that blogs can't be scratch and sniff, because these lillies from our garden smell pretty amazing. It is really fun to have them blooming!
