Caroline made her first trip to the great land of Ikea yesterday.  For those of you who have visited recently, you know that our basement is in great need of a couch. We finally made a decision of what we want and Caroline and I went to go get it.

As you can see, though, Caroline was more interested in getting her finger in her mouth than Ikea furniture!

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Dining Al Fresco

On Saturday it was nice and warm in D.C. (o.k. it was actually hot here). So, we decided it was time to break out the grill and the outdoor furniture. We love sitting in our backyard and having dinner out there.

Of course, with the addition of Caroline we had a little bit of improvisation to do. We don't have any nice cushy grass to put a blanket on (you can see our slate tiles in the picture of Caroline). So, instead, we brought her bouncy seat outside. 

She had a great time playing with the lion, monkey and hippo while Jack and I ate dinner. 

Since the sun was going down, Caroline could hang out in her onsie with no fear of sun burn, even with her inherited irish complexion. It is a great time of year to be outside, since so much is in bloom. In this picture you can just barely see that our azalea in the backyard is in full bloom!

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Two Months

Caroline is now two months old and she's a growing little bean. She went to the doctor yesterday. She's 10 lbs, 8 oz and 23 inches long. That puts her in the 75th percentile for height and the 50th for weight. The height must have come in from her Daddy!! 

She has found her hands (loves to suck on her right forefinger), goes to bed on her own most of the time and, as you can see in this video, is talking up a storm these days. (I wonder where she gets that from??)  She is such a fun little girl.

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Aunt Helen and Uncle Dan

We got a great visit today! My Uncle Dan and Aunt Helen came to see us. (Aunt Helen, for those not part of the Lees family, is also known as MFAH, pronounced muh-fah. This stands for My Favorite Aunt Helen. Sorry to the other aunts out there--there is nothing I can do. It's her name. The brainwashing starts young, as you can see). They were in Williamsburg and came by our house on their way home. It was great to see them. And how cute are they both?

Aunt Helen is going to be a grandmother soon herself, hooray for baby boy Kravetz that will be here soon - just two weeks or so! Caroline can't wait to meet her new cousin. 

They were here for a wonderful visit. I loved having grown up conversation through the whole morning, and with some of my favorite people no less.

After Aunt Helen and Uncle Dan left, :(, Caroline and I headed to my friend Amanda's house. We took a walk with Amanda and her daughter Ruthie. It was an amazing day. So we walked all the way to the river in Old Town Alexandria.  The girls napped in their strollers and the moms had a great visit!

It was a great day all the way around.

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Another Cute One

Just thought I would post another cute picture of Caroline all ready for church. (She slept through the entire service this week).  We are really lucky to have a set of beautiful hand-me-down (or really hand-me-loan) dresses from our friends the Johnstons. This one is particularly cute with its little pink flowers at the top and the lace sleeves. So, I thought I would share.

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Quilt From Aunt Laurie

We got a very exciting present in the mail the other day - - a quilt from Caroline's Aunt Laurie (my sister). 

Now, you have to understand that getting a quilt from Laurie is quite the event. When my sister was younger I was figuring out how to sew, quilt and all sorts of domestic things. My brother and sister were out back playing soccer and climbing trees. (Yes, I have always been this nerdy).  Laurie has always been able to sew, but doesn't do big projects as a general rule. 

But Caroline was given a real honor when Laurie made this quilt for her. As you can see from Caroline's face, she thinks it is pretty nice.  You can't really see this from the picture below, but the pastel blocks below are actual gingham squares. Some of that gingham was from when I was a baby. One of the yellow stars was made from my favorite fabric from when I was a kid--Strawberry Shortcake, of course.  The quilt is super soft and the backing is made from lavender fleece.  So cozy! It works well with the lavender afghan my mom made for Caroline.

So, this blanket is now Caroline's favorite place for tummy time.

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Breakfast with Dad

Jack will post details of Caroline's first Father/daughter excursion this morning. But, I thought I would post the very cute picture of their breakfast (while I was at home enjoying quiet).

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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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