Sip N See party

On Sunday my good friends Jackie and Courtney and Jackie's mother-in-law hosted a sip-n-see party for Caroline to meet all my Houston friends. It was such a nice party! Cute girly decorations, yummy food, lots of cute girly clothes gifts, and of course great company! I am so glad to have such a great circle of friends here!!

smilin at Aunt Jackie!

Cute letters to decorate with in the nursery!

Nana was very helpful. So glad she could come!

one of my oldest friends, Julie

She was very well behaved for her party!

Love all you girls!!

first family day trip

Last weekend was full of fun events! On Friday my mom and sister drove in to Houston; it was Emily's first time to meet Caroline! Caroline was mesmerized by her Aunty Em...we think she is fond of people with spectacles! Aunty Em hung out with us for the evening and got to feed and bathe Caroline. Miss C was a bit fussy here and there but overall she was pretty good for her visitors.

meeting Aunty Em for the first time!

On Saturday my mom and Bill and I and the baby packed up the car for our first family outing to Brenham. I had been wanting to see the wildflowers in the hill country for a long time, and with a new baby and my mom in town it seemed like the perfect time to finally go. We stopped halfway at the outlet mall to hit up Carter's for baby clothes...just can't resist shopping for her!

The drive to Brenham was gorgeous! Fields of wildflowers in every shade imaginable...blue, yellow, orange, pink. The bluebonnets were particularly beautiful.

We of course tried to get a few good photos of baby in bluebonnets. Good idea in theory...not so good idea when it's high noon and the sun is beating down on her face making her squint and burning her delicate skin. Bad mommy.

She was not thrilled with being forced to participate in the photo shoot.

This is about as good as it gets for a 7 week old scorching in the sun in a field of flowers. Oh well we tried.

Had to have mom and dad hop in for a few photos as well!

After touring the scenic countryside we went on to the cute little town of Brenham. We made the mistake of attempting to eat lunch at a place called the Bread Basket. If you're ever in Brenham and thinking of eating here, DON'T. We placed our order and waited over an hour to get our food and it never came. We finally decided not to waste any more valuable time waiting for food and just left. Good thing Caroline's lunch was a ready-to-feed bottle...at least one of us got to eat!

We hit up a few shops in town and nearby. My favorite find was the baby consignment shop....lots of cute clothes! I had to limit my impulse to buy everything I picked up. Mom's favorite find was the giant metal chicken, a joke between her and her best friend Susan. (Those of you that read the blogess post about 'choosing your battles' will appreciate as well!)

It's Beyonce!

We finally headed home down Highway 6 and it was just as gorgeous as our drive up...so scenic. We will definitely be making this an annual trip! Next year MaMa needs to come!

routines

We are slowly starting to make some progress on setting some normal routines in our household, and it feels so good to start to get back to 'normal.' We have the sleep routine down pat, no problems. Ever since she was 4 weeks old when we stopped waking her up to eat every 3 hours she has been 'sleeping through the night' with no problems! Bill goes to bed around 8 pm since he wakes up so early. I stay up with her and give her the last bottle around 10. She goes right to sleep after the bottle and doesn't wake up till about 3 or 4 am. Bill gets up with her and feeds her and she goes back to sleep till about 7 am. So with our handy little schedule everyone is getting a full night's sleep!! Fantastic. She also takes quite a few naps during the day so I can usually get one or two chores done around the house.

Winnie is a great nap buddy!

Taking a shower is a skill I have just about mastered. It must be done right after the 7 am bottle, when she's either fast asleep or peaceful and content. I put the bouncer in the bathroom so I can keep her in full view while showering. Shower lasts no more than 5 minutes max if she's awake.   The trick I discovered today is the hair dryer...it puts her right to sleep!! If I hop out of the shower and immediately start blow drying my hair she passes out and I can finish getting dressed in peace! 

Loving the bouncer!

As soon as the hair dryer comes on it's lights out!!

This past Sunday we made our first appearance at church. Getting all 3 of us dressed and out the door on time was a bit of a balancing act but we got it done. She was very good at church, just dozed off and on, didn't cry at all. I'm sure we won't always be this lucky at church but at least our first venture was successful!

Such a good girl at church.

I've even started venturing out of the house with her to run some errands, which is what I appreciate the most. We ran to Target to get more formula...and walked out with more clothes and an Easter dress. Shopping for her is an impulse I just can't resist. We also ran to Michael's to get goodies for her Easter basket!

Both times she was pretty cooperative, didn't fuss much. The only snafu is when we're driving...she likes the car in motion and is not pleased when we stop. She'll fuss till the car starts moving again. Hence I've started planning our routes with the least number of red lights and stop signs possible. But at least I know she should do pretty well on our first road trip back to Louisiana in a few weeks! Looking forward to seeing everyone!