Monday, July 25, 2016

Summer fun in the 'Ham

Our first few weeks in Birmingham were filled with fun in the sun with family and friends while we anxiously awaited baby brother's arrival! 
Lots of visits to our favorite "Tot Lot" in Crestline. 
Celebrating Grandad (Caroline's great-grandfather) turning 90 and our cousin getting married! 
Wagon rides and popsicles! 
Lots of pool time with Daddy. 
Practicing our big sister skills. 
Pool and pizza with our BFF, Tessa! 
Splash pad and Zoo fun with cousins and friends! 
Fourth of July Celebration was full of fun! 
And more pool time....our little fish loves the water! And has no fear. 

These have been the sweetest days with our girl as she is about to be promoted to Big Sis status. There are many emotions involved with adding a second child to our family, but mostly happiness and love fill my heart. I know that my heart will double in size when our new addition comes and I am so glad that Caroline will have a playmate throughout her childhood years. I pray that they will be the best of friends! 




Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Alan's Residency Graduation and Moving Home

This post comes with many emotions but the ones that stand out most are thankfulness and happiness. After four (very long) years, Alan graduated from the University of Mississippi Medical Center Emergency Medicine Residency Program. He was selected to serve as Chief Resident his final year of residency by his peers and the faculty members. I could not be more proud of him.  The hours he has spent at the hospital selflessly helping others and the lives he has impacted and saved is overwhelming.  He worked so hard for this title and takes such pride in it.  His commitment and dedication to this lifelong dream of his is nothing short of inspiring. I felt like the luckiest girl sitting by him during the graduation ceremony knowing that he was my husband!  
Receiving his diploma from his advisor.
No one has ever deserved anything more. And no wife has ever been more proud.  
Our support system who serves as our strength in the weakest moments and celebrates with us at every milestone! Beyond blessed by them. 
2016 Graduating Class of the UMMC Emergency Medicine Residency Program.
Love them! Thanks for coming to show your love and support! 
The weekend of graduation was spent packing up our home. We left immediately after graduation to begin our new journey in Birmingham! 
 Que ALL the emotions. 
After being married two short months we packed up all of our belongings and headed 4 hours away from everything we had ever known. We began our marriage in this house.  We learned to love each other through good and through bad in this house. We brought our first baby home to this house.  We watched her grow for her first year of life in this house.  We watched her crawl, walk, talk, and learn. All the memories, the good, bad, happy and sad, will forever be cherished as they have made us love deeper and live sweeter than we would have ever before. I will always look back with the fondest of memories of our time in Madison, MS.  We are coming back to Birmingham with so much more love in our hearts than when we left.  God's blessings are abundant and we are truly grateful that we were given this opportunity to learn more about His love and His grace. 
But with all that said, and all the great times we had, we have never been more ecstatic to say.....
GOODBYE MISSISSIPPI and HELLO SWEET HOME ALABAMA :) :) :) 
What a true gift it is to be back home with our family and lifelong friends. During this sweet time of raising our babies we are so grateful that grandparents (and great grandparents), aunts, uncles, and cousins will be just minutes away to make priceless memories. 
The end of a chapter creates the start of another. Let's do this! 






What's Up Doc?! 15 Month Check-Up

15 months. Goodness Gracious. I know I am going to say this at every stage (until she is a talking-back-teenager) but this age is THE BEST!  Caroline's personality is in full force and she keeps us laughing and smiling 80% of the time. The other 20% we just won't talk about. Sassy, smart, and sweet are three words that sum up her cute self.  She has changed so much both physically and developmentally since turning one in March.  She has become fiercely independent the past few weeks. A few days ago, I was feeding her applesauce and she took the spoon out of my hands and started "attempting" to feed herself. Now she will NOT let anyone feed her. She hasn't quite mastered getting the food on the spoon and into her mouth, and she wears a lot more than she eats, but I am super proud that she is at least trying! Here is a recap of her 15 month check-up with our new pediatrician, Dr. McCain. I was so excited that we were able to get in with the same doctor that Mary Catherine takes Anna Scott and William to. She is so sweet and very knowledgeable not to mention located right in the heart of Homewood which makes it super convenient for Mommy.  
Caroline's favorite foods at this age are yogurt covered raisins, goldfish, pb&j sandwiches, yogurt,  grapes, bananas, welch's fruit snacks, and any type of "cooooookie." (Notice this is all snack food, we are working on that). She recently took a liking to spaghetti and ate a serving size bigger than Alan's two nights in a row!  She drinks whole milk and juice from her sippy cup and still loves her "papci" (paci).  She's rocking 12-13 hours of sleep at night and taking about a 2 hour nap during the day. She will start MDO at Dawson Baptist Church at the end of August on Tuesday and Thursday from 9a-1pm. I think she will love it as she always enjoys watching and playing with other kids she is around. 
She LOVES watching the baby first channel, walking around, reading books (she will bring them to you and get in your lap), wagon rides, bath time, swimming (no fear, at all), dancing, music, singing nursery rhymes, playing peek-a-boo, and being tickled by daddy.  She will pretty much repeat any word that I say but her favorite words that she says often are bye-bye, night-night, cookie, bites, Mommy, Daddy, MeMe (For Emme), Weeeiilll (for Will), Boo-Boo (we got our first boo-boo a few weeks go and she has since become obsessed with the word),  1-2-3 GO, doggy, and baby.  She can point to items in books and name what they are.  She also has recently started crawling in my lap to cuddle and it owns me.  She can find her nose, ears, eyes, mouth, teeth, head, knees, and (her favorite) her toes! She says thank-you un-promted and we are working on saying please. She LOVES dancing and though we are not quite sure about her rhythm, it sure is the sweetest to watch. She is also a big mommy's girl and I'm ok with that :) 

A few sweet things that she does that I want to forever remember are when you say "love the baby" she leans over and says "oooooo" and gives kisses. She will sit in my lap and when asked "Where is baby brother?" point to my stomach and lean over and give him love.  When it is time for bed I will ask her  "Caroline, are you ready to go night-night?" and she gathers up her lovey, paci, and bunny pillow, walks in her nursery, grabs the rails to her crib and says night-night. Then I put her in her crib and she waves bye to me then drifts off to sleep.  If only we get this lucky with baby brother ;) Not counting on it.  
Getting our growth measurements! 
50% for Head Circumference 
90% for Length 
50% for Weight at  20lb 15.6oz
Showing Dr. McCain how old she is! 
She was such a big girl and didn't shed ONE SINGLE tear until those nasty shots. This Momma was so proud as she has pretty much cried the entire time during her previous check-ups (refer to prior posts).  It's hard to believe that she will be a big sister in just three short weeks. My little girl is growing up and it is so bittersweet I just can't stand it. 





Sunday, June 26, 2016

Happy 1st Birthday, William Stewart Laney!

On June 12th, we celebrated William turning ONE year old!! My how fast a year goes by. He may just be the sweetest, most chunky, beautiful baby boy there ever was.  I can't wait for his new best friend to arrive. What fun it will be watching all these sweet babies grow up together.  And as usual, my sister threw a precious and perfect shower for her baby boy. We love a good celebration :) 
  
Cake time! 
And then presents!
Caroline thought that this was for her. Thank you Will for sharing!