How Caroline Plays with her Animals...

Scarf Maymay is the priest. Kanga is the mother of Purple Maymay (somehow - her animals have the ability to parent different species, apparently). Purple Maymay is getting baptized.

Attached

My baby is attached to me... literally. This is where she spends a lot of her time, and she'll continue to live here next to me for several months. She will learn to crawl, and then to walk, gradually moving away from me. So for now, I will cherish this time of physical attachment. I will try to savor the sweetness of her face nuzzled against me, the warmth of her body, the evenness of her breathing along with mine. All too soon this will be but a memory. And one never knows what the future holds... what if this is to be my last baby? I want to carve her into my memory, the way she is at this moment. Tiny. Helpless. Smooth skin, blonding hair, pudgy knees... asleep against my body.
Cecilia sleeps in her warm pouch, her "womb with a view," as a way of gradually acclimating to life outside my body. She can doze as needed as I go about my business - mostly, interacting with Caroline and doing household tasks. It doesn't seem like it now, but one day she will actually prefer to sleep in a bed and not squished up against my body. So I will keep her close while I can.

Baby mine, don't you cry
Baby mine, dry your eyes
Rest your head close to my heart
Never to part, Baby of mine.

Independence Day 2008

We celebrated on the 4th by going to the First Friday concert downtown. I dressed the girls in red, white, and blue outfits. Cecilia is wearing the dress that Caroline wore on her first Independence Day. We took a picnic dinner of pita sandwiches, tomato mozzerella basil salad, and some other things that I can't remember. ;) There were inflatables from Sparkles set up along a closed portion of the street. Caroline seemed nervous about all the big kids at first, but then she did fine. We got a $5 bracelet so she could go on the inflatables over and over. So, a small price to pay for otherwise free family etertainment.

Cecilia enjoyed the music, and she even took a little nap despite the blasting music (yay for nursing in the sling!! :). We didn't go see the fireworks at Ridge Derry - too late for us, starting at 9:30. Maybe another year.

I hope everyone had a festive holiday!

New Testament Basics with Caroline

Caroline, Cecilia, and I were visiting my parents recently because my grandparents were in town. At dinner, my mom (the proud grandma) wanted to show off some of Caroline's intelligence. Caroline was talking about Good Friday and Easter, so my mom asked her about it. Caroline was talking about Jesus "praying and crying in the garden." My mom asked her who else was there with Jesus, and Caroline said, "Mary Magdalene." Of course, my grandparents were impressed that she could actually pronounce "Magdalene" correctly.

Then Caroline said, "And Peter was there, too... but not Peter Rabbit."

My Hippie Children

Both of these shirts were made for Caroline by people at WinShape Camps. Cecilia now fits in the small one!

An important meeting

Not sure what the cows had to say, but it looks like it was quite important. Look at how attentive the Beanie Babies are. Caroline claims they were having a picnic, but she's not fooling me. The cows are clearly in charge - the authority figures. Perhaps in an effort to regain popularity, the Beanies will be joining forces with Chick-fil-A in their "Eat mor chikin" ad campaign. I'll be keeping my eyes on these characters! Stay tuned for further developments.

Ensa

This is Caroline's "best baby doll," her favorite toy for about a year now. Her name is Ensa, which Caroline told us is short for enchilada sauce. More recently, she's told us that Ensa's full name is Ensa Encha Ladasuce. Ensa used to take turns with Piglet, Pooh Bear, Purple Maymay, and other stuffed animals as Caroline's companion, but now she is always chosen first before all other animals and dolls. She rides in the van with Caroline every time we go somewhere, and she sleeps with her at every nap and at night. Caroline sets Ensa up with her own dishes before dinner most nights, she carries her in her doll sling, she nurses her when she's hungry or sad, she checks her up with her doctor kit, and she bucles her safely into her carseat before she "drives" anywhere. Ensa's sisters vary from Gianna (Bath Baby) and Busy Baby to Heart Cat and Amber Maymay, and her age varies from "a baby" to age three. Any time Ensa has to be left alone, she "cries silently." In fact, she's been silent for a while now... she used to make noise when she was squeezed. Her batteries began to die, and she made increasingly disturbing sounds. Under her clothing, there is no way to get to the batteries besides cutting the cloth open and then sewing it back up. I only did that once. Caroline doesn't seem to mind the fact that Ensa no longer laughs or cries when squeezed. She loves her unconditionally, the way all mothers love their babies.

Kissin' Cousins

We went to Huntsville over the weekend for my nephew's baptism. We had a great time hanging out with family. We got to go swimming while we were there, too! After the baptism, we had lunch, and then Caroline posed with Andrew for some pictures. Surprisingly, she didn't mind being licked!

Congratulations on your baptism, Andrew! You are a child of God!

Too funny...

We went to lunch with Daddy at his work today and got home a bit late... so Caroline had "rest time" with books instead of a nap. Apparently she had other plans... fast asleep in a pile of books! When I think back to the days of nursing her to sleep, wondering if she'd ever be able to fall asleep by herself, and then I see this, it makes me smile in a bittersweet way.

La Leche League Area Conference 2008

We attended this year's LLL conference in Helen, Georgia, at Unicoi State Park. This was the second year the conference was held in this beautiful setting. I went to many sessions ang gained lots of helful information. Chris entertained Caroline and took her to a few sessions led by park rangers as well as some of the adult sessions, too. Cecilia hung out with me, of course. We had a picnic dinner one evening, with yummy sandwiches - homemade bread, even! The kids enjoyed looking at the river and playing on the playground. Cecilia enjoyed the picnic in her own way:

After the picnic, we headed back to the lodge for the Bluegrass Jamboree (or Jambaroo, as Caroline called it). Adults enjoyed the music while the kids enjoyed dancing together.

Cecilia just rode around with me to all the sessions, napping when she felt like it. Here she is after one of my Saturday sessions:

Saturday evening, we had a new leader induction ceremony at the lake. I officially became a leader right after Christmas, so I was included in the ceremony. There were several new leaders this year! We all gathered on the shore of the lake. Seven candles on a wreath were lit to represent the seven founders of La Leche League. The wreath was placed on the lake, where it floated out a little ways (some of the older kids had fun retrieving it later!). Then each new leader received her pin and placed a candle in the water at the shore as her sponsoring leader threw a pebble into the lake to illustrate the "ripple effect" of how new leaders are trained by other leaders, and La Leche League has spread across th world in the last 50 years. Marian Tompson, one of the original seven leaders, was there. She handed me my pin, so that was really special... one of the founders who'd begun this organization 50 years previous was now giving me my pin as a new leader!

Afte the ceremony, we gathered in a picnic shelter near the lake and had Girl Scout cookies. Caroline made a friend and had a lot of fun playing with her.


On Sunday, we enjoyed walking around Helen for a bit before heading home. We went to the bakery and bought some pastries as a treat, and we went into several interesting shops, including the toy store. which has unique toys, several wooden ones that are handmade on site. Helen is such a fun little town, and it will be a great place to come when the girls are older and we can take them tubing in the river here!

What a fun and educational weekend!!