The first crawl...
Well, it has happened! Caroline has been trying so hard to get on all fours this past week or so. She always gets one leg stuck under her. These past two days she has gotten up on all fours a few times, but just rocked back and forth. Tonight, she got up on all fours and then actually crawled a few "steps" or whatever you would call it. She was so slow and particular about it, really paying attention to what she was doing. It was neat to see, but I immediately thought about how interesting things will be now!

Caroline has been able to move lately even though she isn't crawling. She slides on her bottom and rolls around. Yesterday she was getting really close to the fireplace and right when she got near the tile I said "Caroline, no." She actually stopped and turned and looked at me. I was impressed that she did this, then it turned funny. After turning and looking at me, she smiled really big. It was so hard not to laugh. Two more times she turned around and got closer to the fireplace and I told her no. She stopped again, looked, and smiled real big. The next time she did it, she just stared at the ceiling real still when I told her no. Then, one more time she moved toward the fireplace, I said no again, then she turned part way around and started giggling. It was so funny! I picked her up and moved her. I know it probably doesn't sound funny on here, but it was quite funny when it was happening. It is just the beginning, I know!

Here is a picture of the back of Caroline's head. It shows how much hair she is getting.

Update on the Prayer requests I mentioned in the last post:

*Hunter-feeling much better and went to school today

*Dustin-actually making some progress. They took him off kidney dialysis today to let his kidneys work on their own. They hope he holds where he is now and will maybe change some more things tomorrow. Here is a link to his Carepage if you would like to receive all the updates yourself or leave an encouraging message for the family. You have to creat a log in and pass word, then look his page up by typing his carepage name, DustinFuller. (Click here.)

We are doing well here! It has been a busy but good week. Caroline is growing so much and I can see that before too long my day will be quite different. Yesterday morning Caroline got on her knees all by herself, completely. She tries to all the time, but always has one foot stuck under her. I thought Ryan had helped her get on her knees, but he didn't. She hasn't done it since then, but it won't be long! She doesn't seem to care that she isn't crawling yet, though. She can get from one side of the room to the other in a matter of minutes by scooting along on her little bottom. It is quite amusing. So, even though she isn't crawling yet, I still have to keep up with her more than before she was mobile. I can only imagine what crawling will bring!

Prayer requests:
We have a lot of health things going on in our church right now, so here are some requests if you would like to be praying.
*Dustin- an 19 year old at our church who has a staff infection. His body went into septic shock over a week ago and he has had several close calls since then. Today they decided to remove him from a ventilator for his blood/lungs because he had really made some great progress the last 24 hours. When they did, his medical status dropped quickly. They had to rush to begin surgery to place him on an EMCO machine. Well, when they opened his side to insert part of the EMCO, a lot of gasses were realized. At this time, this seems to be a blessing because it realized pressure on his lungs, and he started being able to use his lungs again! So, now, they have put the EMCO on the back burner again. Just pray for healing for him, and for his mom Michelle and her parents. Today is Dustin's 19th birthday.
*Hunter- young man in the youth group who has pneumonia

PICTURES!

Caroline LOVES eating cheerios! Here was a funny picture a few days ago. She didn't even know the cheerio was there.

The fan was on and she couldn't stop staring at it.

She was really checking out her sock.


Working hard on crawling. She is in the position most of the day.


Just smiling

Thank you for your prayers!

Caroline had her appointment with the pediatric orthopedic doctor this morning. It was a very positive experience and we left very pleased with what we learned. The doctor was great and Caroline was actually giggling and laughing uncontrollably while he was doing all these things/tests with her legs, feet, knees and arms. He did some measuring with the x-rays and said that everything looked right on target for her. The discrepancies on the x-ray were actually not abnormal for her age. It was just something to do with calcification. He did some more precise measuring and said that the difference in leg length is more like 1 cm., then 1/2 inch, which is slightly less than measured at the pediatrician. (We don't know if it was measured wrong at the pediatrician, or if God had begun to heal the difference in length! We choose to believe that God has been healing her, as we have prayed!) He told us that the internet will scare us if we look up leg length discrepancy and it will tell you all the procedures used to fix that. He told us that he does not see any reason why she would ever need those things done. She didn't have other signs of abnormal growth. He wants to monitor her and see her in 6 months to make sure the discrepancy in leg length is not getting bigger, and it may even be the same by then. What a relief to leave there on that note. We praise the Lord for a positive appointment. We give Him all the glory. Thank you for praying for us.

Pictures

Caroline dressed for church on Sunday morning:


Caroline playing:

Hanging out with Daddy:

Ryan buzzed his head on Saturday night, but first he made a mohawk for a picture at my request:

Craft of the Day!

Ryan and I are going to a Diaper Pounding for a couple in our church on Sunday. (The husband teaches Sunday School in the youth department.) I decided to make a diaper cake, which I have never tried before, so that my pack of diapers wouldn't be boring! The top needs a little work because it doesn't look symetrical or perfect :), but I am going to wait to adjust it once I get it to the shower. I wanted to show the family a picture of it, so here it is.

Valentines Day, 9 Months Old, and Prayer Requests

Happy Valentine's Day to all...a little late. We had a great day and had a yummy fondue dinner to celebrate the special day. Caroline wore her "Daddy's Little Sweetheart" shirt, so she celebrated and didn't even know it.


Caroline is now 9 months old! Ryan and I have such a hard time believing that 9 months have passed since she was born. She is such a happy and contented baby and such a blessing to us (and others) each day. Our trips out anywhere take longer than they would if she didn't smile at everyone around us. They have to stop, talk to her, and wait for her sweet smiles. She loves the attention and just smiles for everybody! We always hear, "She's such a happy baby!"

Caroline loves to play with her nesting blocks, rings, and teething toys. She hits them together, chews on them and throws them around the room. She is not crawling yet, but can still get around! If she wants to get somewhere she just slides on her bottom, or rolls until she gets there. She will crawl one of these days, I am sure.

I went to the grocery store one day last week and she had people laughing everywhere. She was either fake coughing and/or doing a screaming type thing up and down every aisle. I couldn't make her stop. It amused the people we kept passing on the aisles.


Grammie and Poppie sent Caroline a singing/dancing dog. It is pretty funny when it moves and sings. Caroline gets excited about it, moves her arms around, and dances. We recorded it, although when we tried to record it she payed less attention to the dog and more to the camera. So, at least you can get some idea of her reaction.



At Caroline's 9 month appointment she weight 21.2 pounds (75-90%) and was 28 1/2 inches (75%) long. She has grown so much!

We have a few prayer requests for those of you who are reading our family blog.
(Background: I don't think we have every shared about a few of Caroline's medical issues from the past. She was diagnosed with torticollis when she was around 2 months old. This is a physical issue involving the muscles in her neck, where one side of the muscles are not as strong as the other. At that time, the doctor advised us to do some exercises several times each day to stretch the muscles. This helped and we saw progress until around 6 months old. At her 6-month appointment, the doctor (and us) felt like she wasn't making enough progress so they prescribed physical therapy for her. It took over 2 months to ever get the therapy started, on behalf of the state, but we were finally visited by a therapist in January and have seen her twice. Praise the Lord he is in control, because she made great progress in the two months in between that! You can still pray for the Lord to heal her head and neck muscles to full healing, and praise Him for the healing he has already done.)
Our second prayer request is for something we just found out last week. Ryan and I had been suspecting for a few weeks that Caroline's right leg was a little longer than her left. At her 9 month appointment, it was confirmed that it was 1/2 inch longer. That is a significant difference in an infant, so they sent us to get an x-ray. The x-ray showed that her right hip ball joint is bigger than the left. We dont know what that really means at this point, but will be seeing a pediatric orthopedic surgeon on Monday. Ryan and I are praying for complete healing before we even get to that appointment. If God chooses not to heal her, than we are praying for strength for us to handle whatever may need to be done. And overall, for her to not feel any pain. Praise the Lord she hasn't, as far as we know!

We just wanted to take a minute to update you on what is going on with Caroline. It is hard to explain all of it without being really wordy in writing, but it was not possible to call everyone and explain. Thank you for your prayers for sweet Caroline. We will keep you informed of how she is doing!

Now, here are some fun pictures of her this past week or so!

Here is Caroline's really concerned look. She didn't know what to think of being 9 months old!



My mom gave me my first baby doll before Caroline was born. It is an old (obviously) Fisher Price one that can be machine washed. I cleaned it up and gave it to Caroline last week. She loves it! Ryan thinks it is so sweet how she looks for it and loves to play with it. It is so cute.

Check out the belly...


What a cutie...

For the past two days Caroline has been squinting her eyes and blowing out her nose. It is quite funny. The more we laugh, the more she does it!
Of course, this video does not do it justice.

Caroline wearing her slippers...



...wearing capris on a warmer day...


...trying out her new car seat! She was way too big for the other one. She loves to sit up.

Fun Pictures

Caroline went down for a nap the other day and I went in to check on her after a few minutes. She was sound asleep with her hand holding onto the crib rails! It was so funny. Ryan came home and got to see it before we moved her!




The other day Caroline was playing on the floor and she fell over into her empty toy basket. It flipped and she just laid in it for awhile. It was funny! She was even kind of laughing!




Caroline in her new headband...


Cutie...


For a year or so now I have been reading about "Geocaching" in Family Fun Magazines and others. It is basically a big scavenger hunt to find coordinates using a GPS. At each place there is a box or something to log your visit and sometimes trade fun objects. (Read about it online...there are better explanations!) Well, we decided to try it out yesterday and went on our first trip. We found one near a neat little waterfall! Maybe it will be something fun for us to do as a family.



Playing in her PJs...


Playing with Daddy...

What a Busy, Exciting Month!

It is hard to believe that January is already over! It was a busy month, but a good one. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, we went to Disney and met family for the marathon. I didn't get pictures up the last time I posted about it, so below is a link to the pictures. There are also pictures of our visit at Grammie and Poppie's house that weekend also.

Disney Marathon Weekend Jan. 2008

I put up pictures from our beautiful snow fall before, but wanted to add a few photos from the day after. So, I just made a link to all the pictures below:

SENOIA SNOW

Caroline and I went to Melbourne and Orlando for a week-long visit. We had a great time and ended the week by attending Katie's baby shower.

Florida Visit January 2008