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...