Recently my mom and I decided to take the kids to Bayou Bend, one of our favorite places, for a story time event and to just let Preston run around in the gardens and play. It's so gorgeous there-if you've never been-you'll feel like you've been transported to another country!

I had the best of intentions for this day. I got the kids all dressed up in coordinating outfits so I could snap a great photo of them together. Heck, I was even in coordinating clothes. We were ready for our picture perfect day. Of course, I have to mention that Preston has been going through a tad of a, shall we say, terrible threes stage? I mean, he is so un-cooperative it's almost funny. Except that it totally makes me want to pull all of my hair out and scream and it's not funny at all.

Let's show the day in pictures and really keep it real here, shall we.

Here is the face we had most all day. We walked into story time, a sweet old lady is reading a story in a historic building so quiet you could hear a pin drop, there's maybe only like 3-4 other kids there, and he immediately started throwing a major tantrum- kicking and screaming. I'm holding him in my arms trying to wrestle with him to keep him quiet, and just as everyone started to look at us and I asked him what was wrong, he starts screaming "It's BORING! It's BORING!!" O.M.G. It was pretty hilarious, because if you ask me it was pretty boring looking and I can't blame him. We jetted as quickly as we could and went back to the gardens.







Yep, tantrum again. He didn't want to sit there and take pictures. Surprise, surprise...

Hmm...maybe if we pretend to play a game I can at least get a cute picture of just him. "Preston, can you play peek a boo behind the tree and then jump out and scare me?"


That worked for a split second, not exactly a framer but that will do.

I was able to capture some super sweet moments with my Mom and Caroline...love these...




Time to try for another picture. Wait, there's a table with cookies right by the spot we are going. Joy. Who made the mistake to give him a cookie right before? Hey Preston, do you think you could put the cookie down for a second so Mom can get a darling picture of her kids?

 Well, it was bound to happen...I got behind. This post will cover 5 and 6 months, but I didn't write anything down at 5 months so I can't remember much. All I know is that she is oh so cute! Getting cuter and cuter each day! Let's see...


 At 5 months...

• Began eating rice cereal and oatmeal at 4.5 months old. Loved it!
• Began sitting up by herself at 5.5 months old. She loves to see what's going on around her now.
• Still not consistently sleeping through the night. Wakes up once or twice.
• Happiest baby around.
• Fell in love with her big brother this month. Everything he does makes her crack up and I noticed she starts looking around for him when I take her downstairs after her nap.

• Started her first vegetable- sweet potatoes- at 6 months old- she loved it.
• She is so determined that when I am feeding her she is going to GET.THAT.SPOON! She will grab it out of my hand and then I have a little trick where I just let her hold it and I get another one to feed her from. Problem is, she grabs that one too so now she's double fisting her spoons.
• Laughs all the time! Her favorite thing is watching Preston go up or down the stairs. We have no idea why she finds this funny but she gets the best belly laugh every time.
• Still wakes up once or twice in the night. (this is getting a little old but trying to enjoy my special moments with her while they last)
• She's so observant and smart...and focused. She could literally stare at something like the remote control for 15 minutes. She loves to just look all around her and see what's going on. She definitely does not want to miss anything.
• Still naps 2-3 times a day.
• Still exclusively breastfed other than the fruits and vegetables we are starting.

I think we are officially done with the car crying! Yay! This little miracle started when we drove to San Antonio for Thanksgiving. I had been so worried all month that it would be three hours of non-stop crying, Instead, something wonderful happened...silence. The whole way! Baby girl slept the entire way and didn't wake up until we pulled into Grandma and Grandpa's driveway. She did the same thing on the way back and now she's doing great with all the other times we get in the car.

She's back to being the happiest, easiest baby on the block. Here are some tidbits about Caroline at 3 months:

• Stopped being swaddled at 2 1/2 months and has done fine. It didn't change her sleeping patterns at all and she looks more like a human when she's sleeping and less like a penguin.
• She started sleeping upstairs in her crib at night shortly after she turned 2 months. She is completely un-phased by the change. I on the other hand am missing the convenience of having her so close for that 4 am feeding. Instead I zombie-walk all 55 steps (including 18 stairs) to her bedside.
• She's finally stretching her feedings to 3-3.5 hours apart. (It was every 2 hours for so long it seems like)  We're still not on a strict schedule AT ALL--each day is different--but I'd say on a typical day she wakes up at 8 AM (I have to wake her so we can get Preston to school on time), then eats around 8, 11, 2, 5, 7, 10, and then like clockwork--she wakes every night at 3:58 am for that 7th feeding. I have experimented a little with cutting out that 10 PM feeding with some success, but other nights it kind of makes her wake earlier than 3:58 and then I don't get that long 5.5 hour stretch of sleep that I so desperately desire. I'll probably try cutting it out at 4 months. That's a day that will make me a very happy mommy as I can go back to my 8 or 9 pm bedtime! Lame, I know. I love sleeping!
• Naps are not very constant but that's my fault. She definitely gets a long morning nap around 9:30-11. Sometimes this will be a 1.5 hour nap, sometimes a 3 hour nap, but I will not ever wake a sleeping baby. Especially not for the sake of "keeping on a schedule." After that I just let her fall asleep whenever but I don't really force it. My motto is- do whatever to make MY day easier! :) Second time mom thing, for sure!
• She just LOVES watching Praise Baby in her swing. It's genius because you don't need to feel guilty about your 3 month old watching TV if it's all praise music, right?! I think so. I don't know where the AAP would stand on that ;)
• Size 6 month clothes right now.
• I started back to work this month and holy MOLY mother of stress. I am BUSY! I seriously don't know how I am going to juggle 2 kids, housework, cooking, friendships, a husband, a full-time job, and my design work on the side. Something is going to have to give, but for right now I'm desperate to make it all work. Sorry friends if I haven't been as active in all the group texts lately! I think it's just going to take some time to adjust to all that I have on my plate. Right now I'm just trying not to have a heart attack. :) Being a working mom with one child was totally manageable. One more makes everything so complicated. You should see what I have to pack just to get out the door each day. It looks like we are on our way to the airport for a week long trip. There's Preston's lunch and backpack for school, Caroline's bag to take her to my mom's, my work stuff, my breast pump complete with all the washed parts, etc, etc. This ain't easy, yall. It's going to get easier. It's going to get easier. Right?! Cause right about now I just want to say peace out and hop on a plane to Maui. All by myself. For a month forever. Just kidding, kind of.
• Still no pacifier, and she definitely sucks on her hand but not her thumb. Sad I bought 10 different types of pacifiers, including 3 adorable $10 monogrammed pacis that I saw on pinterest (lol) before she was born. I am ridic. I know. Let me know if you know someone who is having a baby and naming her Caroline. She will be the luckiest lady on the planet.

Here are a few more pictures of her at three months...






And now, just for some entertainment, let's have a little fun writing captions to all her crazy expressions...