Eight months old!

Our beautiful little girl turned eight months old! She is such a blessing! She is starting to crawl, mainly just the army crawl. She has also pulled to stand on the coffee table a few times. Nothing is safe anymore! Her hair has gotten so long that she wears it in a ponytail most days to keep it out of her eyes. She is very vocal and talks all the time. She says mostly d, g and b syllables, but she has started with the m's. She also does a funny little whistle under her breath whenever she is playing. We got the awesome little invention of the net on a handle to put food in and she loves it. She likes strawberries, apples, ice and absolutely loved it when we put a pickle inside!

Thanksgiving was fun! We had it over at Jenne and Bryan's and it was a great day, so there was lots of playing outside.

Here are a few of her showing off her BIG personality!

She has a ton of toys of course, but we also love to play with the regular things around the house. She likes to take her bows and socks out of their basket and put them back in. When one of the Christmas presents came in the mail with lots of bubble wrap, we had tons of fun. I did most of my Christmas shopping on Cyber Monday, just like always, and she played great. She wanted to "look" at a pottery barn kids catalog and it looked like a dog had gotten a hold of it!

Our first Bedlam football game was disappointing, but we were still all smiles!

She definitely reacts whenever we get home from being gone. I walked in on a Saturday that I had to work all night before and she started clapping! It is so sweet!

This month taking her month pictures proved to be a difficult task because she was so silly. Here are some outtakes!

We got professional pictures done by Melissa Mize the end of October and love them! They turned out so well!

Seven Months Old!

Our little Caroline turned seven months old today! As usual, time has flown by. She has such a big personality. She definitely is not a big sharer yet and if she is not the center of every one's attention, she will let you know! I have no idea where she got that from! She still has not taken to crawling, but loves to walk around. She will hold onto your hands and walk around the house. She sits up great and tries so hard to get up. Once she finally figures it out, she is going to be unstoppable!

She didn't really dress up for Halloween because I was gone, but we did carve pumpkins.

We also took another zoo trip, unfortunately sans daddy again, but it was such a nice day! She loved the flamingos again. We also stopped and played at the giant globe fountain. She played for probably five minutes in the water, laughing and giggling.

Caroline and I were able to go to Ponca and spend Alix's birthday with the family. She decided she was hungry too and sat in a regular chair at the table while I fed her. She joined in on the conversation.

We went to the park for the first time. She really enjoyed swinging. Once it gets warmer, we will definitely need to put a swing in our backyard!

I went to Philadelphia for the my physical exam portion of my boards Oct 31-Nov 2. We drove because one of my good friends did a rotation in PA this month and we didn't want her to drive the 20 hour trip alone. We stayed in Indianapolis at the halfway point and I was surprised at how pretty it was. The test went pretty well, just long. We had to see 12 different patients and acting all day long is tiring. Julie and I rushed to the airport for our flight and got back to OKC right about midnight. My bag did not make it, but luckily got to our house the next night. Mike picked me up and we got back to tulsa around 2 am. Poor Mike had to turn around and be in Stillwater around six. I am spending Nov and Dec in Okmulgee where I round with a doctor for about 30 mins in the morning and then I am on my own the whole day. I do pretty much everything-see patients, write orders. It is crazy, but I have been doing hospital medicine for the last five months so I feel pretty confident. Typically there are two students, but it is just me, so I am busy. Last Friday I interviewed at OU internal medicine and was offered an early prematch contract. I had really been doing some thinking lately and had decided that this was where I felt I should be. I accepted the position and was able to cancel my other interviews (because who needs the added stress?). It is nice to have the weight off my shoulders. Prematch contracts can only occur between D.O. students going to an M.D. program, not D.O. to D.O. or M.D. to M.D. In order for me to go to an M.D. residency, I would have to forgo the D.O. match, so this gives you the guarantee. So starting July 1, 2010 I will have my first job. Our residency is based out of St. John's in Tulsa and our clinic is at 41st and Yale about two miles from our house. The campus is only a few years old, so the buildings are beautiful. Only five more months and I am a doctor!

Six months old!

Caroline is six months old!! Where did the time go? She had her six month appt on Friday and she weighed in at 17lbs 5.5 oz (80th%) and was 27 1/4 inches long (93rd%). I cannot believe she has grown over two lbs and two inches in two months (haha rule of two's-Meckel's anyone?). Sorry only a few nerds like me will get that. She did great as usual and handled the shots like a champ. Each time she is crying a little less and showing less tiredness and fussiness afterwards.

She has had a few exciting weekends in a row. The first weekend of Oct. Mike had drill and she and I went to the zoo. It was a great day in the low 70s and wasn't too crowded. She really enjoyed the penguins, flamingos and monkeys. She was screeching right back at them! By the end she was wiped out and we skipped the last couple animals, popped a paci in and she had fallen asleep before we made it to the car! The first one she was watching the penguins, the second is in the "rainforest" and the third is at the exit.

Last weekend we went to the Tulsa state fair. She liked looking at the cows that walked by and the rabbits in the cages. The fair is such a weird atmosphere and especially with all the flu going around I was glad that I wore her in her carrier. She lasted about two hours and then was ready for a nap and again fell asleep on the was to the truck.

This weekend was OSU homecoming and we went and hung out at the bagel shop for a few hours to watch the OU/Texas game. A few friends and relatives stopped by and got to see her. The homecoming parade came right by the bagel shop and we stood out to watch it. The grand marshals were Garth Brooks, Barry Sanders and Robin Ventura so that was awesome to see them in person! I would have liked to take her to walk around, but it was pretty chilly if you weren't blocked by the wind, so we headed back home to watch the game on TV. Much warmer, plus it was an 8:15 game and she was asleep by 8:30.

Today she and I went to the aquarium in Jenks to celebrate her 6 month birthday. It was neat and she liked watching the fish go by. There are a couple otters that run and chase each other that you can get close to and she thought they were funny. There were exhibits on Oklahoma fish and frankly it made me never want to swim in a lake again. They also have a huge shark exhibit that you walk through. It was hard to get pics of us b/c I only had my iphone and no one to take her picture, but I tried. In the darker picture you can see a shark swimming above our heads!

She has really been doing well at sitting unassisted and can do it for quite a while when she wants to. A lot of times she doesn't want to sit down and just wants to stand. She loves to jump and bounce and dance. I think she looks like she is doing the riverdance! She also started eating fruit and she loves them! She does great and barely gets it all over her anymore. She also holds her bottle by herself (although I never see that since I have only fed her a bottle twice in her life!) and I let her hold the spoon and put a little food in her mouth. She is getting so big I can't even believe it. She has started saying more consonants, like goo, baa and la. She really thinks she wants to crawl, but still hasn't gotten it down yet. I know she will soon and that is scary! Our house is not ready!

Here are some more pictures from Caroline's baptism.

We are getting professional family pictures done next weekend. Hopefully the weather will be nice for us. Mike left this morning for Scottsdale, AZ for an ortho conference (and golfing) and will get back on Friday. I have to go to Philadelphia for my physical exam boards. It will be my final hoop to jump through on my road to becoming a doctor. After that it will be smooth sailing. I cannot believe I only have six more months!!!This month I am at St. John's doing internal medicine with the OU program. I go to Okmulgee for the next two months to do my rural hospital rotation. Interviews for residencies start next month. It is definitely an exciting and scary time!