Tubes

Caroline got tubes today! Hallelujah!! I hope, hope, hope this means the end of ear infections for a very long time. It's been a long couple of months with constant ear infections since Thanksgiving.

We were referred to a wonderful ENT - Dr. Sutton with Carolina Bays ENT - and couldn't be happier right now. It started out a rough morning - Caroline couldn't have anything to eat this morning. We had to be at the hospital by 7 and the surgery was scheduled for 8...so by 7:30, she was a fussy little girl. And screamed for about 3o minutes. And when I say screamed, I mean screamed. She really is like her mama - she gets MAD when she's hungry!!

(This is before she realized she was hungry...)

Anyways, they came and got her a little past 8...she had calmed down at this point and was actually sizing up the nurses that were taking her away with that stare of hers - it was really kinda funny. So, Wally and I returned to the OR waiting room. The nurses called us at 8:14 to let us know the procedure had started and we were back in the consultation room at 8:19 with Dr. Sutton. The procedure took 5 minutes! FIVE!! Everything went perfectly. Dr. Sutton did say that there was a lot of fluid in her ears and that we might notice that she gets startled a little more easily at loud noises - noises that wouldn't have bothered her before.

After about 15 more minutes, I was able to go back and see her in the recovery area. By this time, she was able to have a bottle - which she sucked down in two minutes flat. After recovery, we went back to another recovery room where we waited for our discharge instructions. If you could have seen Caroline, you would have NEVER known she just had tubes put in her ears. She was talking and waving to all the nurses - even flirting with some of the men she saw!

On our way home, she talked and talked and talked, and I thought for sure she would have gone to sleep. Nope. Once we got home, she ate her cereal in no time and, again, I thought she'd be ready for nap. Nope. The little stinker didn't take a nap til 1:45! I don't know how she does it! At any rate, she's been an angel today. She has played as hard as she can and hasn't skipped a beat. I, most definitely, made a bigger issue out of this than I needed to.

First Valentine's Day

Better late than never, right? We had a fun Valentine's week!! I tried my hardest to take a picture of Caroline every day before school in her cute little outfits, but trying to get her to sit still long enough to take a picture is like nailing jello to the wall.

Cute ladybug shoes!

Then, on the big day - look what Cupid brought (the bags were for Daddy)!!

Caroline wore the adorable shirt that Meredith made

Caroline with the pretty flowers that her Daddy got her!!

Tuckered out from the days festivities!

I had to post this one picture - Caroline got stuck between the mattress and our footboard. HAHA!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

...aka the Great Blizzard of Horry County. Not only was this Caroline's first snow - and probably last for many years - this was the most snow that I have ever seen, too! (Except for the fake snow when I went skiing with my youth group in high school.) As much as I hate winter and cold weather, I must admit that it really was beautiful. We took Caroline out in it for a couple of minutes - she is very snotty and probably has 2 ear infections, so I didn't want to keep her out long. But, she wasn't too impressed anyways. Maybe when she's older!!

Wanting to go play with the big kids...

Double Digits

Caroline turned 10 months old last week! Can you believe it? I can't. She is growing like a little weed and doing something new every day. We are still having problems with her ears. I plan on taking her in tomorrow morning to get them checked out again and we also have an appointment with an ENT on Friday. Wish us luck.

Milestones:

• Walking behind her little baby stroller. And, boy is she quick.
• On two occasions, she has taken one step; although, I'm 99% positive she doesn't realize what she's doing. Daddy and I work hard on this every night, though!
• Tried most all Stage 2 and Stage 3 meats except for the ones with tomato sauce. Mommy is too scared to try those - tomato sauce makes Caroline's little tummy hurt
• Still sloooooooowly introducing table foods - she had her first grilled cheese sandwich this weekend and ate the WHOLE thing! (minus the crust). She's also had some chicken & carrot pasta pick-ups (barf) and some blueberries.
• I finally introduced juice (and I use the term "juice" loosely. It's more like 1/8 juice, 7/8 water - more like "flavored water")
• Still on brestmilk! (Hooray!)
• Tries to say everything you say. Kinda. She studies your mouth when you talk then you can see her little mouth moving as fast as it can go - usually without making a peep!
• One top tooth is about half way thru while the other one is barely poking thru...it kinda looks silly!!! On a side note, she has figured out how to grind her teeth...drives me CRAZY!
• I don't think I have ever posted this on a milestone, but I need to mention that she is a WONDERFUL sleeper - 11 hours at night (like clockwork, too - no matter what time she goes down, she wakes up in almost exactly 11 hours) and about 3 hours total during naptimes throughout the day. In addition, we just lay her down awake and she goes right to sleep within minutes - fuss-free 99.9% of the time - we couldn't be luckier!!

Likes

• Her paci in upside down
• Bathtime
• The pull string on her old-school telephone - she pulls it thru her mouth behind her bottom teeth - Wally and I say she's flossing
• Speaking of flossing - she LOVES for me to brush her teeth
• Eating
• Squealing and/or talking
• Her Little People Princess lego set
• Her vegetables to be warm, fruit to be room temperature - she's very picky :-)

Dislikes

• Getting her nose wiped
• Taking away something from her
• Being told "no"

Snow & Valentine's Day pictures to come soon!!