Saddle Mountain

Jeremy had the great idea to go camping last weekend. He also worked it out so I could plan and pack the whole thing while he just showed up to go after work on Friday. How convenient! We invited my brother's family and had a great time.


The kids were impatient for dinner and the trail mix ended up spilled on the ground. That didn't stop them from snacking. I believe the m&ms were eaten in about 5 seconds flat.


Once dinner was ready, it was delicious. This was my very first dutch oven cooking experience, unless you count girls camp when I was 11. It turned out great!


Ethan, after enjoying some s'mores.


This is Carolyn pretending to sleep in her sleeping bag. Trust me, it was not this easy to get her to bed. She thought the tent was the coolest thing ever and couldn't stop exploring. Jeremy ended up sleeping on the ground in Carolyn's assigned spot, while she joined me on the air mattress. And I ended up on the very edge of the mattress by the time the night was over. She definitely needs a crib to keep her confined while she sleeps!

Daddy-Daughter Bonding Time

Announcing...

Success!

Photographic evidence that Carolyn sleeps without her pacifier now. It was much easier than expected, but Jeremy and I were too traumatized to try again after the disaster in December.

Oregon Zoo

Beginning of the trip:

End of the trip:

Today's high was supposed to be 77. Well, we left the zoo when it hit 90. Carolyn is still recovering, but she at least she LOVED the elephants.

We are trying again...

Back in December we posted about Carolyn's ability to scream for almost 6 straight hours when we tried to put her down without her pacifier. Jeremy was the one who gave in that time and I admit to being so tired I didn't put up much of a fight. So for the last seven months, one of us has gotten up to give Carolyn dropped binkies at least once a night. Jeremy carried the bulk of this responsibility when I became pregnant and getting out of bed to move was enough to make me run for the bathroom. We're passed that stage, but I still let him get up. Saturday night he was up 3 times (I only heard one. I must have been tired). He finally decided he would withstand her crying and we would start to wean her from her pacifier at sleep times.

Sunday morning, she colored a box and we put all the binkies away so she could give them to the new baby. And she was fine. Until nap time. Then she was the saddest little girl I have ever seen. We didn't have a tantrum, just quiet crying while she asked for a binky. I didn't think she'd actually fall asleep. She never has before without a pacifier in her mouth. But she did. We got 20 glorious minutes. She also did a great job for her first night. It was not easy and I imagined trying to get through the day without any sleep at all. But I was able to sleep from 11-4:45. Not ideal, but it will get better. We are very proud of her. And Jeremy has promised not to give in.

Who doesn't want to look like a Disney boy?

Carolyn has what I call "Disney boy hair." It is the oh-so-flattering hairstyle where you comb your hair from the back of your head forward. I'm sure you've seen it. It's quite common these days, but usually not on little girls.

Exhibit 1: Some dude from a Disney show. He was also in Adam Sandler's Big Daddy, but his hair didn't look like this then.



Exhibit 2: Some dude from Hannah Montana. You can ignore the girl. Her hair looks fine.
As you can see, Carolyn rocked this hairstyle. There wasn't much we can do about it. Her hair just tended to grow this way. A comb was pretty useless, gel didn't have much hold. Pigtails worked great, but she tried to pull them out all day.


But last week it finally became time to give those bangs a trim. It's amazing it took two years of hair growth for her bangs to finally get in her eyes, but this was really past due.


Here's her hair before:


and after:


It surprised me how making her bangs a little shorter helped the rest of her hair part in a style I appreciate a lot more. We'll be trimming them again shortly because they grow fast and seem to be longer than this picture shows. But I am willing to give her a trim every few weeks just to keep the hair out of her face and make her look a little less like Zac Efron.

Family Photos

I am pretty sure I am done with picture studios. Carolyn's 18-month photos turned out so well without all the hassle of the mall, so we used my friend again for her 2-year photos. I just think Megan's better than the studios. Plus, Carolyn knows her and is willing (periodically) to let me step back and cheese for the camera by herself. How nice!





We even let Megan take some family pictures. It is not as easy to get cute pictures of the parents as it is to get cute pictures of just Carolyn.




And here, this does not look like I am only 17 weeks along, but, man, my daughter sure looks cute!