Smiley

Hard to believe that Caroline is seven weeks old this week! She's growing so much every day and I can't stand it! She's awake more during the day and she's getting more interactive. She just opens up her big gorgeous eyes and takes it all in. She tends to chit chat a little bit and has started to smile and laugh in response to us - not just at the wall or when she's going to spit up! Its the best feeling. I got a picture of one of these little smiles and some video but I couldn't figure out how to get it into just a tiny clip so the picture will have to do for now.

Smiley girl!

Sitting with Auntie Allie checking everything out - if I remember correctly she seemed intrigued by the lamp!

Our First Family Vacation

Last weekend we packed up the car

and Caroline

and we headed up to Vermont for the weekend. We had an awesome time! Caroline did very well on her first long road trip. She slept most of the time and even allowed us to get some extra sleep! We're looking forward to going again next year!

On the porch with Dad

One of many diaper changes in the trunk!

It was a bit chilly - good thing we brought her strawberry hat - Thanks Lindley!

All cuddly before bed

First time "swimming" in the river - it was cold!

Riding up in the gondola to the top of Mt. Mansfield

Family portrait on the top of Mt. Mansfield - Caroline wasn't too thrilled with the whole experience

In the hammock with Dad

Posing as a cow in Stowe

My new favorite product

So now that my life revolves around an adorable but incredibly needy little human being with the occasional load of laundry and shower thrown in somewhere, it takes very little to excite me. I've discovered this new product that I am in love with. Before I reveal it let me explain the events of today.

Our little lady still doesn't know what the heck a nap is and still need major assistance in getting to sleep. So today I was at my wits end - I was tired of walking, swaying and bouncing and I had run out of songs to hum, so I decided to take her for a walk. I needed to rush because if I delayed it any longer she would get cranky so I set up the stroller as quickly as I could, popped her in and we were off. We ended up walking for half an hour - almost two miles - and I was wearing flip flops (I rushed out remember?) Good thing it was a beautiful day. So anyway, we arrived back home and Caroline was sound asleep. I did a mini celebratory dance and carefully carried her inside. I decided to leave her in the car seat - didn't want to risk waking her up if I moved her - and I settled down on the couch to catch up on some sleep of my own. I wasn't laying down for two seconds when the little munchkin decided to start stirring. I let her go for a bit and she seemed to settle and thought I was in the clear.
Well guess finally napping made her incredibly relaxed because she decided to poop like crazy and then proceeded to fall back asleep. So I went to check on her and discovered that she pooped in such mass quantities that it was way too much for the diaper to handle - translation. . .poop EVERYWHERE! So I carefully scooped her up, changed her and put her in her bassinet hoping she would go back to sleep - and thankfully she did.
I took the destroyed onesie into the basement along with the cloth diaper we use for protection in the car seat (yes this has happened before) along with a few other items to throw them in the wash. This is what they looked like:


Now for those of you who have no experience with baby poop I'll explain in a nutshell. . . it stinks and it stains! So I whip out my new favorite product (drum roll please). . .

Shout Advanced spray is the best! I could hug the person who created it. Here's why - after simply spraying the Shout spray on the poop covered items and one run through the washing machine this is what I got:

Isn't that amazing? Wow - do I sound like a salesman or what? Must be all those late night infomercials! I would also like to add that with a little assistance from my best friend the Tide pen I was able to clean off the tiny bits of poop from the car seat cushion and my pants. (unfortunately I had to throw that Tide stick away after that - couldn't imagine using it again - and for those of you who know me and my tide pen, you know it was a little painful)
So that's my story. Hope you found it interesting and I hope you find Shout spray as amazing as I do. I'd also like to add that once I finished cleaning everything and had the option of napping I wasn't feeling tired anymore and ended up folding laundry and watching women's Olympic beach volley ball longing for six pack abs and a nice tan. And I ended up with a blister from the flip flops. Oh well, at least one of us got to sleep today!

Slideshow

Erik put together a slideshow of pictures of our beautiful baby girl from the past few weeks. She's lucky to have such a talented daddy! Enjoy!

The best 40 bucks I've ever spent

So what do you do when you have a 4 week old baby who refuses to nap during the day unless she's being held?? Buy a sling of course! After a few days of attempting to do everything one handed and growing more and more frustrated when I would put Caroline in her crib, slowly sneak out of the room and celebrate when I got downstairs only to be disapointed less than 30 seconds later, I gave in a got a sling. Let me tell you, I've been using it for less than an hour and I'm in love with it already! I was trying to use the Baby Bjorn we have which I totally love, but she's a tad too small for it and it doesn't really support her head well. So I needed an alternative. Not only is the sling comfy but its stylish too! It almost makes me feel pregnant again the way Caroline lays in it. I told Erik he should put it on and I'd stuff 40 pounds of something in it so he could at least have a taste of what the final months were like!