Happy Birthday, Sweet Caroline!

My sweet girl is the big one!  I know all of us parents say it all the time...but it's amazing how fast children grow.  It's been an amazing blessing to be this girl's mommy and I'm so thankful to do it!  Caroline is full of spunk...always on the move, smiling, laughing (especially at her brother) and constantly the center of attention everywhere we go.  On more than one occasion people have done double takes to check out my little "Gerber Baby" (if I had a dollar for every time I've heard this...girl would be going to college on that bank!).  One time someone even came into a store we were in just to admire Caroline's cuteness, then left to go get her friend to come back and see this sweet girl. 

Caroline keeps me on my toes, that's for sure!  Girl is into everything all the time!  She's my little Tasmanian Devil leaving a trail of destruction behind her as she babbles on incoherently :)  I've already had to call poison control on her once when she bit open a dishwasher detergent package.  (Yes, the cabinet was childproofed, but we have definitely reinforced it since then!)  She and Sutton ("Bubba") are best friends and usually getting into some kind of trouble. Caroline has always loved playing in the bathroom and that's where you'll find her if she sneeks off and things are quiet.

We celebrated in ONE-derland for her first birthday party.  My little "Alice"!  I had so much fun planning this party.  I hate to say it, but parties for girls are so fun...ribbons, flowers, bows...it was too perfect. 

Since I tracked Brother's progress on here, I feel it's only fair to do the same for #2:

5 weeks - smiling and cooing 

6 weeks - laughing when mommy blows kisses on her belly

8 weeks - rolling over and sleeping through the night (started during her first trip to the beach!)

4 months - scooting around and no longer sleeping through the night (mommy went back to work!)

5 months- sitting on own
6 months - full on crawling (watch out world!), eating baby cereal
8 months - cruising, clapping and waving "bye-bye", back to sleeping through the night now that mommy is no longer working!
10 months - blowing kisses
11 months - walking, saying "Mama" and "Dada"
11 1/2 months - standing up unassisted
12 months - says "Ball", signs for "More", "All-Done", "Yes" and "No"; waves arms around wildly for her awesome dance moves!

Love that little love!! 

Here we go again!

I'm back with a new day job and a new look.  It's been a challenging transition for me to move into the stay-at-home mommy gig...but I love every single minute with these two cuties:

I'm still wondering where my time to workout, cook homemade organic meals, sew all my children's clothes and maintain a spotless home went to...  Well, at least you can tell we're having fun!

New Beginnings:

Are you as tired as I am of looking at that pic of me with blue hair?? Thanks, Tonya, by the way ;) I know I made it look good!




I'm getting ready to embark on a new stage in my life..."Domestic Engineer" ;) ....and I'm really praying and thinking about what this stage of my life should look like. I tease Chris that I'll be on the couch watching soaps and eating bon-bons! Really, though, the Lord has blessed me with certain talents, and though I may not know yet what their purpose is outside the corporate world of biomedical engineering...I am committed to using them for His purpose.

Obviously, a large portion of my time and talents will be used in the mission field of my home. I love this article that our pastor's wife shared about missional mothering.

One of the verses I always cling to during times of big transistions in my life is Jeremiah 29:11, and while studying the other morning, I revisited this verse. This time much of the chapter really spoke to me as I read about the Lord speaking through Jeremiah to His people in exile. Now, don't get me wrong here, I really don't feel like living in Memphis is quite as extreme as the text I'm relating it to, but I often feel my heart is somewhere else. I don't think this literally describes my situation, but what I'm feeling is the thought that God leads you to live somewhere and it is there you should build a life, pray for your city and it's leaders, and pray the city would prosper and find salvation in our Lord.



Jeremiah 29:4-14


4 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” .....11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the LORD......


Today I read in the Memphis news that a Leadership Memphis study says 1 in 4 children living in Memphis is in dire poverty. That shocked me! I knew there was a lot of poverty in the area, but 1 in 4 children! There is a mission field right at my doorstep, and I'm praying we can do something to help.

Conversation with an almost 3 year old:

Sutton: "Mommy, what are you doing?"

Mommy: "Curling my hair"

Sutton: "Why?"

Mommy: "To make it look pretty. Do you think it looks pretty?"

Sutton: "No. (Thinking). It looks like mad hair. I like blue hair better!"


Hmm...What do you think??



Maybe I should go for a Marge Simpson up-'do look!



Love that little stinker :)

From Caroline:

For anyone out there thinking of shopping for the newest addition to the Alley family, Caroline said she would love ANYTHING from this site:

http://www.teacollection.com/girls-dresses

Swoon! Love love love these little dresses. It IS fun having a girl :)

My Sutton-Button:

with so much attention on our sweet little caroline, i always try to make sure our buddy sutton-button gets lots of special treatment.

before our girl's arrival, we moved out guy into his "big boy room" - it's not quite finished in this pic (i'll have to take some new ones), but sutton and i both agree it's awesome! we moved him straight from his crib to his big ol' queen sized bed. sutton's favorite part are the stripes daddy painted for him :)
here he is in his "fort" feeding his friends their "food"!

the week before caroline was born we declared to be "sutton-week". we made sure to do something super fun every day, even if it was a trip to sonic and the playground.

here are my boys on sushi night of sutton-week. mmm....edo!

fireworks at the redbirds game was an awesome way to wrap up sutton-week!

sutton's "end of the school year" program. he was so precious! and no, i did not know they'd be wearing tie-dye, or i would have never sent him in plaid shorts!! you can see one of his best buds, lilly may, next to him and amelia on the back row. they're singing "mr. sun"...love it!

after the program was a celebration with loads of animals and pony rides!

other sutton-summer-fun included making ice cream with poppy:

a trip to the huntsville botanical gardens (this is how the water play started...before you knew it he was sitting on the water spraying out of the rock!):

his new found love of star wars thanks to his light saber:

bowling with uncle casey and mr. frank (aka fred):
but the most fun of all is his new forever bestest friend, baby sister caroline :)

love those kiddos!!!

My Baby-moon:

So I've heard of the "baby-moon" where a hubby and preggo wife retreat for some alone time away before the baby comes, but I propose another definition of baby-moon, one where most of your time is spent not doing much but falling madly in love with your new baby - which is where I've been :)

Honestly, I'm not sure how 3 months have flown by so quickly. I'm blessed with such a sweet little love and want to just sit and soak in every precious minute with her and her big brother. I often think back to where we were this time last year and it feels like a whole lifetime ago. I hate that though, because I never want to take for granted the amazing miracles my children are and what a loving God I serve each day caring for these lives He created.

I hope you don't mind if I record a few things about my sweet ones, so I'm sure not to forget:

- The Pregnancy - Being pregnant with Caroline was much much harder on my body than being pregnant with Sutton, but I kept going knowing that I would do anything for my sweet daughter. I carried Caroline much higher than Sutton and could barely breath some days and I was also sicker for longer...but again, wouldn't have had it any other way! I gained exactly the same amount of weight with her that I did with Sutton, though it's not going away as quickly! I had another embarrassing elevator encounter at work (maybe you'll recall the one I had during my Sutton-preggo days): Someone said to me as we were exiting the elevetor, "Well, it's about that time!" I replied, "Yup, time to get to work this morning."...the door opens and he walks out saying, "I meant it's about time for you to have that baby." (Oh, ya, you're referring to the giant belly I'm carrying it around, sorry!).

- The Delivery - After much prayer and consultation with my doctor, friends and family, we decided for a scheduled-C (for various reasons too personal to put on the world-wide-web). It's a very weird thing to walk into the hospital at a scheduled time knowing the time down to the hour that you will be holding a baby in your arms!

- The Baby - She's absolutely the sweetest little thing I've ever met. I know Sutton was a good baby, but I remember lots of fussiness. Maybe it was his formula, or maybe I'm more comfortable with a newborn now, but she really is a GOOD baby. She's quite the picky eater though. Mommy really has to watch what she eats and think about whether or not Caroline would like it! Caroline started smiling just before 5 weeks of age and cooing a few days later. She started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks (I know it was so Mommy could get lots of rest on that beach trip!) and just started laughing for me when I tickle her tummy. She's also doing very well grasping for objects and loves her play-time on the floor more than Sutton ever did. Sutton, by the way, is an AMAZING big brother. So proud and protective of her right from the start. His first words when he saw her were, "Is that baby Corban (his best friend, Dakota's, baby brother)?", to which I replied, "No, this is your Baby Sister...Caroline!". He was so excited he kept saying, "That's MY baby sister! That's MY baby sister!" He still calls her Baby Sister most of the time and introduces her to others as "Baby Sister Caroline". Love it!!

We've been busy traveling the country showing off our "Sweet Cheeks" and "Sweet Rolls", but I have to say I'm really loving the every day life of a family of four we live - though it certainly has its moments!!