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!!