Caroline these days.

Hi from around these parts. I feel like I should apologize for not posting more last week, but then I remembered that I have a "real" life, a job, a house, a child, and a threshold. And last week I crossed that threshold by more than a little bit. I was going to blog and show you the finished fence area, but then Hubby got in a car accident and we have been dealing with a roughed up car and all the insurance hassle. It was just a small fender bender, he's totally fine - his car..... - well we will see. Let's just say that Eleanor in her big ol' white Buick, probably drove off without a scratch.

But otherwise things around these parts have been busy and exciting. Caroline is officially eating solid foods! This change in her routine is causing some chaos, a change that rippled through all of us in one way or another. I am now trying to squeeze in two "real meals" a day, in combination with our other mommy-daughter feeding routine. I am also making my own baby food, which although is relatively easy, still takes time.

Our toaster cabinet has also been officially commandeered by Caroline's dishes. Although the meals are fairly simple, I nonetheless unpackaged all the the plates, bowls and sippy cups I had waiting in the wings.

But we still have a few bottles in the mix, since Caroline is still unsure about the whole pureed food thing. The looks she gave me when I first fed her rice cereal - it was clear she would much rather move straight to the Filet and call it a day.

She is a big fan of her "feed bags", as Hubby calls them. The "feed bags" are those little mesh bags you can see in this photo above. It has a really nice little ring handle, and the bag opens up. You can fill the bag with a banana or melon, or what have you, and the mesh strains the food - so you don't have to worry about your little munchkin chocking on any large pieces of food. Caroline is a big fan of bananas. Although I am not thrilled with the name "feed bag" as it makes her sound like a horse. Next thing I know, she'll be wearing it around her neck. 

Along with having to squeeze in real meals during the day, Caroline has been fighting some serious skin aliments. I can tell she's pretty uncomfortable. I wish I knew what was wrong. We have tried our fair share of creams and home remedies. We have changed her lotions, our laundry detergent, her diapers. We have had "all cotton clothes days" and we've had "no clothes days". Some days look good, some days look terrible. Yesterday fell somewhere in the middle. We have a few new theories, and after a visit to our pediatrician, hopefully we are on the right track. It's so hard seeing your child sad and unable to explain why.

But back to baby food, making my own was much easier than I thought. So far I have made peas, carrots and sweet potatoes. We have also tried apple sauce. The jury is still out on all of the above. The oatmeal and rice cereals, however, seem to be working just fine. So in a pinch, I know she will eat those. I wanted to wait to the six month mark to start solid foods (as recommended by the AAP), but Caroline was having trouble sleeping, so I thought maybe she was just getting more hungry these days. We only missed her six month birthday by about 9 days, which I still consider a win.

My mini food processor I received for Christmas last year has come in handy. It's the perfect size and has fewer parts that my full-sized food processor. Fewer parts equals less clean-up and less work for me. Done.

Caroline has also started suffering from night terrors. Our pediatrician said that she is really quite young to experience night terrors, but the signs are pretty clear. In the last 6 weeks, she has probably had four episodes. She will be sound asleep, and will start crying, totally out of no where. And I mean screeching. It's like no cry I have ever heard. It would just rip your heart right out of your chest, if you heard it. Never have I felt more helpless or more sad for my little girl. Last night, Caroline had a rough night, with her night terror lasting almost 45 minutes. Hubby immediately googled what to do, and it turns out you basically "do nothing" and they slowly fall back asleep. It's not easy to watch, let me tell you.

On the bright side, however, we got our Christmas tree this weekend. We started running out of time on Sunday, and almost didn't head out. But then I realized that the holiday is a mere two weeks away. If we didn't get out tree this weekend, well chances were good that we would end up totally tree-less. And that just wouldn't do. So we got Caroline all ready, in her Cindy Lou Who hat, and headed to the local tree lot. And let me tell you - we picked up a beauty. I'll show it to you once it's all decked out. Promise.

Caroline's "Cindy Lou Who hat" was actually from our holiday photo. I had a couple ideas for our Christmas card photo this year. During the freak snow storm we had back in October, I tried taking her portrait in our front lawn. We have a lovely cable knit bunting, that would have made for a perfect holiday card, but Caroline just laid in the snow, looking more like a slug than anything remotely festive.

So instead, I set up a photo "studio" in her bedroom, with a large white towel and a white knit blanket. I think it turned out well. The hat was just perfect.

And speaking of portraits, Caroline turned 6 months, so we needed another white onesie shot. She wasn't in her best form this past weekend, but we managed to get a couple shots that were acceptable. So happy 6 months Caroline! I can't believe you are already halfway to turning 1. My how time flies. I hope the next six months go smoothly. I promise to give you more bananas and figure out what's bothering your skin, even if it means trying out every lotion and potion I can find. I also promise, next time you have a bad dream, I will wrap you in my arms and hold you so tight. I will make all the scary stuff go away and will never put you down. You can sleep with Mommy, who will keep you so safe.

Hubby was chatting with a friend this past weekend, who mentioned he was recently asked what it was like to become a parent. I can't say I would have articulated it any better. He said, "I don't have words to describe how wonderful it is, or to describe exactly how you change. But knowing how I feel now, I would never want to experience life without being a parent."