on the move!

Carys is slowly gaining mobility she will roll over and go after whatever is in sight... here are pictures of her trying to "read" (eat) my book...

our first family vacation

Our first family vacation went really well and Carys was (surprisingly) a perfect little angel while we were away from home. She didn't really have any serious meltdowns the whole time we were there, not even on the 7 hour car ride. We left for Nonna and Grandpa's house at night and besides waking up a couple of times to eat, she slept the whole drive.  I think Carys was trying to tell us that she is truly a beach baby and by the beach is where she is most happy :) She also LOVED spending time with her Nonna, Grandpa, and uncle Patrick! Although Chris wished him and I could have gotten out more (it's still hard for me to leave the little one for more than a few hours), I had a good time. It was my first time having someone else (besides Chris) watch Carys, so obviously it's going to take time for me to feel completely comfortable being away from her for longer periods of time... but for some reason Dad could not understand this. Like I told him... she's only 4 months old and it's normal for me to feel this way! Anyway... here are some pics from our trip...

 

in the backyard

watching dad and patrick play horse shoes

the days of her sitting still are long gone

beach bums!

Carys and her uncle Patrick

*we have a few more pics that i will post after grandma sends them to me :)

Carys' first beach trip!

We are leaving for Myrtle Beach tomorrow to visit Chris' family. This will be Carys' first loooong car ride and first vacation at the beach.  I'll tell you all about our vacation when we get back in a week :)

Carys and Isabelle

A few weekends ago, Chris, my Mom, and I went over to my cousin's house to visit her, her husband and their 2 month old baby girl Isabelle. Carys and Isabelle are only 2 months apart so we can't wait to watch them grow up together, I think that they are going to be the best of friends :)

the bottle...

Up until recently I was a 100% baby to boob breastfeeding mom (that is not an actual term, i just made it up). However, having to be available to Carys whenever she was hungry was becoming very limiting (for me). I wanted someone, anyone, especially Chris, to be able to give her a bottle (of my milk that I pumped with this awful machine) from time to time, so I could start having a life again. I wanted to be able to go out for longer than two hours and not have to worry that my baby is at home starving with no milk. Soooo, after several frustrating failed attempts at trying to give Carys a bottle, she surprised me one day and just started drinking out of it... like she had been doing it for years! Yay!

So, now I'm a 99% baby to boob breastfeeding mom. Pumping SUCKS and that is why she only gets the bottle 1% of the time... but I'm thankful for that 1%!

lil' Redskins fan

shoes = optional

Her sandals lasted about 35 seconds... she wanted to play with them rather than wear them :)

CWC

Christopher William Clipper & Carys Willow Clipper

happy 4 months Carys!

Carys is 4 months old and lets just say she is becoming quite a handful!

She's weighing in at about 12lbs these days and she is 23 inches

here is her serious face

 So at 4 months our once ALWAYS sweet, rarely crying, docile baby has let another side of her personality shine. Chris and I have decided that Carys is a little DIVA! Of course she is still a sweet, cheerful, smiling baby, however, we now know that she does have a very cranky side. Her moodiness started at about 3 months and it's even worse now. It's not all the time (thank you, thank you, thank you!) but sometimes she gets in these moods where she just wants to scream and cry and that's it. Before 3 months Carys was such an easy baby, she rarely ever cried so Chris and I got spoiled bc now our precious little girl has a bit of an attitude! I think this sudden onset of on and off crankiness can be partly attributed to teething bc she is gnawing on everything and is drooling like crazy. 

Also, she is obviously growing up and now she REALLY lets us know when she's unhappy. I thought the "4th Trimester" (the first 3 months of a babies life) was the hardest to get through, but that was the easiest part! All she did was sleep, eat, and poop... now, all I can say is that some days are a true test of patience.

The awesome part about motherhood, and parenthood in general, is that it's full of ups and downs, but in watching your baby grow up there are so many moments that make you laugh and smile that it makes getting through those frustrating and stressful moments a little bit easier. 

Aside from Carys' new "attitude," she is doing really well and growing so fast!

she still loves our walks and its more apparent now that she also loves nature... she looks up at the trees and enjoys the scenery

 her socialization skills are really coming out now and it's so cute... she reaches out for people now and tries to touch your face

and an update to my rollie pollie post Carys can now roll over all by herself now... she actually started doing it right after I posted that she hasn't done it on her own yet. i guess she was like "i'll show you, i can do it by myself!" lol

 

here is Carys with her aunt Sugar Plum Fairy (my bff Mindy)... we love visitors :)

 

she also likes it when i put her in her seat and let her play with toys

 

and here is baby girl and I right before her bedtime (a picture with me in it, shocking i know!)

 the picture is a little blurry bc it was taken w/ my mom's phone... clearly not as sophisticated as my iphone camera ;)

 And when our day is over Carys goes to bed anywhere between 6:30-8:30pm and she wakes up for the day 12 hours later around 6:30-8:30am (i guess depending on when she went to bed). she still wakes up about 3 times a night to eat which is starting to get exhausting for mamma but hopefully she'll be sleeping through the night soon!