There are so many things we take for granted in life.  God blessed Nathan and I with our beautiful baby girl with no issues or complications.  We have been unbelievably fortunate in all things.  I say this in relation to the TLC television show The Little Couple.  This show is about Bill and Jennifer Klein, two little people, married and living in Texas.  They have faced a great deal throughout their lives related to their physical condition.  But they are incredibly positive, funny, and caring people.  They have been successful in love and in their professions.  Over the past two seasons, the show has documented their attempts at having a baby of their own.  They have had to face the fact that it is too dangerous for Jennifer to bare a child and have now gone through two cycles of implanting embryos in a surrogate.  They have lost one pregnancy and the second time around they didn't even achieve that.  It's incredibly heartbreaking.  It makes me so thankful for how simple it was for me to conceive, carry, and deliver my precious baby girl.  I hope that all those who have been blessed with healthy pregnancies and healthy children to remember its not always the case for everyone.  Be grateful every day.  I know I am.

So April is here.  This is going to be crazy!  We'll be in DC for Passover and Easter, then my parents come to State College the next weekend, then Nate's parents come the next weekend.  And we even already have plans for that last weekend of April.  This will probably help with my neurosis over the fact my child is turning 1 in 3 threes.  I won't have much time to really sit and think about it too much.  I also have 3 papers to write over the next month (I think).  Summer will be here before I know it.  I can't wait to get Carrie out in the nice weather and at the pool this year.  Hopefully she'll do more than just sit and stare at the water like she did at 2 months old :-)  See as how much she enjoys bath time, I think we'll have a good time at the pool.

OH! And how could I forget to mention...Carrie's first hair cut was this weekend!  She did an awesome job.  She got to sit in a little red car in the salon and enjoyed every minute of it.  Tory was great with her.  Pictures soon.  And hopefully video.  I'm currently having a fight with my video camera and computer regarding the upload from the camera to the computer.  GRRRRR.

Caroline is  super crawler now!  Check out her moves!  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi0C2Mqyf0g&list=UUOd8Ar7uepKo4s-z-dN2IpA&index=1&feature=plcp

Caroline Month 11

Sooo....my daughter turns 11 months old tomorrow.  I am having the most difficult time wrapping my mind around the fact I am going to have a 1 year old.  I am having more difficulty than I did with actually giving birth. That was part of the process.  It was what was supposed to happen.  My baby is not supposed to be growing up.  I can't even believe this!  She is jabbering away all the time.  She LOVES when we walk her around.  She doesn't want to sit down anymore.  She just wants to stand all the time.  She likes to scoot around our table all the time now.  She's such a little person now.  I can't express how much I love that little girl.

The beginning of the 2011-2012 academic year is up and running.  Welcome Week programming is officially over however work life has not slowed down.  I'm working on approving all of our groups as they using our brand new online re-registration system.  This is a daily activity that has no end in sight.  Nate is super busy at work as well with the CVC Reverse Car Raffle coming up in the next few weeks.  I'm taking an Independent Study this semester to help get me through the Qual Exam come January.  PRAY FOR ME! Caroline is rolling over now; not every day yet but she's doing it more often.  More so for Nate, but oh well.  She still lights up my day with that beautiful smile!

Life Update

So Peanut is now with us....Caroline Jamie Leopard was born on April 21, 2011 at 8:44am. She is the light of my life. I can't explain how much I love this little girl. Her smile is the best thing in this world to see. She's almost 4 months old and has changed so much in so little time. She sleeps through the night, smiles all the time, and loves breastfeeding. Bottle feeding is not going so well but we've seen slight improvments. Here's hoping she gets used to it soon as the school year is rapidly approaching. She has yet to roll over but has rolled up on to her side several times. She looooves the noises of her daddy. He can make her laugh 9 times out of 10. I love watching her with him.

Peanut update

Today marks 20 weeks in my pregnancy. Tomorrow we have our next ultrasound and hopefully we'll be able to find out the gender of the baby. We have begun getting the nursery ready. We have painted the room blue and green. It still has some finishing touches to be done. We have also gone to register with my parents. We are expecting the arrival of the crib any day now. We are still in the market for the rest of the furniture. My students here are pretty excited about the baby; its pretty sweet of them. They get into hearing each week how big it has gotten.

We spent Thanksgiving this year with the Leopards. We experimented with driving out to MO. We broke it up by stopping to stay in Columbus with the Brown's. But on the way home we drove the entire way. It sounds like Nate wasn't a big fan of that arrangement :-) We had a nice time with his family. We got to play a lot with our nephew, Jonas. He is about 20 months at this point and a lot of fun. Man, does he love his Grandpa! It's so adorable! I would post the picture of me taken with him but its terrible so I won't :-)

We plan on heading to Massachusettes for Christmas day to see the Grossmans. We also get to see their new Vineyard house! Yup, they have achieved their dream of having a home on Martha's Vineyard. It is so exciting for them. I don't know if I could be prouder! We'll get to see the Matthews' there as well so lots of time with Andy and Leah as well. I'm really looking forward to it. Then for New Year's we'll be flying back to MO. I love this time of year.

I also have to take my qualifying exam again. Not super excited about that at all!

So lots of stuff going on right now. Stay tuned to see what we are having! :-)