A Meeting Born From a Meeting

Longtime FCC (Friends of Caroline's Corner) member Jackie (co-worker of mine) had to come to Atlanta for a meeting recently and we used it as a chance for a better meeting, the first-ever between her and Caroline. 

As a bonus, we all used Face Time on Jackie's iPhone to chat with FCC co-leader Meghan as well.  It was a good day and as you can see, Caroline was feeling the love.  Thanks to all of you who suppoort us and Caroline!

It was a party!

The birthday celebration/weekend/festival has come and gone. Father Ween and The Mommy have almost recuperated, and Caroline is now acutely aware that things covered in bright paper are most always very exciting toys and probably believes they are always for her.  It was a great party.  Not only did the food and drink turn out to be the right amount, and it didn't rain, but we were excited to have so many family and friends celebrate with us.

I didn't get to take too many pictures during the party, but below check out Caroline's new playhouse in the backyard.

And as mentioned above, Caroline definitely 'gets' presents now.  The photo below is when she really started to get excited plus she had just unwrapped her new basketball goal for the backyard (for which Father Ween really needs to buy some sand to weigh down the base so we can use it.) 

We can't say enough how thankful we are for so many people that are a postive effect on Caroline (and sometimes support for us!)  With all our heart(s), thank you-

Caroline squared

We had dinner Friday night at Canyon's Burger Company before a spirited trip to Walmart, and while Caroline was ignoring her grilled cheese for our french fries, a young lady (pictured, back left) got in the booth behind us to wait on her dad.

She had a lot on her mind. Her name is Caroline too, her daddy is 36 and her mommy is 41 and her daddy was getting her a cheeseburger and her brother likes french fries.

I keep looking ahead to Caroline's stages of development with nervous fear, though its never as hard as when that time comes (walking, talking, etc.).  I've long wondered how I will respond to the 4-8 year-old phase where kids just say everything on their mind because I'm such a know-it-all. Will I let her talk and figure things out on her own, or will I be an overbearing parent and correct what she says all the time?  At least a mix is okay, right?

UPDATE: The Mommy just let me know that I missed a part of the conversation over the booth wall.  Apparently the 'second Caroline' said later, "Actaully my name is Sidney, but I like the name Caroline."  Don't we all...

Census 2010

Get ready, its time for the Caroline's Corner 2010 Census.

So seriously... I don't really know if anyone's reading this except the couple of folks that leave comments and Caroline's grandparents (which is enough, I'm not going to quit). So if you are a reader, add a comment below, it can be just as an anonymous post that says "me" or you can leave your name and a message.

Sound off! (please!)

Her first Happy Meal

Tonight, Caroline got her first Happy Meal (chicken nuggets- we took off the fried outside), french fries, and a juice box. Maybe more importantly, her first Happy Meal toy!
I'm not sure why McDonalds would think kids get the importance of a yellow submarine, but maybe that's because I really don't like The Beatles.

So, why a Happy Meal on a pedestrian Monday night? A trip to the ER...

Caroline fell at day care today and came away with a pretty nasty lump on her noggin. (Apparently she managed to crawl off the side of a very small chair; meeting with day care about that later)

Anyhoo, though they didn't think it was a bad hit, an urgent care doc advised us to go to the ER to check. Over three hours later, we had a very hungry family and we decided McDonalds served our needs.

Caroline is okay, and asks that I not post photos of her injury, I think all the attention from the blog has made her a little vain...

Birthday housekeeping

A while back, Caroline's Corner unofficially gave a name to an collection of my work colleagues who regularly read the blog: Friends of Caroline's Corner (FCC).

Well, I'm supremely late in publicly acknowledging this, but two regular readers, one in NYC and another in Chicago, were so generous to send Caroline a birthday present, a killer sweater and cute hat and matching mittens. Jackie and Meghan, as you can see below, its a super cute ensemble! (she would not yet tolerate the mittens). It's amazing when people are so kind and gifts are so unexpected. Thank you!
Adding to the birthday relevance, we staged the photo on Matt and Ashley's motorized 4-wheeler they gave her. Caroline couldn't quite press the button long enough to ride by herself to get a video, but out of nowhere I got the photo below, which may be the best I've ever taken of her...

Our little punkin'

Not a lot of words today, just photos. Hope the Friends of Caroline's Corner are having a good fall season!

Caroline's first wedding

Steve and Jennifer got married this weekend and we traveled to Raleigh to celebrate. After stopping for a night in Charlotte with Neil, Hima and Abi (3 months, and a new friend!) we made it to Raleigh, picked up Father Ween's tux and then Lady C proceeded to kind of melt down a bit since for some reason she felt compelled to skip all naps. Two three-hour trips in 24 hours was kind of a lot for her as it turns out!
But as you can see, she recovered to be the lovely and beautiful Caroline we all know and love for the big day on Saturday. After babbling through the whole ceremony (probably wondering why her dad was standing at the front and ignoring her and The Mommy) we headed to the reception.
We had a bit of trouble keeping her from eating the flower on my tux so we decided to see what she'd do with it.
Should have known.
Caroline made lots of new friends this weekend, some pictured below top to bottom and left to right:
Chris B., Mary Katherine, Justin and Charlotte, Neil and Abi, Brian and Ian, Chris A. and the bride and groom, Steve and Jennifer!

It was a great day seeing them and the rest of the college gang and their kids.

The trip home went about as well as could be expected. We actually made it past Charlotte and to the outlet malls in Gaffney, SC before we stopped to get lunch, stretch our legs (and Caroline's mood) for about 30 minutes, but the final 30-45 minutes of the drive back into the ATL was, well, not as awesome as the rest of the trip. :)

One side note: today is Caroline's 11 month b-day! I know. Wild, right?

So, its been a while...

A blog without regular updates is useless, and loyal FCC members (Friends of Caroline's Corner), your pleas for updates have not fallen on deaf ears. Lady C was sick , then I got whatever she had (no idea how it missed The Mommy) and we are on the mend now.



Thought I'd share a photo of her sleeping, since she sacks out so hard after a day of playing at daycare now it looks like she's gone catatonic. Pretty cute, though she doesn't look comfortable to me...

I need to go catatonic myself soon so this is Father Ween signing off.

Corporate Caroline

The Mommy and Caroline came to visit me today at work and they drew quite a crowd!
Having your child in the office really underscores the need to bust one's A and get home on time. So I'm headed back to work! Happy Friday!

Gigglefest

Mixing things up today with a video of one very happy baby Caroline... I know the FCC (Friends of Caroline's Corner) were getting restless without new posts...)

As you can see, she's talking more. Translation: "I love my daddy but can't figure out why he's spent the last five minutes tickling me and holding his phone over my head. Where's mommy?"

Just two days...

Caroline, and her tired mommy and daddy are headed to the beach with Grammy and Popi and Mike, Carrie and Caiden this weekend for a week's vacation.

For Father Ween, this will be a real vacation with a dead, dormant BlackBerry and phone that will likely develop an allergic reaction to sand and sun.

What people see when they email me will be important, so I've been daydreaming of what my email's out of office reply could say....

"Thanks for your message. I'm out of the office, on vacation, a real one, so please contact xxxxxx or yyyyy if you need imediate assistance. Its our infant daughter's first trip to the beach and I haven't had a real week-long vacation since we got married. So, please put yourself in my (lack of) shoes and direct your question to one of the people listed above, and cheers!"

Probably get fired for that, but I won't know for a week, because I'm going off the grid -- unless there are cute beach photos of Caroline to share with the Friends of Caroline's Corner...

Test video

Here's Caroline playing in the bathtub with her Disco Duck (thanks
Sean and Shanna!) and my first video shot with a cell phone and sent
from the phone. Hope it works out alright!

Speak up!

Caroline may not be able to talk quite yet, but if you’ve successfully navigated the World Wide Web to Caroline’s Corner, I know you can! The FCC (Friends of Caroline’s Corner) are growing and we want to hear from you! So please feel free to leave comments… unless they are critical of my photography or parenting skills in general. FCC member Jackie V. in New York gave Lady C a shout out over email today – let’s all hear it!

Organic Growth

Loyal Caroline’s Corner reader Meghan Roskopf of Chicago let us know today that the FCC (Friends of Caroline’s Corner) is expanding virally. I guess it’s because people want to see good things on the Internet in these troubled times. I know I’d much rather look at pictures of Caroline than read another article about the death of prosperity in America.

To Caroline! And the future…