First meal... all by myself!

This morning, we decided to see if Carlee would eat on her own. We scrambled her some egg whites and I mashed her up some fresh cantelope... and she LOVED it! I really think she enjoyed the independence of feeding herself. Now, I'm going to have to find more food she can feed herself, because after this meal, she's been getting frustrated when I try to feed her! She's such a big girl! :D

On Daddy's Watch

Excuse the mess... :) Moving and there's so much left to go through! lol... This was Friday night. I had a Boone wives meeting to go to, and while children were definately welcomed, Carlee had refused to take her afternoon nap! So, by 5:30 when I was leaving, she was grumpy and whiney, so I decided to leave her with Daddy. Around 7:30 she got her last snack and milk, and Daddy said he heard the sippy cup fall, looked over and saw this:

Water Babies

Today Daddy had the day off, so we enjoyed a few hours out at the pool. Daddy is determined to make a little swimmer out of Carlee yet. :) She enjoyed the time in the water, and the quality time spent with Daddy even more. :D I took these while tanning, I love how they came out.

Carlee has recently learned to KISS! She recognizes the word "kiss" and immediately comes in for a peck when she hears it. kisses for everyone!

I love this one:

Once out of the safe feeling of her floaty, she was quite clingy at first:
But of course, it didn't last long:
Our little underwater Princess:

Boone's Picnic Day

Today was Daddy's ship's picnic day, so Mommy threw back some vicadin (I had just gotten my wisdom teeth pulled the day before) and we headed over to Adventure Landing. We got to hang out with our friend A and her little baby the whole night. It was so fun. We played video games, putt putt, ate ice cream, and watched Daddy race A in the go carts. :D We had so much fun!

Daddy taught Carlee how to give a High-5! And it came in handy today for the putt-putt game! :D
How will we ever be able to say "No," to this face? :)

Planning Carlee's 1st birthday party

So, we're going to reserve the apartment complex's pool area for May 21 for Carlee's first birthday party. Everyone in the area, I will get an invitation to yall soon. For family and friends everywhere else, we have some things to discuss. :)

First of all, I know everyone wishes they could be here, but don't WORRY! We're going to throw her another birthday party when we're down for our visit in Texas, but nothing is set about that one yet, we're taking it one party at a time. lol... However, if you want to give little Carlee her birthday present, you have a few options:

1.) If you want her to open it at her first birthday party (May 21) please send it asap. This will also allow us to include it in the packout when the movers come to pack all our stuff up.

2.) If you want to give her a present at her Texas birthday party, (and I understand how much you want to see her open your presents!) there are a couple of options.

A.) give her money, which we will save for her, or
B.) give her what you were planning on giving her (toys, books, etc.) BUT you will have to mail it after we leave and once we get our address in Italy which will probably be late June to early July.

This is because we are having to fly from Texas to another airport (we have yet to find out where they want us to go to), and then from there we'll be flying to Italy. We can't take a bunch of boxes of toys, and plus we'd hate for them to get lost.

Some gift ideas for use in Italy:
12-18 month clothes (what she's currently wearing, and her growth spurts have slowed down, so I think she'll be in this size for a little bit longer)
2t-3t clothes for Italy (since there is one american store on base and clothes are slim pickings)
Kid friendly dvds (we have no idea what american shows we'll get to watch over there, or how often) (if you'd like to know if we have a certain dvd, email me and I will let you know asap.)
Baby/kid books
toddler toys (we don't have any yet)
someone want's to get her this, let me know so I can take it off the list)
one of those baby harness/leash things... lol, I know it sounds cruel, but she's going to be walking soon, and we're going to be traveling in Italy :)

That's all I can think of off the top of my head that she needs right now, anything/everything else is definately appreciated, I'm just listing things she could definatley use.

Also, I'd like to put a scrapbook/photo album together for her of all her family, so I need a pic of everyone to put into it. It's not like an emergency thing to have, because I probably won't even have time to work on it until we get to Italy, but just keep it in mind... maybe find your favorite picture of you, jot down some thoughts for Carlee for me to include on your page, etc. :D

*edit* never mind about the jewelry box. We found her a cute one. :D

first time in the pool

Today, Carlee and Mommy went to our friend, L's home to swim in the pool. This was Carlee's very first time in a pool. At first she wasn't too sure, since the water was more cool than any water she's ever felt before! but eventually she got used to it, and started to enjoy floating around. :) Eventually, we got out of the water, and she was very good playing while the grown ups tanned. Carlee is so lucky too! She wore baby 50+ proof sunscreen and only got a little pink on her cheeks and arms, even after two coats of sunscreen... but after being inside for only thirty minutes we noticed she had already tanned! talk about LUCKY! :D We had so much fun today!

standing.

the other day, I finally caught a pic of her standing before she fell down.. lol

:D

First Steps!!

Carlee took her first few steps today!!! Our friend L was sitting on the couch and I was kneeling on the floor about a foot and a half away, and I started calling her to me, and she took about two or three steps towards me!!! So we tried again, and she did it again! I'm so glad Daddy was home to see it too! YAY!!! :D She's growing so fast!

bear crawlin baby

So, Carlee is not walking yet, but she's started to do this weird walk/crawl we've been calling a bear crawl. It's like what the football team used to do back home, except she doesn't bend her knees. It's so funny. So, she's in the shape of a walking triangle. :) I'll try to get a picture of it next time she does it. She's also building up her balance as well, so it won't be too long before she's walking. :D

carlee's first easter egg hunt!

Today we spent the day with our friend K and her family. Their community center had a huge Easter egg hunt and we were invited! Carlee didn't seem to be interested in finding the eggs at first, but once we handed them to her, she loved playing with them! There was also a magic show that Daddy seemed to enjoy more than Carlee did... lol. We had so much fun! We changed Carlee's earings, and while it was a challenge, it was so worth it. She was so adorable! She also wore a pretty cross necklace and had on her baby bracelet for a little bit, but she kept getting frustrated with it so we had to take it off. These are the best pictures, hope you enjoy them! :)

mini walk

Today we took a mini walk around the apartment complex's lake to get Carlee a little used to her new backpack carrier. We're hoping to be able to do some hiking soon. :) She didn't seem to mind it today, and enjoyed being outside, like usual. :)

top teeth

You can kind of see her top two teeth in this one:

Yeah... She's still chewing on everything!!! lol

ouch!

Carlee bit her lip for the first time today.... :( gotta get used to those teeth! :)

caught carlee caching!

caching from the car... :) Carlee spent most of the day in her carseat while we went geocaching today, and we were surprised at how well behaved she was! We had alot of fun!

weeee!

modeling for the new camera