Pumpkin patch time!

It's that time of year, the days are getting shorter, the nights are cooler, unfortunately the days are still warmer but fall is definitely in the air.  We made the annual trek to the pumpkin patch today.  Berry Patch Farms did not disappoint. 



It's a big ol' punkin!



On the hayride to the pumpkins.  Caroline saw something cool.

Looks like she's going to take a bite!

"I'll take this one!"

Caroline's balancing act

So many to pick from

There were a couple of rows of cotton separating the "little" pumpkins from the "big" ones

Afterwards we stopped for some ice cream to cool off.  Found out that Bruster's gives all kids under 40 inches a free kids cone.  So, Caroline had her first ice cream cone this afternoon.  She loved her strawberry cone!  No pictures because Daddy and Mommy were too busy helping her and enjoying their ice cream!  It was cute though!

24 weeks

Today I am 24 weeks and 1 day.

This is a big milestone because (according to askbaby.com) at 24 weeks your baby becomes legally viable and if your baby was born now she would have a reasonable chance of survival outside your womb in an intensive care unit.

So, yay for a viable baby!  And she continues to kick up her heels in my belly.  Have I mentioned that this is my favorite part of pregnancy - feeling the baby move around? 

15 Month Checkup

So Friday was the big 15 month appointment.  Our little girl is healthy as a horse and right on track (even ahead on some of the milestones!)
Her height, weight and head circumference are all tracking perfectly on the growth charts. She's staying long and lean like her Dad.
Height:  31 3/4"  (86%)
Weight: 23 lbs 6 oz (59%)
Head: 46.5 cm (68%)

She had 3 shots and hated them of course, but the nurse gave her an orange safety pop to make it better.  At first she didn't seem to really care about it, but once she got a few licks in, she was loving it!

Yeah, you can't see it because she has the entire thing in her mouth!

I had to take it away when we got to the car because it was such a mess.

Ribs

Today we went to the Rock 'N Ribs Festival in Lawrenceville.  The weather was great and they had some live bands.  Caroline loved people watching and even made some friends - young and old.  She did so much better at this festival than one we went to a couple of months ago.  She was better at staying with us.
Here she is enjoying a snack, listening to a band and watching everyone.

We sent Daddy off to get some ribs for us.  He didn't disappoint.  Caroline loved her BBQ sandwich and ribs - can you tell?

Uh uh oh uh uh oh!

This would be Caroline's favorite thing to say these days! 

In celebration of Caroline being 15 months old today, here's what she's been up to.

As our resident safety officer, when she finds an offense (the cupboards aren't safety locked, the bathroom door was left open, etc.) she runs to find us and tell us "uh uh oh!uh uh oh!"  She will even tell on herself.  One her most frequent offenses is to turn the dial on the washing machine which makes it beep and light up.  This really worries her.  She really hustles to find us and has such a worried expression on her face.

She has also become Rudy's boss.  (He's our big, fat orange cat.)  If he's up on a window sill or on a table she scolds him and tells him "down!"  Today was a very busy day for her because we had several windows open and that's when he likes to sit in the window sills.

Jeremy and I were just talking about how much Caroline has picked up on lately.  She is so responsive and it's really amazing at the connections she makes and the things she comes up with.

Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds.  Here's a sample of some of the words she says:
mama
dada
papa
NaeNae (our cat)
Rudy (the other cat)
ball
balloon
duck
dog
uh oh (a favorite of hers!)
no
cheese
nana (banana - her favorite fruit)
bye
mumu (her version of grandma)
down
butterfly (or "buh" when she points to the butterflies on her wall)

She understands way more words than these.  It's so much fun to talk to her and know that she is understanding what we're saying.  One of her latest things she does that I absolutely love is she puts her toys away in the toy box.  Every evening we ask her to put her toys away and she goes and picks each one up and puts it in the storage bench.  She'll do this on her own sometimes during the day also. 

Her favorite animals sounds are the lion's roar and the sheep's baa, but especially the lion.

She's also a great helper with the laundry.  She loves to help put clothes into the washing machine and pushes the start button.  When the wash is done, she helps move everything from the washer into the dryer.

I'll have some pictures to share soon.