New Doc

So now that Caroline is almost 16 months, we finally got in to see our new doctor for her 15 month visit. Here are her stats:

Weight: 19 lbs, 15 oz - 7%
Length: 30.75 in - 52%

Head Circumference: 47.4 cm - 85%

So she's still skinny, but luckily, the doctor wasn't too worried, since she's hitting all of her developmental milestones and seems quite healthy. We're doing another weight check in a month and I just hope she stays on the growth chart...

We like our new doctor- he seems very nice and competent. Interestingly, he was the one who gave her the vaccines, rather than a nurse like we had in Boston. She had three shots and cried a lot, but seemed to get over it quickly and was busily removing her bandaids and trying to eat them...

Length

Weight

Family resemblance?

From Mike's Uncle Paul:

You may have already seen this picture of Great Grandma Caroline but it occurred to me that there is a bit of a resemblance between Great Grand Daughter and Great Grand Mother. Indeed maybe I am just being romantic or maybe baby girls all look the same at 1 year…but I don’t think so!

Great Granddaughter Caroline at one year

Great Grandmother Caroline at 1 year

Much, much love,
bpv
Br. Paul-Vincent Niebauer O.S.B.

Fourth of July and the Badger Band

Happy 4th of July! We had a fun weekend on the 4th. Friday and Sunday were spent at Mike's parents house, hanging out on the lake with his brother John. Mike's parents' boat finally got fixed, so we were able to go out on it which was great fun. I also tried waterskiing for the first time (well, there was one ill-fated attempt in 8th grade, but that doesn't count, right?). I tried 5 or 6 times, and only managed to really get up once, and even that was only for about 3 seconds, but I really enjoyed it a lot, so I'm sure I'll try again.

For the actual 4th of July on Saturday, we went to Mike's aunt and uncle's cottage on Lake Waubesa. Not so much a cottage anymore, espcially since they just redid almost the whole place- taking out walls and remodeling the kitchen. A lot of the family was there (Mike's mom's side- almost all of her brothers and sisters, and their kids), so that was really fun. That's definitely the best part of this move- getting to see family so much more. We went out on Mike's uncle Tom's fancy new boat which was fun too.

We let Caroline do the patriotic dressing for the day, but check out my fabulous new dress- a gift from my friend Anna and her sister- love it!
Caroline goes for a spin on the lazy susan

Today we went to go hear the UW marching band (or a few of the members, at least) at the library. It was awesome. Caroline danced around and loved every minute of it. Of course we knew all the words to the songs- Mike has trained us well!

Here she is with a couple of the band members

And now for the live-action:

catching up...

I have a few weeks of pictures I haven't posted yet, so here goes...

We had a visit from our friend Allana. She and I used to work together in Boston and now she lives in Chicago, so we hope to see lots of her and her husband Tous! She was so nice to come visit and brought Caroline lots of gifts, like this adorable dress!
We took Allana to check out the sights in Madison. Here we are at Monona terrace......which has a great view of the capitol.

We went to a festival on the lake right near our house, and Caroline showed off her budding sense of style!

The following weekend we went out to Milwaukee for Caroline's godmother Caroline's high school graduation party. Caroline, the elder, is going to BC next year. Sadly, she won't be able to hang out with us there, since we're here. Oh well.

Caroline, the younger, was all decked out for the party

Mike's mom Jane made an amazing quilt as a gift for Caroline. So amazing!We've had lots of fun playdates with our friends Anna and Eliza. Here we had the girls all conked out from a picnic.

One night we went with Mike's parents for a concert at the local botanical gardens, which was great fun. They have concerts, festivals and events all the time in the summer here. Its pretty great.

Caroline with pigtails!

Mike's brother Joe came down with his kids the weekend before the 4th of July, which is when Madison throws the "rhythm and booms" fireworks show. They move the fireworks back a day because of rain, but we still enjoyed a weekend at Mike's parents house. Caroline had fun playing with her cousins. Here she is with Owen in the bath. So much room, but everybody wants to be in the same spot...

Oh girl, what did you do with that hair??

There was also a fun trip to the splashpark near their house. We've been here a few times. Caroline gets a little freaked out by all the water, but she seems to have a great time anyways.

Grandpa's not afraid to get wet!

Neither is daddy!

Uncle Joe wrangles the kids

The little princess in her sunhat

This past Monday, Caroline's grandparents took her overnight so that Mike and I could go to a Milwaukee Brewers game with his company. It was pretty fun.

You know you're in Wisconsin when... they have a sausage race at the baseball game.

Lots of folks are in town again this weekend for the 4th of July. We spent today at Mike's parents house with his brother John. Caroline got to try out a new boat floating toy in the lake... tomorrow we go over to Mike's aunt and uncle's place on Lake Waubesa for the festivities. More on that later...

Happy father's day!

Happy Father's day to Mike and to my dad and to Mike's dad Joe. We celebrate you all today!

I especially want to thank Mike for being such a great dad. I try to thank him more than once a year, but Father's day is a great occasion to toast him. He is the most dedicated, loving father and husband, and Caroline and I are immensely lucky to have him.

We had a fun day today- went out rockhunting with Mike's parents. Mike and his dad really appreciate a good rock or two. And it turned out to be pretty fun for the rest of us too. We saw some neat rocks, had a picnic, and then went to a beach where Caroline played around in the sand and with the tadpoles in the lake. So cute. Here are some pictures of our adventures:

Caroline with the men of the hour in front of Van Hise Rock.
Yea! What better place to spend Father's day? Wow, would you look at those ripple marks?! Awesome.

Caroline enjoyed finding some rocks of her own. As well as trying to eat them.

But she likes Dandilions even more. Especially this monster one. She didn't try to eat it... For once. Good job, little one.In the lake with Daddy!

Loving the tadpoles. There were millions of them.

Hooray for sand!

One year and a quarter

Caroline is fifteen months today. She is a spunky little one, always keeping us on our toes. It doesn't seem like she's made any huge changes in the last month. Still very physical- running everywhere, starting to climb all over furniture and other things. She's finally mastered going down the stairs, though she's long been an expert at going up them.

The language is coming along- she seems to get a couple of new words a month- I think we're up to 10 or 12 now. It's remarkable when she uses them on her own, not just repeating us. It is really amazing to watch her little brain develop. She's also really very good at receptive language, and will follow fairly detailed instructions. Of course that means we know when she's just not listening or disobeying... oh, I can't wait for those terrible twos...

She's gotten more attached to me again, I think because I'm with her all the time now. But she is also getting to really know and love her grandparents, who we get to see at least 2 or 3 times a week. So it is nice that she doesn't fuss when we leave her with them, like she does at the daycare at the gym (though I suspect she'll get used to that soon, too).

Learning to use silverware... might need a bit more practice.

Family portraits

Here are a few more of our pictures from Saydi. I just love them!

Oh, and if you're in Boston and interested in having her take pictures of your kids/family, she said she'd give a 20% discount to anyone who says I referred them. http://www.saydiphotography.blogspot.com/

Our week with Oma and moving in...

My mom was visiting for the first week we were in our new apartment. I thought it might be a tough time for a visit, but it was so incredibly helpful to have her here to help us get all set up in our new place. She unpacked, watched Caroline, and spoiled us all rotten. It was really wonderful to have her here. She stayed with Mike's parents, since their guest bedroom was more appealing than our ratty couch. It is nice that they all get along so well- just one big happy family :)

My mom also took me out to Milwaukee for a night to go to the bead show there. We got a bunch of fun new beads and took a class in resin, which I'm really excited to go play with. Thanks mom!


Caroline spent most of the week crying a good amount at night. She hadn't really slept through the night properly since we left Boston. There were some frustrating moments where we tried to let her cry it out and then gave in and let her sleep with us. It took a good week in her new room to get used to it enough to sleep through the night, but she's there now (phew!)

She also learned some new skills this week: how to use a straw and how to blow kisses. The first one has seemed to stick, but the latter needs a little refresher...

Some straw experimentation...

Caroline helps unpack...Out to dinner in our new neighborhoodMike, his dad, his baby, his mom...We went to walk around at the farmers market on Saturday morning, and Caroline got to touch her first wisconsin cow. Well, probably her first cow from anywhere, but how appropriate that it be here...She also got to feed some goats at the zoo. The zoo here is so great- it is free, and it is small enough to do in an hour or two, but still has really good animals. Not just goats... TIGERS! Wow- it was so fun watching this one check out Caroline, licking his lips...

But at the carousel, Caroline showed the tiger who was boss... Even if Oma had to help her stay on. And we all got to go riding on the little fake train they have at there. What fun!

Welcome to Wisconsin!

We've arrived in our new home state! We had to pull off the highway to celebrate our arrival with this fabulous photo.

We were glad to be done with the drive and thrilled to have a few relaxing days at Mike's parents place- a wonderful oasis right on Lake Mendota. Mike ended up going into his new office a couple of days ahead of schedule since we got here so fast, and he seems to like it pretty well. He says the commute is even tolerable (roughly an hour from our new place). While he was busy working, I spent some time with Caroline and her grandparents. We went on a fun hike where Caroline picked every dandilion in sight and her papa caught a frog for her. She seemed pretty amused with it (and a little scared). Mike's brother Joe and his sons (Henry and Owen) came down to see us over the weekend. It was great to watch Caroline play with her cousins. We're so glad they'll be able to grow up around one another now.

We ended up unpacking about half of our stuff into Mike's parent's basement, which they so nicely cleaned out a corner of for us. On Sunday we moved into our new apartment in the Willy Street neighborhood of Madison. It is a 2 bedroom flat on the first floor of a three-story house. It is pretty spacious and has a nice front porch. The neighborhood is nice- lots of cute houses and everyone seems to take great pride in their flower gardens. There are lots of young families, which I'm excited about, and a bunch of hippy-types as well... we live 2 blocks from the Willy St. Co-op, an organic food bonanza. We're also only a couple of blocks from the lake and from three parks, so that is fabulous. It is weird to be renting again and to be sharing a building with other people after being homeowners for the past few years, but in a way it is freeing not to have to worry about maintenance and mortgages and all the rest.

Our friends Anna and Langdon invited us over for a welcome dinner, where Eliza and Caroline got reaquainted. They've known each other since the womb, but haven't seen one another since they were around 3 months old, when they moved out here. We're so glad to be in the same place and spend lots more time with them!

We also got to see Mike's old friends Tracy and Kris on Saturday with a few beers at the memorial union terrace- Mike's favorite spot in Madison. It overlooks the lake (the opposite side from Mike's parent's place), and it is just a ton of fun. We're looking forward to catching up with more friends in the coming weeks.

Caroline with her grandparents on our hike

Checking out the wildflowers with Nana

With Joe and Owen on the dock
The boys and their babiesWith Anna and Eliza. You can see more pictures on Anna's blog:

Road trip

We decided to turn the chore of moving into a great road-trip adventure. After a horrible experience moving from SF to NY, which involved movers basically kidnapping our stuff for ransom and delivering it 2 months later, Mike and I have vowed never to let our belongings leave our sight again. So we knew we'd be driving it out to Wisconsin. We got a huge truck and a trailer for the car, and we all piled in and headed west. a modern day wagon train...

We had hoped to make it to the Adirondacks the first night, but because our closing was moved from the morning to the afternoon, we were only able to make it to the Birkshires. But we found a lovely camping spot at October Mountain State Forest, not far off the highway, and spent a fun night there. It was Caroline's first experience with camping, and I must say, it was a rousing success. She loved it! All of the dirt and sticks and rocks to play with. Luckily, it was a thursday night in May, so we pretty much had the run of the place. We built a campfire and cooked up some veggie burgers and sausages for dinner. Caroline loved the fire and wanted to get all close up, which we tried to avoid. We kept saying "Hot! Hot!" while pulling her back. Then she did the cutest thing- she blew out with her mouth, like we do when we're blowing on her hot food. I guess that's her form of sign language for "hot". Never mind that blowing on a fire certainly won't cool it down...

We thought it might be a rough night sleeping, but in the end it was fine. Mostly it was just falling asleep that was hard, because Caroline wanted to run around the tent and play. I had hoped to put her down and join Mike back at the campfire, but it wasn't meant to be. It wasn't until we were both in the tent, pretending to sleep, that she finally fell asleep on the mat & blankets between us. The whole family all snuggled up. I loved every minute of it!

The next day we hit the road to Ithaca. We happened across a tiny hamlet near there with a great name...

Ithaca was indeed "Gorges," as they say. We cruised around Cornell and went hiking in one of the gorges there, which was great fun. Then we had dinner at the famous Moosewood restaurant. Mike was happy that they at least served fish, so he wouldn't have to suffer an entire vegetarian meal. The food was fantastic and we went crazy buying cookbooks, but unfortunately Caroline was a bit of a cranker-pants, so dinner was cut short. We camped that night too- just outside of town.

The gorge in Ithaca

By the campfire with her daddy
Where's the baby? ...Huddled up for warmth

The next day we spent the morning hiking in the Glen Watkins Canyon. This is one of the most beautiful hikes I've ever been on. You basically take an enormous staircase down into a deep canyon and hike down it, past and underneath waterfalls. Lots of neat geology for Mike too.

Behind the falls! Caroline looks like she has had enough of the backpack, but she was actually a pretty good sport

The green canopy was so lush and beautiful!

Then we spent the afternoon winetasting in the fingerlakes region. Or should I say, I spent the afternoon winetasting while Mike drove me around wishing the truck weren't so hard to park. It was lovely.

We spent that night "couchsurfing" in Geneva, NY. A few of my friends thought we were totally nuts to shack up with a complete stranger we found on the internet, but it turned out to be a really wonderful experience. We stayed with a college professor of Japanese. Really interesting guy who was a dead-ringer for Benjamin Franklin. Anyways, he was such an amazingly gracious host- had a perfect little guestroom for us, took us out to dinner and insisted on paying (though I literally tried to wrangle the check from his hands), played a fun card game and chatted with us once Caroline was asleep, and then cooked us breakfast in the morning. All this for nothing- just the goodness of his heart. I think it is a really neat concept, and though there are a few wackos in the world, I suspect the vast majority of folks on the site are great people just looking to pay it forward and meet some new people.

The next day we drove to Niagara Falls. We met up with Mike's parents there. I was so glad they came out to meet us on our trip! We enjoyed seeing the falls with them- both from the American and Canadian sides. We walked all over to see them from different angles. At night we went to see the lightshow on the falls while Mike's parents watched little C. We went to dinner at an Indian restaurant. You wouldn't believe how many Indians and Indian restaurants there were there. It was like little India. If any of my Indian friends wants to explain this phenomenon to me... pipe in here! Anyways, the food was fabulous and really authentic tasting. Like being back in India.

The next day Mike and I took the "Maid of the Mist" boat out under the falls which was pretty cool. We left Caroline with Mike's parents who had taken the ride the day before we got there. Caroline seemed pretty interested in the falls, but I'm sure she was just wondering what it was all about.

At the American side of the falls
On the bridge to the Canadian side, with both sets of falls in the background
The light show at night. Mike thought it was fairly unimpressive, but I think that was because of his colorblindness. I liked it a lot.
The Maid of the Mist

On the boat
Caroline and flowers... always a winning combination.

Playing in the daisies with her grandparents

After Niagara Falls, it was pretty much just lots of driving to get to Wisconsin. We took 2 days to go 700 miles, which is a lot of driving with a baby! But she was actually pretty good and slept a good deal of it. We did make one stop on the way back for a picnic at Indiana Dunes state park on the shores of Lake Michigan. Caroline was in love with the sand. I guess she's never been to a real sandy beach like this, but she was laying down in it, running it through her hands and toes. It was just too cute!