Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Tripp and I were so excited to celebrate Caroline's first Christmas. We had our family Christmas on Christmas Eve morning before Tripp went to work. We woke up about 5:30AM and opened our presents. Caroline enjoyed unwrapping her gifts. She especially liked the ribbons! After Tripp got off work we headed to Mississippi to be with our families. We stayed with Tripp's parents and celebrated on Christmas Eve night and Christmas morning with his family. Then we went to my Aunt Dodo's house and celebrated with my Mom's side of the family. Then we had the Smith family Christmas at my parents' house on the day after Christmas. What can I say, we like to spread Christmas out and have multiple Christmas mornings!!! We had such a wonderful time in Jackson being with our precious families. We are so blessed to have them, and Caroline is one lucky little girl because she has the best grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, and uncles that a girl could ask for!


Setting out the cookies and milk for Santa


Christmas Eve morning - Santa came and filled our stockings!


Caroline playing with the remote control that was in her stocking!


Unwrapping one of her presents with Daddy!


Christmas morning - unwrapping a present from Winnie and Granddaddy


Our family on Christmas day


Checking out her stocking at Puppy and Granddaddy's house


Unwrapping a gift from Aunt Bessie and Uncle Jeremy


One last picture of Caroline crawling!

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Santa's Village

This weekend we took Caroline to Santa's Village with Winnie and Granddaddy. Overall, Caroline had a fun time, but she did not enjoy meeting Santa!

Caroline mailing her letter to Santa


That snowman looks familiar!


Hopefully these inflatable Christmas decorations will be in our yard next year!


Caroline with Winnie and Granddaddy


Caroline deciding if she likes Santa


The answer is NO!


This little elf is tired out from all the fun!

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at our house (which is a good thing since Christmas is one week from today!). This year we put our tree up in the sun porch since the living room is already crowded with all of Caroline's things. I really like having the tree in there. We can still see it from the living room, but we did not have to rearrange all the furniture like we usually do. Caroline likes the Christmas tree. Her two favorite ornaments are a bird and a fireman santa. She loves to touch them and tries to pull them off the tree! Below are some pictures of our Christmas decorations. Merry Christmas!




There is a new stocking on our mantle this Christmas!


I like our Christmas tree, but I think it is kind of small (only 9 feet tall)! It was the biggest tree they had at the Christmas tree lot.


Our Christmas card table -- I love displaying all of the beautiful cards we get.

Our Growing Girl!

On Wednesday of this week, Caroline had her 6 month doctor's appointment. We are happy to report that she is a healthy, growing girl! She weighed 17 pounds (61st percentile) and was 28.5 inches tall (99th percentile). We are so thankful that she is doing so well. Caroline has not started crawling yet, but she pushes up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth. She also scoots backward! Everyday is a fun adventure with her at this age. We never know what she will do next! Below is a recent picture of Caroline with her new favorite toy (thanks Winnie and Granddaddy!).

Caroline's Christmas Tree

To help celebrate Caroline's first Christmas, I put a small tree in her room. It is decorated with pink "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments. I thought it turned out sweet. This weekend we finally got the "Dixon Family Christmas Tree" up. I will post pictures of it later. We are getting very excited about celebrating Christmas with Caroline.


What a sweet little present beside the tree!


Caroline with Puppy and Aunt Dodo

More Peas Please

Caroline is now 6 months old and has started eating some baby food. So far she has tried peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, and carrots. She is a big fan of the sweet potatoes and carrots, but she is not interested in eating the green beans. They say you may have to introduce a food up to 15 times before your baby will eat it, so I am going to keep trying the green beans! It has been so much fun to feed her and watch her reactions. She keeps us laughing with her cute faces!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

The temperature here in Huntsville has been very cold the last few days, with even some snow flurries on Monday. But don't worry about Caroline. She is ready to face the cold in her fur ski suit given to her by Gomme (her great-grandmother)! Every time I look at the pictures below, I laugh out loud!


Caroline and Aunt Bessie


Caroline and Gomme

Caroline's Baby Dedication

Today was a very special day for our family. It was Baby Dedication Sunday at our church and Caroline's 6 month birthday! In the morning church service, Tripp and I dedicated Caroline to the Lord, and committed ourselves as her parents to raise her in a loving, Christian home and point her always toward Jesus. We are so thankful to God for the greatest blessing He has given us -- our sweet Caroline. We are also thankful for our wonderful family and close friends that helped make this day even more special.


At church before the service started


Caroline and her Daddy. I love the beautiful white dress she wore for the dedication.


Sweet Caroline

This afternoon we had a party honoring Caroline and her dedication. We enjoyed visiting with family and friends, and Caroline had a great time, too!












Ready to party!


Caroline and Kate having fun! (Kate is the daughter of our good friends Jenni and Travis Ball. She is 3 months old.)


Caroline and her grandparents


Travis and Tripp with their girls (such a sweet picture!)


All partied out!

Sitting Up!

For the past week, Caroline has been sitting up by herself! It is amazing to us just how fast she is growing. Before we know it, she will be crawling and walking. We are having so much fun with her at this stage. Caroline is such a sweet and happy girl. When I picked her up from the nursery today at church, the ladies all commented on how happy she was. They said she just smiled and played the whole time! She has brought so much joy to our lives. I always tell Tripp that Caroline's love is "the sweetest love", and he agrees!



Caroline playing in her bassinet, a trick she learned from Puppy and Granddaddy!


Caroline reading her numbers book


All dressed up for church (thanks to Jenni for the sweet dress and Miss Cindy for the warm, pretty cardigan)

Peek-A-Boo!

Caroline loves playing with her Daddy! Tripp always makes her smile and laugh. I walked into the living room the other day to find that Tripp had made a tent for Caroline by throwing a blanket over her swing. He would lift up the blanket and say "peek-a-boo" and Caroline would start laughing! It was too cute!

Happy Halloween!

Caroline is very excited about her first Halloween! We are going to the Fall Festival at our church tomorrow night. Caroline had a hard time deciding what she wanted to be for Halloween -- a panda, a pumpkin, or a "pea in the pod". She also thought about wearing the kimono her Uncle Tyler brought her from Japan (thanks, Uncle Tyler!). I ordered her a panda costume, but it was too big for her, so we had to move on to the other choices. She has decided that she is going to be "a pea in the pod" for the Fall Festival tomorrow night. But as you can see below, she has enjoyed wearing all of her choices!


The cutest "pea in a pod" that I have ever seen!


Decked out in her kimono!


What a sweet smile!


Our little punkin!

Weekend with the Grandparents

Last weekend Tripp and I went to Tuscaloosa for the Ole Miss/Alabama football game with our friends Jason and Jennifer. Winnie and Granddaddy Dixon came to Huntsville to keep Caroline for the weekend. This was our first overnight trip without Caroline, and we missed her so much. But she had a great time with her grandparents. We knew she was in good hands, so we were able to enjoy the fun time with friends. Thank you, Jason and Jennifer, for showing us such a fun time in Tuscaloosa! And thank you, Winnie and Granddaddy, for keeping Caroline! She is already looking forward to having many more sleepovers with her grandparents.



Winnie and Caroline relaxing together



Granddaddy and Caroline playing "Superman"



Caroline playing in her activity gym