overcoming the impossible....

Caroline is asking for it in this picture. She walked up to Sugar while she was lying down so nice, and Caroline just giggles and giggles when Sugar licks her or nips at her. Caroline started shaking both her feet while laughing trying to get Sugar to nip at her feet. I told her she was asking for it, but she thinks it is hilarious!

Let's just say that Caroline and Sugar........don't make the best combination right now! For one, Sugar thinks Caroline is a toy so she is constantly jumping on her trying to nip at her. Two, while Sugar is in the same room, Caroline loves to take anything from the dog bones to books to Sugar and puts them up to her mouth. If she isn't doing that, than she is walking around making kissing noises trying to kiss both dogs.

Since Justin has had to work all week, it has been quite the challenge for me to adapt to Caroline and the puppy together. Let's just say that it is pretty much impossible to watch Caroline and the puppy together. I have to admit that a puppy is harder than a baby!! It will all be worth it in the end when these puppy stages are over.

Caroline and Daisy make a better combination because D just sits there when Caroline comes up to her. Poor D, hopefully she will adjust to have this ansy puppy following her around.

our new "baby"...

.......an 8 week old german shepherd puppy

Yes, that's right. We drove about an hour away to look at these puppies and we ended up with one. We have been talking about it off and on for like a year, and the day after Christmas, we took the plunge. Yes, we do have 2 children around the house now. O my, what have we gotten ourselves into! We knew it would be a lot of work and debated on when we should do it. It is a female pup and currently her name is Sugar. I had a german shepherd growing up named Sugar and we really had no other ideas on names. She is doing great on potty training, listens well, and seems to be pretty smart. We still have a long way to go though teaching her "the ropes" of her new home and rules. Woooo, pretty exhausting.....especially having a nonstop 13 month old! Little to say, it feels a lot like having another child. Let's just pray that the puppy behaves well when the real baby #2 arrives in a couple months!

Good thing Caroline loves dogs. Sugar runs up to her and jumps on her, I think she thinks Caroline is a toy or something since they are somewhat of the same size. Caroline thinks it is hilarious though and walks around making kissing noises, following both dogs trying to give them kisses! I have to say it is pretty darn cute. She will pick up a bone and take it over to Sugar and put it up to her mouth.

Daisy, on the otherhand, is not so happy about this new addition to the family. If you know Daisy, she is like a human she is so good. She is about 9 years old and just the sweetest thing ever. She has made some small growls at the pup, but otherwise behaving quite well. :) Caroline is always interested in what the doggy is doing. When she wakes up, I will say,"You wanna go see the doggy?" And she will look around and go "woof woof!"

sweet sweet additions

We have had a busy last couple of weeks!! Natalie Joy and Kennedy Faith made their sweet appearance Dec. 17th. Justin turned 30 on Dec. 18th, and we then celebrated mims birthday on Dec. 21st! A month full of celebrations!

Praise God for these 2 beautiful, healthy baby girls!!

the first picture of the bane family of four!

natalie weighed 4 lbs. 10 oz. and kennedy weighed 4 lbs. 12 oz.

my proud brother with his two little girls

i keep saying...they are so, so tiny!! double them up and you've got caroline when she was born! they are precious and perfect in every way! God is good!

good ole fun

Well, since daddy and caroline are both snoozing at the moment, I figured I would add some new pictures. We have had a busy, fun filled week. Caroline is walking all over the place and now trying to figure out how to run. She gets ahead of herself sometimes walking to fast. She is so much fun!
another favorite - talking on the phone watching it snow

feeding her baby

Caroline loves pretend play. Her newest thing is to pretend to rub lotion on her hands. She picks up the soap or lotion bottle, puts it down, and then proceeds to rub her hands together. It is the cutest thing I have ever seen. She was doing it in the bathtub the other night and it was cracking me up, it is so cute! I have a feeling I am in for a lot of dress up and pretend play before too long!

the big snow we had on thursday night!

caroline got to check it out on friday morning

the big accumulation

our friday night consisted of this:

watching c.m.t. and being entertained by caroline (i believe she is a kenny fan!)

walking, dancing, thanksgiving galore

This was my daughter last night after daddy gave her his leftover mt. dew bottle. She did not go anywhere without it; carrying it around, putting it up to her mouth like she was taking in every drop of nothing that was coming out!



an attempt to decorate the gingerbread house mims got us (the icing obviously ended up all in the mouth).....little to say, the decorating did not last very long

granddad and c on thanksgiving

We had an awesome Thanksgiving. We went up to Justin's parent's lake house on Center Hill for the day. Both our families celebrated together this year and we had a great time. It was so fun to hang out with all the family and play with all the cousins. So many things to be thankful for......I feel incredibly blessed!
We had a special visit from Santa while at the lake house, which was very fun and Caroline's first real introduction of him. I had a feeling I knew just what was going to happen. She didn't sit still enough to really get a picture. Below is the best attempt.

Cousin Kaylee helping Caroline put ornaments on the "year round Christmas tree." This was also Caroline's first real introduction to a Christmas tree. She was intrigued by the lights and taking the ornaments off. We did get our tree over the weekend, which is always a fun adventure. As far as now, she is doing pretty good at not destroying at our house :)

some of us girls (& 3 more on the way!)

my lil squirt


Caroline has been walking and crawling for the past couple of weeks now. She is walking a lot, but still resorts to crawling when she tries to get somewhere fast.

I was able to catch a short glimpse of Santa as he walked in and as Caroline studied his every move as he got closer to her. The video cuts off right as Caroline loses it (watch closely and you can tell)

and some dancin...

1 year pictures

From 1 year pictures

We had Caroline's 1 year pictures last week and I was so happy she did so well!! Here are some of my favorites I thought I would share. :)

My baby is getting to be such a big girl! Some things she is doing at 1 year: enjoying shaking her head "no," putting her hands up like "what did i do?" taking lots of steps here and there, but crawling to get places faster, starting to be more picky on what she eats, very aware of her surroundings and people, jibber jabbering all the time, loves to say "D" for our dog, daisy, and likes to go "woof woof" when she sees dogs (little to say, she loves dogs!), she loves to climb, and basically test, test, test her mommy on everything :) .......so much fun! Isn't it crazy how fast they learn things?! Boy are they smart little things! Oh, and she is still in the 90th% on her height, I think she was 31.5 in. We might have a 6 footer on our hands!!

From 1 year pictures

From 1 year pictures

From 1 year pictures

From 1 year pictures

From 1 year pictures

From 1 year pictures

From 1 year pictures

the 1 year old!

happy 1st birthday to my baby, caroline!!! We celebrated Caroline's 1 year birthday on Saturday, the 8th. We had a family get together for her birthday at our house and we had a great time! And as the day went on, I went back to a year ago, and wow how time flies by! During my labor last year, I would have never thought I would be halfway through my 2nd pregnancy this year at her 1 year birthday!! Crazy, yet exciting!
it was a beautiful fall day on November 8th!

pre-party

checking out her cake with mims & trying to dig into the chocolate

the scrumptious chocolate petifors -YUMMY!!!! (boy was mommy glad she had some leftovers!)

1st look- tries to pick it up

she did not do as much damage to her cake as i thought she would!

sweet cousins

the new stroller and 1st cabbage patch doll, which she loves

It was such a fun party with family! Thank you to all of the family for making Caroline's big day such a special one!! She has been so entertained with all of her fun new toys! We love you!

here is a video the day after her birthday - all she wanted to do was push that stroller around. it would tip over though if someone didn't hold the front because she would put all her weight on it. daddy now takes caroline for rides in that stroller around the house, which is pretty hilarious.