Sharing a Popsicle with Mommy

Unloading the Dishwasher

We're training Caroline early to help out around the house!

Ready for Richmond

As we reach the end of March, it means that Paul's days in business school and our days in Charlottesville are drawing to a close. While I'm very sad that we have to leave the fantastic group of friends we have made here, I'm very ready to move to Richmond!
Yesterday Caroline and I took a day trip to Richmond to tour a nursery school that we really like and has an opening for her this fall. We had a great time peeking into all the classrooms and watching the little ones inside busy at play. We met Caroline's new teachers and Caroline even took a little spin around her soon-to-be classroom!
The best part of the visit was learning about the school's spring pictures. The director led us outside to the side yard of the church and there stood two Shetland ponies! One was tied to a trailer looking slightly distressed and one was standing very still (looking very distressed) while a toddler sat atop him wearing a bandanna and cowboy hat! I thought it might be a little strange if I took a picture of the boy, so I took a picture of the lone pony instead. What a hoot! I can't wait until Caroline gets her picture taken next year!

Olivia's Baby Shower!

Whew! I can finally talk about Olivia's surprise baby shower! That's what has been keeping me and my fellow party planners so busy these last few weeks. We had so much fun planning a special event for our soon-to-be mommy, Olivia, but it was so hard not to talk about it to everyone!

The big event happened yesterday afternoon at Kristen's place. A good time was had by all, and the guests did an amazing job bringing the food, drinks, flowers, etc.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from yesterday...

The guest of honor wearing her party accessories.


Caroline in her party outfit (Thanks to the TX Heppers for this adorable get-up!)


The desserts


Group picture

Busy, Busy, Busy!

In the Hepper household, we've been so busy lately that I haven't had much time for picture taking or blogging! I'm sure many of you didn't notice this drop in blog activity, but I have heard from some of our fans that they miss us!

So, although I don't have anything super exciting to post, I will share a couple things that have been keeping us so busy lately.

The first exciting news is that Caroline is enrolled in a Mother's Morning Out program starting this September in Richmond!! Initially, I was very disappointed to learn that we had missed all the registration deadlines at the various nursery schools in which I was interested. But, I followed my sister's advice..."the squeaky wheel gets the oil" and called and called until someone relented and let us in!! Caroline will be in the Thursday morning class at First Presbyterian Church Nursery School. Good for Caroline and good for Mommy! :)

We've also been busy this week spending time outdoors enjoying the gorgeous 70 degree weather we're having here in Charlottesville. Here's a picture of Caroline playing on our front patio. She really enjoys being outside. I can't wait to move to our Richmond house so we can enjoy our new front porch, back porch, and back yard!



This reminds me of the Hepper family new year's resolution lists and all the progress we're making towards completing each item. Find a house in Richmond...check, help Caroline master the pincher grip...check, get Paul to work out regularly...check!!! That's right, Paul has been working out every morning for the last month or so. I'm very proud of him and his efforts...as so is he.

This morning, he came downstairs dressed in his usual jeans and polo shirt and actually said to me "I'm not sure if I can wear this shirt anymore. My arms are getting so big that my sleeves are tight!" Haha! It makes me laugh every time I think about it. Seriously, his arms are getting buff, but not that buff!

That's all for now. I hope everyone is enjoying some great spring weather!!

9 Month Well Visit

It's hard to believe that Caroline is already nine months old! I feel like it was just yesterday that she was a little lump of newborn who did little else besides sleep and eat. Fast forward to now and we've got a crawling, cruising, babbling, finger food eating machine!

We visited with Dr. Ranney today to see just how much Caroline has grown. Here are her stats:
Weight: 19 pounds, 2 ounces (55th percentile)
Length: 28 inches (65th percentile)
Teeth: ZERO!
Developmental milestones: every milestone has been met or exceeded for her age(rooty-toot-toot for Caroline!!)

Dr. Ranney said that since Caroline missed the typical window for cutting teeth, she probably won't get any until she's about a year old. She also said that when they do start emerging, Caroline will probably get them ALL at the same time. Bottoms and tops! That should make for a fun few weeks...

Other than commenting on how bright and sparkly Caroline is, Dr. Ranney didn't have much else for us today. Caroline's eating habits are awesome, so no worries there.
Caroline didn't need any shots either, so that was nice.

Oh, and sleep. Well, I tried to gloss over the fact that Caroline STILL isn't sleeping through the night, but Dr. Ranney wasn't about to let it slide. She gave me a little slap on the wrist for continuing to visit Caroline in the middle of the night. I promised to try harder :)

Here's a pic of Caroline contemplating deep thoughts while waiting for Dr. Ranney to arrive.

Spring Break!

So what do you do when you're looking for a cheap but fun vacation destination? You dial up the grandparents & book a reservation to stay at their kid-friendly abode! This past weekend we went to Atlanta to spend some quality time with Marmee & Grampy.

When we arrived on Thursday, Caroline wasted no time re-acquainting herself with Marmee, Grampy, & their dog, Hayley. Caroline quickly learned that Hayley is WAY friendlier than her own sisters, Isabel & Frances. It's pretty sad that Caroline has been around for 9 months now, and Isabel & Frances are STILL spending most of their days looking for ways to avoid Caroline. Hayley, on the other hand, jumped right on the chance to have a new friend. She gave Caroline lots of kisses (maybe a few too many), happily shared her toys, and even played chase with Caroline.

On Friday we went to the World of Coca-Cola, which was a lot of fun since neither Paul or I had been there despite having lived in Atlanta before moving to Cville. Caroline was a gem even though she didn't get to sample any of the bazillion beverages in the "Tasting Zone." Paul and I made sure we got our money's worth of carbonated beverages though, and had the upset stomachs afterwards to prove it.

The rest of the weekend was spent doing one of three things: eating, shopping, and playing. Is there any better way to vacation??

The highlight of the weekend (at least for me) was all the eating out we did since Paul and I don't get to do that very often in Cville. Caroline enjoyed these outings as well, digging in to new foods at each restaurant and entertaining all the surrounding customers with her adorable antics. On Saturday night we went to J. Alexanders where Caroline amazed us by eating an unbelievable variety AND amount of food. She had trout, macaroni and cheese, rice, and asparagus!

And with Grampy at the table, you better believe Caroline got some sweets too. He let her sample some vanilla ice cream after dinner. From the minute the sweet creamy deliciousness hit her lips, Caroline was sold. She sucked down every last bit on the spoon and then looked around frantically for more. By the time Grampy had given her a few more bites, Caroline had taken over control of the spoon, sucking down the ice cream and then handing it back to Marmee for refills until it was all gone!

We were all really excited to see Caroline enjoying all these gastronomic delights!

Asparagus is good...


...but ice cream is even better!



Keep it coming Marms!!

Mischief Maker

Today I put Caroline down for a nap that turned out to be a complete flop. Caroline is, at best, an inconsistent napper. She typically takes 3 naps a day, but there's no telling where, when, and for how long those naps will happen.

So when I put her down in her crib and left her room, I knew full well there was a good chance she wouldn't go to sleep right away. Usually this is not a big deal. She plays in her crib for a while, fusses a bit, and then eventually goes to sleep.

On this particular occasion, things seemed to be progressing as usual. I watched on the video monitor as Caroline rolled around, played with the ties on her bumper, and pulled off both of her socks. Then she crawled to the side of her crib, pulled herself up, and proceeded to scream for about 10 minutes. Eventually, the screaming stopped. I didn't think anything of it and assumed she'd gone to sleep.

About 5 minutes later, I heard a strange noise coming from the monitor. I looked at the screen to find that it was displaying a picture of the frame hanging above Caroline's crib...not a picture of Caroline sleeping in her crib. I then saw a little hand waving in the air, reaching up for the video camera! I quickly ran upstairs and into Caroline's room. There I found my darling daughter scaling the back of her crib, intent on pulling the video camera down off the wall. She had already knocked it off it's peg, causing it to dangling down over her. I have NO clue how she managed to do this, but I do know that we'll be moving both the camera and the frame before Caroline goes to bed tonight!

When she saw me, Caroline got a huge grin on her face and shrieked as if to say "Do you see that? Do you see what I did??" Or maybe it was more like, "Oh good, you're here! Can you help me pull this thing down?"

Regardless, at that point I knew naptime was over, at least as far as Caroline was concerned. We went downstairs and played in the kitchen instead. We had a good time cleaning out the cabinets and making a mess with the coffee filters.

Here's a picture of Caroline's handy work and a picture of her in the kitchen. It's a good thing she's so darn cute...

New Year's Resolution Progress!

You may recall that finding a great house in Richmond was on my New Year's resolution list. Well, I'm happy to say that I can cross it off my list! We won't close until June, so it's not official yet, but we are under contract on a fantastic house that I can't wait to make my own! The surrounding neighborhood is full of young families, great shops and restaurants, and Paul will have a 10 minute commute each morning. And best of all, the house has an amazing master bath! I see lots of bubble baths in my future and with two separate vanities, maybe Paul's resolution of me not using his towels anymore will come true!!
Check it out...