42 weeks!!! (and hopefully legible!!!)

Daddy Kev here again.

First of all, our apologies to any and all of you who might have tried checking out the blog in the past 14 hours or so. You probably came across a plastering of small advertisements over the whole of the page that formed one huge (and ugly) ad for Photobucket, rendering the actual content we were expecting to get to you unreadable. We believe we've taken care of that mess (hence the less stylish look of "The Gift Finally Given", but hey, now you can read this post!).

This is going to be a bit of a scattershot entry. It's been a long day, but a very good one. Still, we're all a bit tired, and so this won't be the most structured entry ever.

I'm writing this from the comfort of Caroline's godparents' home in Atlanta, GA. We're in town for the installation (as associate pastor) of a blog friend of Sarah's in which Sarah will be taking part on Sunday. But we're also taking the time to visit with Katie, Haddon, and Abby (of the Las Paletas comic fame back in June). We're looking forward to a weekend of good fellowship and fun with many folks here. Which means...

Caroline has now been on the longest car trip of her life. A bit over 4 hours in the car from Nashville to Atlanta (would probably be a bit under 4 hours were it not for construction and rush hour traffic), and she did great! She did sleep for about the first hour, but was wide awake for the rest of the trip. (Sarah here now!) She really did remarkably well, just a few fussy periods. She had a lot of fun playing with a plastic coke bottle. Daddy says that she's a coke fan because last week when she was hanging at the Div School she pulled up on the coke machine and banged on it repeatedly as if to say "GIVE ME COKE!" Which is funny because apparently my first sentence was "No, I want a coke." (At 18 mos old... how I knew what coke was... I dunno... maybe Mamie will weigh in...) Anyhow... we're proud of our girl. A four hour drive and good spirits for most of it.

Caroline discovered "They Might Be Giants" this week! Kev was listening to a Radio Lab podcast on which they were featured and Caroline was delighted- clapping, bouncing, dancing... So Kev has started playing their first children's album for her and she LOVES it.

Yesterday night as we were packing up she was playing in her crib. She kept pulling up on the bars and jumping, jumping, jumping! And then she'd pull her hands off and lean back a bit, standing unsupported for a few seconds, and then would grab hold of the bars again. She seems to be standing up with hardly any effort these days. And this week she even did some standing from a squat and then squatting again. She is SO close... and so pleased with herself!

As of today... the top two teeth... are starting to poke through, just a bit of white showing... thank goodness. She's been working hard on those teeth and has had some rough spells thanks to them! It is nice to see some progress!!

Oh, and this week she grabbed at my water glass as she has many times before, but she successfully took sips of water out of it with my help! And had a great time dipping her hands into it and then stroking my face. Trying to baptize me? I'm not sure.

She's amazing.