Thankful

Dedication Day

Sunday we had Caroline dedicated to the Lord at our church.  It was a very sweet time with family and close friends. 

We took these pictures at home on Sunday before church.  Caroline is wearing a cross necklace that my sister and I wore as babies.  I was struck by how much she looks like a little girl in these pictures.

 

She did really well on stage, despite the fact that she came down with a cold over the weekend and wasn't feeling her best.

The verse we chose for Caroline is also our prayer for her life, that these words would be imprinted on her heart as she grows.

Psalm 86: 11-12

Teach me your way, O Lord,

and I will walk in your truth;

give me an undivided heart,

that I may fear your name.

I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;

I will glorify your name forever. 

Some pictures to brighten a gloomy day!

It's dreary and rainy in our part of NC today, so thought I'd share some pictures we took of Caroline at the park in October.  She's wearing a precious outfit from Strasburg given to her by her Godmother Melissa for her first birthday.  She's been begging to see pictures of her in it!  Here you go, Melissa!  :-)

 

 

Halloween Fun!

Last Friday Caroline and I joined a group of other mom's with toddlers at our local park for cookie decorating and fun in costumes.  It was pretty hilarious to see all the kids toddling around the playground in their costumes.  I'm not sure they knew what to think about all of it, but they had fun.  Of course, Caroline was more interested in playing with the mulch on the playground than any of the kids, despite the fact that her best buddy Caleb was in attendance.  She's too funny!  Here's the pretty little butterfly:

 

On Saturday, the weather was overcast and gloomy but the rain held off long enough for us to visit a local farm we discovered just a few miles from our house that had all kinds of fun activities for kids.  There was a small pumpkin patch, a haystack mountain to climb with fun tunnels underneath, a mini corn maze, silos full of corn to play in, and a cow train.  Caroline had a ball.  The girl just loves being outside and she had lots of fun exploring everywhere and everything.

Playing in the corn was a new experience:

She loved running from one end of the tunnel to the other

She discovered hay is as much fun to play with as mulch!

 

Caroline thought she had to demonstrate her strength at the pumpkin patch by trying to pick up every one

Here is Caroline and Daddy on the "cow train."  Basically they were gallon drums with seats inside pulled behind a tractor.  Seeing Zack squeezed in with all the other kids was pretty funny!

 

We had lots of fun and will definitely go back next year! Despite the fact that a week later I am still picking corn up off the floor and finding it in the laundry!

Learning something new every day

Caroline has recently discovered that when she goes into a room, she can close the door behind her.  Luckily she doesn't close the door hard enough to latch it, because she's not near tall enough to reach the door knob!   Last night she started playing a game where she would run in her room, close the door, then open it again and run full speed ahead down the hallway into my arms.  What fun!

Officially a Toddler

Well, I think it's official. My baby is not a baby anymore. That is probably pretty obvious to everyone else, but to me it seems like this happened overnight! And apparently with this new title of toddler, comes an opinion. A strong one. About everything. My toddler is not at all timid about sharing her opinion- and she does so often. Some things she is most opinionated about-
* Disagreeing with the idea that we can not play outside when it's raining.
She doesn't mind getting wet and does not understand why we do.
* Stopping to take a bath, eat, or have her diaper changed. To her these are all very unnecessary things that are quite frankly a waste of her time.
* What she eats. Caroline must be the pickiest 15 month old I know. We have a short list of things that she will accept, and she absolutely refuses to try anything new. She essentially eats the same things everyday, with the exception of fruits and veggies (she will only accept stage 2 baby food varieties!), which we vary.
* Taking a nap. Sometimes this is under protest, sometimes not. It all seems to depend on whether or not she thinks it's a good idea at the time.
* Being told "No, we're not going to watch Elmo right now" does not go over too well either.

So, with this new stage comes a new skill set we must master to respond to this new opinion about things. She is very strong-willed about making sure we know what she thinks, but luckily her protests are pretty short-lived. Frustrated and upset one second and sweet, loving, and charming the next. Ah, the life of a toddler.

Not My Child Monday

Welcome to Not My Child! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Remember "Not Me Monday"? Well this is "Not My Child Monday"-same concept except this time I get to blame it all on Caroline. Because I of course did NOT do anything embarrassing or funny at all this week.

It is most definitely NOT my child who adamantly refuses to eat anything new presented on her high chair tray but will eat anything off the floor.

It is also NOT my child who has learned how to operate the buttons on the DVD player and can restart her Elmo DVD in a split second even after she's been told "we're only watching it one time!"

It is definitely NOT my child who after coming in from playing outside hears "lets wash your hands" and immediately places her hands in her mouth because she knows that's exactly what you don't want her to do.

It's also NOT my child who I have to literally chase down every night to take a bath because she simply does not want to stop moving long enough to do it!

It's NOT my child who is so charming and precious that when sitting in the cart at Wal-Mart waves to everyone we pass by like she's Miss America on parade!

And, it's NOT my child who gives the sweetest hugs and kisses, and is the most loving 15 month old I know!

Caroline's First Word

Elmo. Yes, this is Caroline's first word. Not Mommy, or Daddy or GiGi or Nana (as the before mentioned people were hoping it would be), but Elmo. She has been practicing it a lot lately, especially in the bathtub. She has two Elmo waterproof books that we read in the bathtub every night. This was our conversation tonight......

Caroline, while pointing to her book: "Elllll-Mo!"
Me: "Caroline, can you say Mom-my?" "Mom-my?"
Caroline: "Ellll-Mo!"
Me: "Mom-my!"
Caroline: "Elll-Mo!"
Me: "Caroline, Mommy's not Elmo!" "Mom-my!"
Caroline, still looking down at her book: "Ma ma ma ma ma."

Oh well, guess I'll have to settle as a close second behind the red furry monster!

Caroline Turns One!

So, I know, I know, I've already fallen down on my promise to update when I said I would. Sigh. But, three days is much better than three months, right? There is no way I can just skip over the last few months and not share pictures of Caroline's birthday. We had a great time with family, neighbors, and close friends. We rented a picnic shelter at our nearby park and decorated Elmo style! It was a very fun and special day.

Isn't her cake awesome? A friend from church made it. She's really talented!!

Caroline with her great-grandmother

Caroline and her PapaSinging Happy Birthday. She didn't know what to think!

Zack's grandmother couldn't make the trip for the party, but she surprised us by sending a "mess cake" for Caroline with her name on it. She's made all her great-grandchildren's first birthday cakes. Caroline is number 11! I'm One!! Time for presents! With Aunt Tracy Caroline and her best buddy Caleb Big Hug!

Has it really been nearly 4 months since I posted? Yikes!

I certainly never intended to abandon this blog or neglect to post for nearly four months! To be honest, daily life just got in the way, and keeping up with posting got moved to the back burner quickly. I have recommitted myself to being more diligent about updating, as I am hoping that this journal will serve as a sort of "online baby book" for Caroline that I can eventually have for her as a hard copy of all her mommy's memories of her as she grows. So how do I catch up on the past four months in one post? I don't think it's possible. Not without a long rambling post that loses it's interest about halfway through anyway. So for now, I'm going to give you the highlights. Expect more posts with the details soon. No really, I promise this time! :-)

• Caroline turned one July 16th. We had a fun little party (Elmo themed of course) at our local park with family and close friends.
• Caroline is walking. No, actually she's RUNNING everywhere. She began really taking her first steps shortly after her first birthday, and literally within a week she was running. She never stops moving!
• Caroline is back on propranolol to treat her hemangioma. This is her first day back on it (since weaning her off in June). We have made some recent changes regarding Caroline's medical providers and have transferred her care to a different medical center. This new pediatric dermatology team has a philosophy of treating vascular birthmarks that is more in line with our concerns regarding Caroline's emotional and psychosocial development.
• Caroline FINALLY has some teeth! Shortly after her first birthday, she cut the first bottom two. Now the top two are pushing through as well.
• She's still a teeny one. 17 lbs 10 oz at her one year checkup. She's in the 3rd percentile for weight and the 5th for height. Still wearing a lot of her 9 month size clothes but is beginning to fit into some 12 month things.
• Caroline's aunt Tracy (my sister) got married in September in Charleston, SC. This was a big week for Caroline! She met cousins and extended family, visited the beach and put her feet in the ocean for the first time. She's also very happy that her aunt Tracy got married. She LOVES her uncle Jonathan! :-)

So there you have it! The quick version! I'll work on a more proper update complete with pictures tomorrow. No really, I will!

Flashback Friday

In less than a month my precious girl will be a year old!! It's so hard to believe! The year just disappeared before my eyes! In so many ways, I'm so thankful that she is at the point she is now: interactive, affectionate, on the go, learning new things everyday. But every once in a while, I get a little twinge of longing for those newborn days of soft sweetness, and I think, where did the time go? In looking forward to her first birthday, here are some of my favorite pictures of her during her first few weeks.......

Teething Troubles

For the third night in a row, Caroline has been up most of the night with what we assume is teething pain. We are giving her motrin and tylenol, but it does not seem to do much. We're doing oral-gel and teething tablets too. She's pretty pitiful. She is usually a very good sleeper at night, so something is obviously going on. Zack is taking her to the pediatrician later today just to make sure she doesn't have an ear infection. If only she could tell us what the problem is so we can fix it! If it's the teeth, I sure do wish they would make their debut already!

Mommy's Helper

Caroline has found a new joy......taking clothes out of the laundry basket. We were playing in her room over the weekend, and I had brought her laundry in to put away. I left the room for less than a minute to retrieve something in another part of the house, and when I came back, I found her pulled up on the basket, fervently yanking out all her clothes and depositing them on the floor.

What, Mommy? I'm just trying to help!

Tired Baby!

This is what happens when a girl doesn't get her afternoon nap:

Zack and I took Caroline with us on several errands this afternoon, and we got back later than her usual nap time. The 20 minute cat nap she took on the way home gave her just enough of a boost for her to refuse to go down when we got back home. This evening I took her out to swing, as we have been doing most evenings lately before bath time, and the rhythmic motion of the swing was just too much for her heavy eyes to take!

Such a precious girl!

Our Trip to Wisconsin (Part 1)

A few weeks ago, we traveled to Chippewa Fall, Wisconsin for Zack's brother's wedding. We opted for the 18 hour drive instead of flying, which many people thought we were crazy for doing with a 10 month old, but Caroline did great! I borrowed a portable DVD player from a friend and a lot of Elmo DVD's. As long as Elmo was on the screen, she was great! We also had a basket full of toys and books to keep her entertained, too. With our nice comfy and spacious new car, it was actually quite an enjoyable trip. We had a great time in Wisconsin with family! This is just part of what we had to take with us....the majority of it Caroline's. See why we decided not to fly? We stayed overnight in Indianapolis, Indiana (about halfway). We got to Chippewa Falls in the late afternoon the next day. Caroline instantly fell in love with her cousin Taylor. Taylor hadn't seen Caroline since she was two months old! It was her first time meeting her Uncle Trea and soon-to-be Aunt Melissa. Taylor helped me give Caroline a bath, read her bedtime stories, and gave her a bottle the first night we were there. They both wore their monkey pajamas too! They were two peas in a pod! Having fun with Papa and Daddy. My Papa is one of my favorite people! The weather was beautiful for an outdoor wedding! We enjoyed being with family to celebrate a special day.

Trea and Melissa

Caroline and Daddy

Caroline and her Nannie

I love this picture of Caroline and Taylor!

My Nana hand smocked and sewed my dress herself! It looked like it came right out of a Strasburg store!

Caroline and Mommy

Caroline and her Nana