Thirteen Months Old!!

Thirteen Months Old - June 23, 2011


Today my toddler is 13 months old. That sounds so old to me! I have been debating on whether or not to keep doing the monthly posts. If I do it for her, I'll have to do it for all our other children and I didn't know if I wanted to commit. But alas, I've decided to go for it - at least until she is 2. Her first 12 months were filled with so much physical development. This year will be less physical (she'll gain a little weight, she'll grow a little taller, and hopefully she'll get a lot more hair) but it will be filled with a ton of cognitive development. I feel like I call Adam every day and say, "C did ____!! She's so smart!" Her little brain is learning at lightning speed these days and I don't want to forget anything.

Behavior wise, this has been the best and worst month so far. It's the best because she's starting to understand some words and follow some simple directions. We keep our wedding album on the bottom of a console table. Every time she walked over to it I would tell her no and move her away. This went on several times a day for the past several months. Finally a breakthrough! She'll still go over to it, but she won't open it and she'll look at me with pleading eyes. Once I say no, she's good. She'll find something else. I can say "go see Daddy" and she will walk over to Adam. She likes standing in chairs and she can now understand "sit down." Most of the time she will actually listen to me! I love it! It's also been the worst because now that she does understand some things, she can also ignore those things. She's very vocal about the things she wants. Sometimes telling her no results in a massive temper tantrum. She reminds me that she is, in fact, a toddler and that we are heading toward the exciting "terrible twos." Thankfully these tantrums don't ever last more than a couple of minutes, but for those two minutes I'm just a ball of nerves! It's my job to teach her how the world works and I know if I come unglued during her tantrums then she'll only learn that it's acceptable to keep having them. I keep reminding myself of that, but it sure can be hard to remember when you're trying to calm down a screaming and crying toddler!!

Caroline has been napping and sleeping like a champ!! We finally hit a turning point and I.just.love.it. I am guaranteed at least one (and many days two!) naps which usually last any where from 1-3 hours. This has been great for the state of our house and laundry. She will also go down to bed without crying and sleeps until 8:00 without waking up! Her eating, however, has gone downhill. She's become very picky with food. She's eating all table food now, so that makes feeding her easier. She also still wants a bottle rather than a sippy cup. The pediatrician had recommended weaning her off the bottle at 12 months and by 15 months to be solely on sippy cups. I still have 2 more months so hopefully I can do that! Here's C at lunch actually eating for a change.



This little girl is into everything! She loves opening cabinets, drawers, trash cans, whatever you can open!! She's also into climbing. I opened the refridgerator to put away some strawberries. I turned around to grab something else and Caroline had climbed inside the fridge and was grabbing cans to pull out. Sometimes I have to turn around so she doesn't see me laugh after I tell her no. She just does the funniest and cutest stuff - even if it is wrong!!

Ever since she was born, Caroline has been a Daddy's girl. She used to cry in the middle of the night and I couldn't get her to calm down. I would frantically call for Adam. He would come in and hold her for all of 3 seconds before she calmed down. Lately she's been all about me, which I (not so) secretly love. She reaches for me all the time and it just melts my heart. I love that little girl so much!

She's learned lots of fun new things. She can put her blocks away when asked and she's started stacking the rings in (usually) the correct order! Her hand eye coordination has gotten so much better in the past month.




I am just loving this stage that she is in right now, even with the tantrums and picky eating. Her personality becomes more apparent each day and I love the person that she is becoming. I only hope that Adam and I will be the best parents we can be so that we can guide her through these crazy toddler years!

Happy 13 months little girl! I am so proud of you and love you more than any mother has ever loved their child (at least that's what it feels like!).

Like Father, Like Daughter

It's official. Caroline has to have eye surgery! Her tear ducts have been clogged basically since birth. This is very common among infants. Usually 4 out of 5 kids won't need anything done as theirs will open by itself. Caroline is one of the lucky 1 out of 5 kids. Adam had to have the same thing done when he was her age. I took C to the opthamalogist today. He was so nice and spent forever answering my questions. After I talked to Adam about our options, we decided that going ahead with the surgery was the best one. It's quick and easy and the earlier we do it, the higher the success rate. If this one little surgery can prevent her from having several down the road then we are on board! I'm not thrilled that she has to have it done at all, but I really do like the doctor and trust his opinion so that makes it easier. We'll be talking to the surgery coordinator tomorrow morning to set the date. I know it's not a big surgery - but it's still a surgery and that makes me a little uneasy. Hopefully they will get it scheduled soon and her little eyes will be perfect!

Last day of Waterbabies

Caroline had her last swim class this past weekend. She kicked by herself the whole time - plus she tried to blow bubbles and even went under water a few times! We have had so much taking her to these lessons and we are looking forward to doing them again next summer. At the end of class, they each got a certificate. We wanted C to hold it so we could take her picture but that wasn't going to happen. She wanted to drink through a straw. After a major meltdown we gave up on the picture and let her hold the cup. This is the best we could get...

Happy Father's Day!

We had such an incredible Father's Day weekend. Yes, we did celebrate all weekend long. Some things just need extra celebration (like my birthday, for example). Friday afternoon was filled with a playdate (for all of us) and then dinner (Mexican - we seriously cannot get enough) followed by relaxing on the couch. We had to get up early on Saturday since it was Caroline's last swim class! I'll do another post on that later. It was the best class by far. Caroline finally kicked by herself, attemped to blow bubbles, AND she did a great job sharing toys with another little girl in the class. She's usually not one to give toys away but they kept handing them to each other. We were so proud! After class we came home, changed, and then went to Pepper Place. Adam picked out a lot of his favorite things for us to use in his Father's Day dinner on Sunday.


We decided to do gifts on Saturday night rather than on Sunday since our day was going to be busy (or so we thought). Adam got a new polo shirt from Caroline, a dress shirt from me, a gift certificate to Butler's from Daisy, and the C and I made him a sweet little book.



On the left side is an interview I did with Caroline and on the right side is her hand print. The best part is that there are many more pages so that every year we can do the interview and the hand print so that one day Adam can look back at a decade of Father's Days!

Sunday morning we went to church and then to lunch (Mexican again...go figure). We had Caroline's one year portraits scheduled but ended up rescheduling them since we decided to change the location. Adam spent the rest of the afternoon watching golf and playing with C. We made a wonderful dinner with all the yummy stuff we got at Pepper Place. We had an heirloom tomato salad, grilled summer vegetables, chicken, and then a peach and blueberry crumble for dessert. We all went to bed full and happy!!

The weekend was very quiet but so much fun. We usually spend holidays with our families but it was just us this time. It was wonderful! It's so nice to see our families, but I forget how much I love celebrating things just us.

Happy Father's Day Adam!


Adam loving his baby girl on his first Father's Day. Caroline was exactly four weeks old.


We didn't get any pictures of Adam and C this Father's Day!! I'm so mad at myself for forgetting! We were having such a wonderful day just the three of us that taking pictures slipped my mind. Here's the two of them at her birthday party a few weeks ago.

Tunnel of Love

Caroline got tons of fun new stuff for her birthday - and I mean tons! She got clothes, bathing suits, outdoor toys, bath toys, pool toys, books, plates and bowls, towels...you name it, she got it. She's so lucky to be so loved! One of her favorite new things is a tunnel from Mama Lou, her great-grandmother (Adam's grandmother). She pulls it out at least once a day, if not more. She just loves it! Thank you Mama Lou!!!!

Toddler Time!

This morning I took Caroline to Toddler Time at the library. We met up with a friend and had a wonderful time!! C wasn't into the songs at the beginning (she had just woken up) but she loved the story part. At the end, all the kids got an egg with some beads in it to shake. C went nuts!! It was just precious. We can't wait to go back soon!

Misadventures in eating

Up until recently, Caroline has been the best eater. She would try everything that we gave her and would eat most of her food at each meal. In the past week, she's been more picky. She doesn't eat a lot at breakfast, she falls asleep during lunch (and I've tried moving lunchtime 3 times - she just moves her naptime with it!), and she gives Daisy most of her dinner. She's been pushing away sippy cups and only wanting a bottle.

Caught!!!


Feeding Daisy again


She thought it was funny. I did not.


Although she didn't want Daisy eating her food this day. Daisy has been getting more comfortable taking C's food (and why not, C just gives it to her?) so we've started putting outside during meal time.


I thought that ravioli would be a fun food for C. I spent forever picking out the best ravioli and sauce in Whole Foods. I was so excited to give it to her...


Looks like a clean tray, huh? Nope...she just pushed it all away.


I decided that we were going to sit there and she was going to eat it. I was determined not to cook a different meal. 40 minutes later...


She was fine just sitting there, only asking to get up a couple times.


She finally started getting a little impatient.


But she still wouldn't eat. After an hour and a half I finally got her out of her high chair.



I pulled out every baby/toddler cookbook I have plus spent hours online looking for good ideas. I'm going to try some new stuff and see if that pleases her. Anyone else have any suggestions???

Proof

After I did the post this morning about C helping with the laundry, I took her to Mama and Me playgroup. These pictures aren't staged - this is really the first thing she did when we got there. She really does love laundry!!

Little Helper

Caroline is at such a fun age right now! She is learning so much everyday and sometimes that really works to my benefit...sometimes not so much. She will copy things that we do and try to say things that we say (not so much the word, but the inflection). Lately she's been helping me with laundry. I'll take a basket of dirty clothes and pour it out on the floor in the laundry room. I'll start the washing machine and put in the detergent and then Caroline hands me the clothes one my one. When they are all put in, she'll clap her hands and then I'll lift her up to see all the clothes and she'll wave at them. When the buzzer for the dryer goes off, she walks into the laundry room. I'm thinking that in a few more months she'll be able to handle it all by herself :)

The other day she was busy playing so I decided to start a load of towels. I brought the basket into the living room and went into the laundry room to start the washing machine. This is what I found when I came out.





I guess she wanted to help!! I know it seems like she's never wearing clothes - I promise that she is usually dressed! We've been outside a lot lately so she always manages to get wet in the baby pool or water table or in the dirt or drip popsicle on her so something. She's a messy little thing!

Lately...

After C's birthday party we stayed pretty busy, so blogging took a bit of a back seat... It took a few days to get the house back to normal and to find a place for all the wonderful new things that Caroline got for her birthday!! Now we're back into a good routine so I can fill everyone in on what we've been doing lately!

Caroline had a swimming date with two of her little boyfriends, Robert and Jonathan. (And she learned how to use a straw!!)





She ate watermelon for the first time. We put her in a watermelon dress for the occassion.


She didn't really want to eat it. She was more interested in rubbing it on the chair,


holding it up to show the backyard,


and sharing with Daisy.



Caroline had one of her best friends come over to play.






And then we went over to her friends house!




This toddler sure is keeping us busy!!

The Final Chapter

I started this blog when I was about 17 weeks pregnant with Caroline. My intention was to document our lives as we got ready for her arrival and then to document her life throughout her first year. Well, her first year has come and gone and I am excited to turn this blog into a book!! This entry will be the final entry in the book. I am still going to keep the blog going - I know all our readers would be so sad if I didn't :) But, in a true "final chapter" kind of way, I am going to give a (probably very long) wrap up of the past year. It's mainly random thoughts so probably not very interesting...you have been warned!!

It's strange to be sitting here looking back at the year. So much has happened. Obviously Caroline has grown - tripling her weight and adding nearly a foot in length. She has learned some big things, like sitting up and rolling over to walking and saying words. Adam and I have also changed. Somewhere along the way we didn't just "have a baby", we became parents. The "lets write our wills so we know she'll be taken care of should anything happen to us, whats the best way to save for her education, only look for houses that include a playroom and big yard" type of parents. We had a lot of growing up to do but I know that our lives have more meaning and joy because of that. Don't get me wrong - I miss our random late night food runs (what is it about midnight that makes me so hungry???) but staying home with sleeping Caroline is so much better than a big greasy cheeseburger!

On May 30, 2010 I thought that I wouldn't get to experience raising my child. I remember laying on my bathroom floor in a puddle of blood. I didn't know what was going on and Adam wasn't there to reassure me that it would be okay. I don't handle crisis situations well, he does. I just knew that something was terribly wrong and I was probably going to die. I remember thinking that I didn't have Caroline for long enough to know her and I was so mad. At the same time, I was relieved that she was so little that she wouldn't remember me so there wouldn't be any painful memories. We left for the hospital so quickly that I didn't get to see Caroline. I didn't know if I had seen her for the last time or not. Without a doubt, that was the most scared I have ever been. It's a year later and I can barely think about it without breaking down into tears. There will be times that I look at Caroline and start crying because I can remember the day where I thought all of this was about to be taken away from me. I hope that I never take my time with her for granted, not one single second. There hasn't been a day yet where I don't go to bed thanking God for giving me that day and for having the chance to be her mom.

Some of my favorite moments of the past year were the times that I would rock her. It was so quiet and sweet and I loved the time where it was just her and me. I remember dreading the day when my mom left and Adam was at work. I was so nervous that I wouldn't know what to do by myself with a little baby. It didn't take long for me to figure it out and soon I was loving that time alone with her!

I've loved watching her little personality develop. She loves to talk and be the center of attention (I'm thinking that comes from Adam...), she's stubborn (unfortunatly she gets that from both parents), independant, loving, and so funny! She keeps us smiling all day long.

When I was pregnant, people would tell me that soon I wouldn't remember life without her. It's strange because to some degree that's true. Of course I remember my life pre baby - but I find myself saying "What did I do before Caroline" all the time! I am so used to packing a diaper bag that I feel anxious when I leave the house without her. It doesn't feel right having a bag so light anymore!!

I truly feel like a different person since having a baby. I know I have more patience (being pregnant and waiting on her arrival did that to me!). I used to be the person who would roll their eyes when a child wouldn't stop crying in a restaurant, now I am the mother of that child and praying that people aren't rolling their eyes at me. Even if they are, I don't care anymore. I am just happy that a crying child is a problem that I am lucky enough to have. I am so much more thankful and appreciative of everything now. Caroline made me a better person when she made me a mommy!

Caroline,
You are the most amazing thing in the world. I hope that you enjoy this book of your first year - I enjoyed documenting it! I love you so much baby girl!

Adam,
Can you believe that we've been parents for a whole year?? I am so thankful that you are the one that took this incredible journey with me. I have loved you for so many years. I have only had the chance to love you as a daddy for one year, but I can honestly say - I have never loved you more. You are the perfect father. I love the little girl that you gave me and I hope that we will more more children. I think the world needs more little pieces of you in it. If I could choose again, I'd still choose you. xo