Merry Christmas

Not quite the child prodigy

Here we go, another story about Caroline. And Poop:

Last night, while eating her dinner, Caroline kept telling us that she had to "poop". Then she would say, "potty"

Since she is only 18 months old we are in no hurry to start potty training her or even think about starting that process but many times right before she needs to do "that" she will come to us and tell us that she needs to do it.

A few minutes later when dinner was over and she still had nothing in her diaper, she told me again: "Poop. Potty." So I decided what the heck, let's give this a go.

Caroline wasn't so sure about actually sitting on the potty. I mean she does weigh less than 20 pounds. She made it clear to me that she wanted to get off the toilet. So I let her stand but as she continued to make noises that indicated what was to come I kept putting her on the potty. So, Caroline pooped on the potty last night. I tried to be excited for her so she knew that this was a good thing. I called Evan and Liam in so they could clap for her and tell her what a big girl she was being.

Then while we waited for Evan to come back with a clean diaper and just when I thought maybe we could start potty training her, I've heard of that on parenting websites,  did she pee down her legs and all over my hands.

Yup. Definitely not ready.

Monkey

Tonight at dinner, with no exception to our norm, Liam was having a crying fit *shocker* because he couldn't wash his hands by himself. *sigh* If you sense my frustration it would because he can indeed wash his hands all by himself without any supervision and has been doing it for at least a year and a half. 

Anyway.....

Caroline was still eating at the table and she said to me, "Ne-num? Sad?"
M: "Yes, Liam is crying.
C: "Ne-num crying?"
M: "Yes. Daddy is helping him."
C:  "Monkey"
M: "Monkey??!?!"
C: "Monkey. Sad. Crying. Elephant."

Holy cow this girl is smart. She was associating Liam's crying and being sad with a book we own called 'Hug' about a monkey who is sad because he can't find his mommy. An elephant ends up helping him look for his mommy.

M: "Yes, Caroline! And who was the monkey looking for?"
C: *big smile*

Liam ended up answering for her and surprisingly quit crying to enjoy his sisters very advanced thinking skills. Well, at least this mommy thinks she is advanced.

18 months

My baby is no longer a baby. She talks non-stop, knows some of her shapes and even her colors. She can count to three and loves to say NO! 

Caroline has also begun her love for climbing. She loves to climb onto her little chairs and then climb onto the table. She loves to climb onto the regular chairs and then stand up. She was climbing onto the first rung of the ladder I was using to decorate the kitchen. And today she decided to climb onto the large step stool in our bathroom and grab all of the toothbrushes off the counter. Since I was about to take a shower I decided the safest thing to do was to flip the stool upside down. She then proceeded to figure out how to flip it right side up, climbed up and sat down. Nothing is off limits anymore. 

Caroline is still very good at sleeping although she recently has been taking just a bit longer to fall asleep at night. She doesn't cry but we will hear her, for an additional 30 minutes at times, talking up a storm. 

She still loves Liam but also has begun to be a bit more vocal when he is annoying  her. She now refers to him as "Nenum". 

She still wears her 12 month clothes and size 3 diapers. She is still an excellent eater usually eating more than her picky brother and she has begun to get very excited whenever she sees Elmo. 

Caroline loves to dance and especially loves Christmas music. Bath time is still her favorite and today while at Aunt Ellen's house she stood at their little sink for 15 minutes just letting the water run over her hand. I had to drag her away. 

She adores baby dolls and carrying this bucket around the house. 

I could very well go on and on about all the amazing things she can do. We are so blessed to have her a part of our family. We can't wait to see what she can do next!

Rolling with the punches

Because waiting 3 hours to see Santa seemed ridiculous we instead pretended that he was driving Caroline around on his brand new ATV. It's a good thing he is so easily entertained. 

Smart?

Liam and I were discussing what he would like to be when he grows up.

L: A policeman!

M: Oh, wow! That is a very important job. What else would you like to be when you grow up?

L: A doctor!

M: Now you're talking! That is also an important job and you would have to work very hard to become a doctor. You need to study hard in school and be very smart to be a doctor. Which you are very smart.

L: Well, not really.

M: What are you talking about! You are smart!

L: Yeah, that's why I eat all those Smarties! They make me smart!

I think I'm in trouble.

So bright

Caroline is 17 months and continues to amaze us at the things she knows and can repeat.

Counting: When Liam is doing something he is not supposed to be doing we will tell him to stop and then start counting if he does not listen. We usually only make it to two (as three means you are in time-out) before he does obey his parents, which has led to Caroline's ability to count. One day I was warning Liam and said, "ONE!" and Caroline said, "TWO!" much to our amazement.

Singing: Caroline loves to play with the magnets on the side of the fridge while I am making dinner. One of our magnets will play the ABC song when  you  push one of the buttons and so Caroline will now sing the ABC song. She doesn't have the letters in the right order but she does say many of the letters. She will also repeat after you when saying the alphabet.

Talking: Caroline will repeat almost anything you say to her now. She still babbles a little bit but she mostly uses words and in their correct context. Her favorite words are bus, baby, truck, Daddy and Momma. She has even started to say two word phrases such as "love ya" and "see ya". 'Liam' is still hard for her to say but when we use his full name to get his attention she loves to call him by his middle name, "Paul". She also likes to give air kisses, usually after saying "love ya" which I am thinking is great for the germy season ahead.

There is no doubt about it, there is a major difference in the development of a boy versus a girl. Caroline and Liam are already so different but one thing they have in common is they both have this momma's heart.

A minor parenting fail...compared with the last post anyway

Since one story of Iowa visiting is not enough, here's another:

Liam loves to hide and then jump out and scare people. He will hide under blankets, pillows, behind doors or behind furniture but we can usually spot him because it's not like he is especially quiet when he is hiding. But he loves to think that he has fooled you and then he will jump out and scream Boo!

Saturday night after dinner we were getting the kids ready for bed and Evan and I were both focused on getting Caroline down because it was quite late. Then this happened,

M: "Where's Liam?"
E: "I don't know."
L: "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" from the other room.

Oh no. Because the only other person who was in the house besides my own family was Grandma. My 93 year old grandma. Whom Liam just jumped out from the bathroom door and scared.

Luckily Grandma was a good sport. Luckily we didn't give Grandma a heart attack.

But now Liam knows that he doesn't scare anyone with a walker.

My most embarrassing parenting moment to date

A couple weekends ago we traveled out to see my Grandma in Iowa. Here lies the most embarrassing moment of my parenting career to date.

After lunch on Saturday, Liam and Eli went outside to run around and be loud without bothering my 93 year old grandmother. Violet stayed inside because she wanted to do a craft project with me that I brought along for all the kids to do. (cause I'm the coolest aunt) My Aunt was standing by the kitchen window and suddenly said, "Huh, Liam is running around with his pants down. Do you all do that in Illinois?"

Say what?!?!?! I seriously thought she was joking. So, she said it again and I quickly moved to the front door to see what was happening. I opened the door, the FRONT door, and Liam was steps away with his pants indeed around his ankles and he was crouched over.

"LIAM! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

"I couldn't make it momma. I ran out of gas and it was coming and I couldn't make it!"

Because, as you may be guessing, my son was pooping, pooping in the front yard of my 93 year old grandmother's house. Who lives in town. With neighbors all around. In the front yard.

Panicking, I ran back inside and thought well if he's going to act like a dog I guess I have to clean up after him like we do for our dog. I grabbed the baby wipes and a grocery bag and my family of course wanted to know what he was doing and I had to tell them.  Everyone was cracking up and then my grandma walked into the kitchen with her walker and said that she had gone to get her camera if we wanted to get a picture. (because I think she just thought that he was running around her front yard without his pants and definitely NOT pooping on her lawn)

"Uh, no Grandma. We do not want a picture of this."

After explaining that we are not animals and definitely do not poop outside and next time can you please make it inside to the bathroom I am now able to say that I am thankful that Liam was not embarrassed by this incident. He paid little attention to the many remarks from his aunts and uncle the rest of the weekend and as soon as I helped him clean up he was back to running around the yard with Eli and Violet. I just hope that he will continue to let this story and all the teasing that will continue, because he will never live this story down, roll off his back.

I can't make this stuff up. This kid embarrasses me, makes me laugh, makes me want to pull my hair out almost every day and I still love him more than humanly possible. Pooping outside and all.

Halloween on his mind

This past weekend I was gone at a women's retreat with my church and so Evan was filling me in on his weekend with the kids.

Apparently Liam had a very difficult time going to bed Saturday night, which is very unlike him, he kept telling him that he was scared and kept thinking of the Alvin and the Chipmunks Halloween movie we let him watch occasionally. So, Evan told him that if he is going to be scared of those movies then he probably shouldn't watch them anymore. Liam said, "Yeah, let's take a break from those Dad."

On Sunday when I came home we were at the table finishing our dinner and I suggested to Liam that we tell stories to each other. Liam got very excited and immediately said he wanted to tell a Halloween story. To which I said that maybe that wasn't a good idea since he was scared the other night before bedtime because of the chipmunks and we should think of another story to tell. Here is our story, narrated by Liam:

L: "I think we should tell a Christmas story!  Once upon a time....(said in a scary voice)
M: "Liam! it's not supposed to be scary! You said Christmas remember!" (laughing)
L: "Oh right! Ok, Once upon a time there were three kids inside their house (still in a scary voice) named Violet, Eli and Liam. And they were wrapping presents and decorating gingerbread houses when they heard the door go crrrrreeeeaaakkk..... (very scarily)
M: "Liam! Christmas! Keep it about Christmas!"
L: "Then who should be at the door Momma?"
M:" Santa is at the door. And he had presents for all the kids, they opened them all and everyone drank hot chocolate. The End."

He clearly cannot tell an un-scary story. And it's hilarious.

The wild one

As Caroline's personality continues to blossom it is becoming more and more apparent that she is going to be our wild one. The one who doesn't listen. The one whom thinks that the rules don't apply to her. The one who will break curfew and the one who will tell her Dad, "I don't do A.M. radio" (sorry Ellen! It was just too perfect not to use that quote)

I am hopeful that this is just a phase. The phase of being a one year old. Where "no" has no meaning. I keep reminding Evan that we have to redirect her if we want her to stop doing something as this is the only way with a one year old. But deep down both of us know she is a firecracker.

At 15 months old Caroline climbs onto everything! A week ago our babysitter sent me a text that said Caroline was trying to climb on the back of her dining room chair and the chair fell back onto her but not to worry, she was ok! Two weeks ago she got away from Evan, booked it to the basement stairs at Grammie's house and fell down 4 or 5 of them before she was stopped. A few weeks prior to that she  tried to stick her finger into an outlet (!!!) but thankfully was stopped by Daddy and Liam. (Caroline your skeleton will turn on and off and on and off if you do that!)

Caroline had her wellness visit last week where she is weighing in at 17 lbs 7 oz and measuring 29 inches tall. She is now back in the 5% for weight and in the 20-something % for height. It's quite amusing watching her walk around the library or anyplace where there are other children around. She is quite smaller then the babies who can't walk yet so it's almost eerie watching her cruise around so easily.

Caroline talks all the time and probably has 20-30 words she will use, most without prompting, some she only says when she feels like it. She knows all of her body parts, where to go when we tell her to go to a certain room and has begun to make animal sounds when asked or while reading a book.

Her hips have even gotten better! We had her check up with Dr. Akeson in Peoria last month where the x-ray showed that her left hip had improved almost 10 degrees (from 46 to 36 in just four months) and her right hip had improved 5 degrees (from 36-31). So wearing her harness has improved things greatly and we will continue to put that on her at night for as long as she will allow us to do it. We also don't need to return until she is 2 years old for another x-ray. (we were going about every 3 months for xrays) At 2 years of age her hips should be at an angle of 25 degrees (in relation to her hip socket and the femur bone) so please continue to pray for her that God will continue to heal her and surgery will not be needed.

Preschool

We are about 3 weeks in to Liam going to preschool and the verdict is in! He loves preschool!

I really meant to post a first day of preschool post but life is busy. Yes, that's my only excuse.

Liam is enjoying his first year of preschool and goes 3 days a week from 8:45-11:45 am at the church we attend here in Bloomington. The three days just happen to be Monday, Wednesday and Friday so that means that Grammie Walles gets to take him and pick him up on Monday while I take him on my days off Wednesday and Friday.

I wasn't sure how I would feel about Liam being gone on the days that I am at home. At first it was so great to be able to spend quality time with just Caroline. I love the quiet mornings that we have together. I also enjoy being able to attempt to clean and reorganize with only one child following me around.

However,  now that a couple of weeks have gone by I kinda miss the kid. He is pretty great after all. But nothing is more exciting then picking him up and getting to hear all about his morning with his new friends, the games they played, the books that they read and the crafts that he did. I love how excited he is about this new chapter in his life and I know that when its time for kindergarten my little, shy, kind boy will have no problems making new friends and being a good listener for his teacher.

But for right now let's just keep him in preschool. I am not ready for him to be in kindergarten yet.

Chicago

Ahhhhh, isn't she beautiful! 

So I left off with the fact that our trip was on the verge of being cancelled because of a sick child. However I was fairly confident that Liam would soon feel better and let Evan go up Friday night anyway. With the understanding that I would join him Saturday morning and we both prayed that Caroline would never get it. My amazing mother in law was going to come to our house Friday despite our sickness but I think I would have had massive mom guilt leaving him. 

I think our elated faces say it all. Time away with no schedule to follow at a super chic hotel with awesome restaurants was just what we both needed. We even got to do the architectural boat tour at sunset that also takes you out on Lake Michigan. I highly recommend it. 

We also got to meet up with some lovely friends for lunch on Sunday before heading home. 

This trip was perfect. And while it didn't start out ideal we were still able to fully enjoy every moment together without the kids. 

And just like that

our whole weekend just got flipped upside down.

This weekend Evan and I have been planning for the last 3 months. Maybe even longer. This weekend was going to be a time where we could get away together just the two of us to Chicago where we didn't have to worry about a schedule or naptimes or ending our day at 8pm.  We were going to go to a comedy club, maybe kayak, do an architectural tour on the Chicago River and most importantly eat at some awesome restaurants. Maybe we could have taken a couple naps and enjoyed the sounds of silence. Met up with Ethan and Erik or gone to an art museum.

And just like that we have a sick child who now takes priority and our wonderful weekend of reconnecting is thrown out the window.

Sometimes being a parent just sucks. And yes cleaning out the puke bucket sucks.

Strawberry shortcake

Liam and I were enjoying our dessert of Strawberry Shortcake and had this conversation.

M: "When I was a kid I used to have Strawberry shortcake all the time at my Grandma Fink's house."

L: "All the time?"

M: "It was definitely a lot. It was kind of her special thing with us."

L: "But then how come you don't make it for me a lot? That doesn't make sense."

M: "Well, it's because she was my Grandma and Grandma's get to do fun things. I'm your Mommy."

L: "Yeah,  you never do fun things."

Apparently when it comes to dessert I just need to make strawberry shortcake every night and then I will be a fun Mommy.

My favorite things

Right now in this moment in time these are a few of my favorite things.

I love that Caroline has begun her love affair with books. I love watching her walk over to her bookcase and reach high to pick out a book. I love to watch her sit down with it and read it to herself.

I really love when Caroline sees me watching her and brings me the book she picked out, hands it to me and then crawls into my lap so I will read it to her. Seriously, it's so adorable.

I love watching Liam play with Caroline. I love watching them together and I love when Caroline "wrestles" Liam to the ground, throwing her hands high above her head and then giving a big roar when she comes down on him.

I love it when Caroline has the Batman figurine and "flies" him in front of her making the same "swooshing" noise that Liam makes when he flies his action figures around the room.

I love how gentle Butters is with Caroline. Since Caroline has Liam to entertain her I don't expect Butters to hang around us like I did when Liam was a baby. But usually Butters will find us during the day if we are all playing together and will just come and sit next to me. She really loves to be a part of the family.

I love getting hugs and kisses from both kids but there is nothing like a wet slobbery kiss from a 1 year old.

These are a few of my favorite things and I hope I never forget them.

Batman is applicable in all aspects of life and conversation

Tonight at dinner Liam was showing us an owie that he got earlier in the day. He felt it needed a cold pack and then it would be feel better. We then had this interesting conversation:

L: "This is really hard! I can't hold the froggie (cold pack) with one hand and eat with the other one!"

M: "Yeah, that looks tough. Maybe you should just eat and worry about your owie later." as I am always one for moving dinner along and feel that my kids take FOREVER to eat.

L: "I'm not like Grandma."

*puzzled looks from Evan and I*

L: "You know, when Grandma had that cane that she had to walk with? Like the Riddler?"

*laughter from Evan and I*

E: "Do you mean when Grandma Fink hurt her leg? She didn't have a cane, that was called a crutch."

L: "Yeah, when she had that she could still do anything. She's a lot better than you guys!"

Yes, she is. Grandma Fink can do anything she puts her mind to! Love you Mom!

The first of many

Yesterday my new little walker decided to scare me to death.

There is nothing like getting a call from your babysitter telling you that one of your children is hurt. Caroline was walking around the house, fell and apparently when she looked up there was blood everywhere!

My little sweet girl had bitten through her lower lip and I was in a panic.

What am I supposed to do? Do I have time to google this? What would you do? Where should I take her?

After numerous attempts to reach our pediatrician who was out of the office, I just decided to take her to prompt care and assess the situation when we saw her. Yes, we, because I was in tears when I was running out to my car and made Evan leave work too.

Once the babysitter met us I was relieved. The bleeding had stopped and my sweet Caroline was smiling. No tears from her as I had expected and feared. And her lip? We could definitely see the lacerations but at this point it just looked like a fat lip. Evan even wanted to walk out of the waiting room. We met with a wonderful, older grandpa-like doctor, who was very kind and gentle and no stitches were needed. He told us to give her a popsicle when we got home.

This day could have been horrible. This day could have been filled with stress and tears and stitches. But instead was filled with laughter, naps and popsicles.

My walker

After a couple of months of standing with no assistance Caroline finally did it; she is now a walker!

We spent another weekend in Michigan where it was just some of my family and Evan ended up staying home, so when we got home my sister Emily teased Evan by saying that he missed Caroline's first steps and that she was now a pro. I didn't correct her and instead went outside to do some "gardening" aka "quiet time with no children".

A few minutes went by and Evan came outside with Caroline and told me how impressed he was with how well she was walking already.

Uh, excuse me? She did what???? I literally spent almost every waking hour with that girl for 3 whole days in Michigan and she waits until I am outside and decides she is going to walk for the first time to Daddy???  When I told Evan that she had not been walking like Emily had told him and those were indeed her very first steps we were both surprised, and I set out to see if she could really do it.

She is a bit wobbly but she does indeed walk, although she quickly falls after a couple of steps and crawls since she knows that it will get her there much faster.

I can't believe I missed it! What a Daddy's girl.....

Smart! And smart???

Today while Caroline was shut in the bathroom with  me while I could get ready for the day we heard the dog barking downstairs. Caroline said, "Daddy?" and pointed to the door. (it was not daddy home from work but the girl is using her brain to understand that whenever the dog barks that's usually what is going to happen next)

And then also today Liam was teaching Caroline how to give a kiss. Unfortunately, both of my kids have a cold and Caroline had snot running down her nose during this lesson. Liam said, "Uggghhh, Mom! Caroline rubbed her snot into my mouth! I don't eat baby boogers! Just Liam boogers!"

Yep, this is my typical day. Isn't this what happens to everybody?

My 1 year old

I cannot believe I have a 1 year old little girl! Caroline has so much energy and is a lot of fun (as usual) but I just can't believe how quickly this year has flown by.

Caroline's stats:

Weight: 16 lbs 9 oz  (7%)
Height:

Caroline is such a good eater and its finally starting to show. Instead of hanging out in the 6th percentile like she has been for at least the last 6 months she has moved up to the 7th percentile! The pediatrician was humored by this and wanted to share it with me as well.

Likes: Food (most anything); Big Brother when he spends time with her; Mommy and Daddy; puzzles; coloring (with supervision by Aunt Carrie); crawling; climbing; bath time; playing in the dog's water bowl; Butters; peek a boo; pat a cake; reading

Trying to sneak up the stairs 

Dislikes: being ignored; Big brother when he's doing something she doesn't like; being taken away from the dog bowls; being taken away from climbing stairs

Skills: Caroline is a great climber and loves any chance she can get to go to our staircase and climb! She also loves to climb on the step stools and anywhere she can before I catch her. (and will laugh and giggle when I do catch up with her)  Caroline is great at pulling herself to a stand without help. She will usually stand still for 5-10 seconds before sitting back down and also does a great job at cruising along the furniture. Caroline will walk if you assist her by holding her hands but thinks that crawling is still the fastest way to get somewhere. Caroline is also great at throwing her cup on the ground after she has taken a drink.

All the way to the top!

Caroline talks quite a bit saying words like: Hi, Momma, Dadda, dog, woof, duck, light, up, down, Carrie, Briggs, all done, drink, ears and pig.

She signs for 'more', 'drink', 'all done', 'thank you' and is working on 'please'.

Caroline goes to bed between 7:30-8 pm and will sleep until 7ish the next day. (unless we are sharing a room and then she knows that we are right there and doesn't care that it is 5:30 am, let's play!) She also still wears her harness for her hips with no issue. (next appointment is in August)

She takes 2 naps still; each one lasting 1 1/2-2 hours or longer. Although I'm starting to eliminate the first nap depending on the day. We miss so much fun stuff because of that first nap!

Caroline is still nursed twice a day. Once in the morning and once at night, although she is weaning herself from the nighttime snack currently.

Caroline loves to play with pretty much anything but really loves to play whatever Liam is playing.

Our sweet, happy, active 1 year old!

Lucky

Liam's reaction our first day to the beach:

"Mom! I cannot believe my eyes! Is this Pentwater Beach?"

It's pretty much what I say to myself to. How lucky are we for the next week!

You are my Sunshine

Caroline turned 1 year old on Saturday June 6th. We had an awesome party with beautiful weather and tons of happy kids! I was so excited to plan an outdoor party that our plan was to have it at McGraw Park here in town which has a small pavilion, a spray water park and playground equipment. So even though Caroline doesn't care at this point about most of that (except for the swings)  older cousins/friends would be able to run around in the water or in the dirt and have tons of fun.  (thanks to my parents who arrived at the park 3 hours early to reserve the pavilion for us and tell anyone else that they were not invited to our party, in the most polite and courteous way of course)

Our theme was 'You are my Sunshine.' Caroline has a book that we sing along to before naps and bedtime and she will actually sing along with me so I thought it was perfect to include in her party.

She had a shirt made from Etsy, a sun cake that we made and some fun decorations and balloons. I tried very hard to keep it simple since the party would be outside and most of the decorations would be blowing in the wind. The only thing I felt was needed was the month timeline photos that showed how she has changed throughout the year. I saw this on Pinterest and with my sister Emily and Evan's help we were able to make it happen. (Thank you!)

Our sunshine cake turned out awesome! I made her smash cake and then saw that you can take Starburst candies and microwave them for a few seconds until they are soft. You can then roll them out and make any shape that you want. I was so excited about this!

Caroline wasn't so sure about the cold water in the splash park but then she figured out that this was a lot like bath time and she could splash around as much as she liked and even crawl in the water! She quickly changed her mind and decided that this was THE BEST!

Caroline received many awesome gifts but I think her favorite was the orange balloon from Staley. In fact, she could have cared less about all of the gifts that Liam and I were opening on her behalf as long as she could pat and eat the orange balloon!

Evan and I feel so blessed to have Caroline in our family. She is such a happy, fun and sweet girl and we couldn't imagine life without her. We feel even more blessed that both of our families agree and (almost) everyone was able to be there to shower her with love and kisses.

My lovely 1 year old! 

(showing me the correct finger for 'I'm one')

and some more lovely pictures from our day:

Happy Birthday Caroline!

From this sleepy newborn,

to this happy, smiley, fun little girl! 

Happy 1st Birthday to our Ray of Sunshine! 

*actual day was yesterday June 6th but we were a little busy having an awesome party for me to update my blog. One day late ain't bad though!

**party pictures to come soon, my computer keeps telling me that it has no more storage for me to upload more so once we clear that up we will be back in business!

A sappy Anniversary post

How did I get so lucky that he picked me?

How did I get so lucky to have such amazing in-laws?

How does he put up with me all the time?

How was it been 9 years since our wedding?

How is it possible that we have our own little family?

How can I be a better wife to a wonderful and patient husband?

 How is he such an amazing father to our two children?

How could I possibly love him anymore than I already do.

 Happy Anniversary Evan! You love me through all of my faults and I love you through all of yours. I'm proud to be your wife and the mother to your children. You're the best!

11 months

Caroline at 11 months is predictable, happy, laughing and a very smart little girl.

Skills: Signing more, drink and saying all done and pointing at what she wants more of. She says light and duck. She is very good at pulling herself to a stand on pretty much everything and loves to climb over obstacles. (through the chairs under the table) She can give hugs and high fives.  She now also "sings along" when we sing out of her 'You are my Sunshine' book. It is so cute!

Caroline is nursed twice a day. Once in the morning and once at night. She no longer takes a bottle but all of her milk is given to her in a sippy cup usually with her meals.

Caroline sleeps from about 7:30 pm- 7ish am. Sometimes earlier and sometimes later. She still sleeps with her harness on at night with no issues. Recently she has been waking up around 5 or 5:30 am although we are unsure if this is because of the harness or if her diaper is just wet. (she always goes right back to sleep)

She still sucks on her two middle fingers on her right hand while sleeping.

Caroline also takes 2 naps a day. The first around 9:30 am and the second around 2:30 pm. She typically sleeps for 90 minutes or longer.

Likes: Bathtime is still Caroline's favorite time of day. She also really likes to eat. She probably eats as much as Liam does if not more on some days. How she is so tiny I have no idea. She loves crackers, oatmeal, yogurt, cheese, beans and toast. All of her fruit and most veggies. Caroline likes to be tickled and has the heartiest laugh. She still adores big brother but has become a bit more vocal if he is doing something she doesn't like. She also LOVES daddy. She gets so excited when he comes home from work and also when we wake him up in the morning. She usually starts waving her hand right away and jumping up and down in my arms. This morning I put her on the bed and she crawled over to him and then just laid her head down on his stomach with a giant smile on her face. (so sweet)

Dislikes: Being ignored, big brother when he is doing something she doesn't like, not having any food while in her highchair and being taken away from something (dog bowls).

How has a year flown by? I can't believe our little girl is almost 1 year old!

Brotherly antics

I guess at the old age of 4 1/2  is the perfect time to start messing with your sister.

Example #1

I was trying to teach Caroline the sign language for "thank you" which is fingers on your chin/mouth and then out towards the person you are thanking. Liam decides to teach Caroline "thank you" by patting his head and then raising his hand to the air.

Example #2

Today I was trying to teach Caroline how to show on her fingers how old she is. (which will be 1) So I was holding up my pointer finger and Liam kept showing her his thumb. Then his pinky. Then his middle finger (ack!) which he probably doesn't really know what that means anyway but let's seriously not teach her that!

Example #3

Liam had a couple of pillows on the floor and was jumping either on top of them or over them in a very exuberant 4 year old manner. He encouraged Caroline to do the same so she crawled onto the pillows, then crawled off and laid down just like Liam had been doing when he was jumping over them.

I guess this will be the new norm for us. Liam teasing, taunting and teaching Caroline all sorts of things that are incorrect. If only I had had some older siblings that had done this to me. I could give Caroline all sorts of advice on how to ignore them. But all of my sweet sisters were angels. (sarcasm inserted here)

Yes, this is an action shot of Liam pushing Caroline in her swing WAY too hard.