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!