Caroline's First Birthday

Last Monday our little Caroline turned one, and we had the nicest day celebrating her.  Caroline and Ellie came downstairs for breakfast and they BOTH had balloons tied to their chairs.  (Ellie got a big sister balloon.)  Caroline loves balloons!  She was so excited to have four of her very own!!

Birthday Girl breakfast - kix and yogurt

More balloon play after eating.

Pete had a home-office day on Monday, so after we picked Ellie up from school, we headed to Local Taco for Caroline's birthday lunch.

Caroline and Ellie shared a quesadilla.

After lunch we headed home for both girls' naps.  While they were sleeping, I brought Caroline's gifts upstairs and arranged them in the living room and got her cakes out of the fridge.  Ellie knew we were doing presents and cake after nap, so her nap wasn't very long.  She was very excited for the birthday girl to wake up.

  

  

Hello, bright eyes!

Caroline woke up around three, and we started our little party.  Pete and I had gotten Caroline just a few gifts:  a new diaper, a straw cup, a Duplo train set, and a wooden xylophone.  We hadn't gotten any actual presents - just the diaper and cup, and I have a lunch box for her when the time comes for her to go to school that I was going to wrap, but I felt really bad not having anything for her to open and play with, so Pete went to Target during nap and got the two toys.

  

Trying very hard not to open Caroline's presents.  Not entirely successful.

Trying very hard not to open Caroline's presents.  Not entirely successful.

Trying very hard not to open Caroline's presents.  Not entirely successful.

Aunt Susie sent a gift for Caroline AND one for Ellie, so the big sister got to open something, too.  It helped to keep the tantrums at bay.  There were still some tears and flailing on her back, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. 

After presents it was time for cake!  Caroline loves Raffi the Giraffe, and Gymboree had the number one shirt with the giraffe, so the theme for her cake was a no-brainer.  Thanks to Pinterest for the inspiration, and Hank and Tammy for their fondant recipe :-)  Only the giraffe and flower are fondant, the rest is glorious, tasty, homemade buttercream. 

 

 

time to eat!

Caroline and Ellie sat at their little table to eat.  Caroline was so polite about it!  She didn't cram icing into her mouth, just took a few bites of icing and cake, and enjoyed eating with her sister.

For dinner we had Caroline's favorite foods:  cheese pizza and mixed vegetables.  Super-classy, I know.  Then we went for a wagon ride around the block, counted the kitty cats on Queensway, and called it a day. 

We had the best day being together as a family for Caroline's first birthday.  It was simple and sweet and we loved it!

52 weeks of Caroline

Ch-ch-ch-Changes.

A few goings on at our house.  Our swingset was old and rotten so we bit the bullet and bought the girls a new one from Steepleton's.  (merry christmas and happy birthday for the next ten years)  It had gotten to the point where I was afraid to have both girls swinging on it at the same time, and we knew we would have lots of girls on it during our croquet party, so, down it came.

My burly husband took it down on a few Saturdays ago.  Fast forward a week-and-a-half, and the nice man who sold us our new set arrived with another man to assemble our new one.  Took them two-and-a-half hours.  So glad we went with a local store that includes installation - who knows how long it would have take us and now it's up and level and we know the girls are safe.

new set going in

Caroline monitoring the progress.

All done and ready for play.

Ellie and Caroline have played on it every evening (and some mornings) since.

Ellie was so happy to see it when she got home from school.

Ellie's neighborhood friends had a good time on it while the adults played croquet. 

These girls don't mess around when it comes to play.

Brandon Eason, Croquet Champion for the second time.

We're pretty happy with the purchase, and love to hear Ellie as her imagination takes her on boat rides, airplanes, and in the car all while she stands at the steering wheel.  Little sister has decided she's not so little anymore and also wants to be in on the action.

I just can't take her face sometimes.  Heartbreaker.

She climbed right up on her first try.

Another change - perhaps a bigger one - has been in the bed department.  Pete picked up matching twin sleigh beds I found on Craigslist a few weeks ago, but we didn't have mattresses for them.  Ellie knew about them, but wasn't asking for a big girl bed, so we didn't rush her.  Then, a couple of weekends ago, Ellie mentioned something along the lines of, "maybe when I'm a 4-year-old I'll get a big girl bed."  We asked her if she'd like to sleep in her big girl bed now, and she replied that she would.  So the next day we bought her a mattress.  The evening of September 1st Ellie slept in her own bed and hasn't looked back since.  

What I found when I checked on her a couple hours after bedtime.

Later that night, after I'd righted her.  (we now have a bed rail.)

We had been putting pillows on the floor, and she fell out a couple of times, but has done really well.  We kept her crib on the other side of the room for a week or so, just in case she decided she wanted to go back, but she didn't, SO..... next we increased Caroline's real estate!

First nap in the big crib!

Sleepyhead

old crib, new spot, new tenant

The official passing down of the crib.

So that's what's new with us!  Big day on Monday, so get yourself ready for lots of pictures of the Littlest!!

Caroline, weeks 36-47

Yep.  I'm still taking weekly pictures.  Only two more left.  Sniff.  Sad face.  I just put the numbers on all these yesterday, so here you go!

She was still such a CHUNK at 36 weeks!!  She's not dainty now, but her face isn't as round.  And it's nearly impossible to get her to sit still for a picture, as you can see in week 46 when she crawled over to me and pulled herself up to look at the camera.  Little stinker :-)

Caroline at 11 months

In two weeks The Littlest will be one-year-old.  

Say Whaa?!?!?

I can't believe it!  This year has flown by and I feel like I missed most of it.  

Loves to play the piano.

Hates that she's not allowed to play during her sister's nap.

In her eleventh month Caroline started speaking some protowords:  /dada/, /ffff/ for either Fiona or woof-woof, /tiii/ or /titi/ for teeth, and /mumumum/ for that crack of baby snacks, Mum Mums.  

 

Her fourth tooth emerged last month as well - her other top incisor, the left one, broke through on the 12th, while we were in South Carolina.  She had several other firsts in SC.

First sunrise on the beach!

First orange slice.  Complete slice went in, only the skin came back out - like a pro.

Napped like a champ on vacay, too.

Technically, she turned eleven months while we were on the beach.  

Eleven-months-old today!

Are you sure?

So the 'official' pictures were three days late.  Her stats were as follows:  weight- 21 pounds, 7.5 ounces, thigh circumference- 10.75" - down a full 1.25 inches from when she started crawling!  :-( 

Caroline learned how to crawl up the stairs in her eleventh month, and her favorite activity is to take things out of other things:  clothes out of luggage, tea set pieces out of giant tea pot, legos out of box, blocks out of tub, etc.  She is also quite the hair-puller.  Favorite targets:  Mommy and Ellie.  But Baby Kate felt the wrath of her grabby hands a few times on vacation.  Still loves the bath and all things water-related.

Looking like her Daddy

 

 

I commented to Pete the other day that Caroline still has that baby smell.  I don't know exactly when it goes away, but I'm so glad that she still has it.  She still has that super-soft skin you just can't help but kiss and those precious baby toes and starfish hands.  We don't know what we would do without you, Cares!!  I know you must grow, and I know there are great adventures ahead of us, I just wish you could stay little a bit longer.