How can I miss you if you don’t go away?

Wow, I cannot believe how I have neglected this blog. It’s certainly not for lack of love or having anything to say about Sweet Caroline. It is primarily a lack of time. Toddler mom’s new and old know exactly how that goes. I have precious few hours of the day to get things done and I guess blogging has taken a backseat.

It’s too bad really because I have loved having this record of Caroline first few years. Yes, I said years!! We are rapidly approaching her second birthday. Today she looks more like a little girl than a baby.

And she acts like a little girl too. She speaks in sentences and can tell me what she wants (Gummies!) as well as answer my questions (No!). She LOVES Dora the Explorer, acts like a little Mommy to her dolls and is going to go insane when she sees the tricycle the jolly, fat man is bringing her for Christmas. She knows her ABCs, can identify most letters and can count to 20.

As you can see, the hair is finally growing in.

She continues to be an absolute joy. We have been so lucky that she is a good communicator because that has really limited those toddler meltdowns. Oh, she has them, but they tend to be more about being denied something she wants rather than frustration at not being about to convey her message.

I know that the challenges are coming. As she turns 2, we will likely have to start thinking about discipline as she will undoubtedly start trying to test our limits.

Turning 2 is certainly bittersweet. She is most definitely not a baby anymore and we will soon be taking on potty training. On one hand I am sad to see her leave the baby stage behind but I love seeing who she is turning out to be.

I’ll get my baby fix soon enough though. Caroline is going to be a big sister in less than 8 weeks (that’s how long I’ve neglected this blog). Her little brother will be here in February and while I know that will come with sibling rivalry and other challenges, I think she is going to be an amazing big sister.

Hopefully, I will update more soon. I am getting a new camera for Christmas and an iPhone for my birthday. I’m hopeful those will both inspire me to record things more.

Travels, Easter, etc. recap

 

Whew, it has been a hectic few weeks. I’ve hardly had time to breath.

About 2 weeks ago, Caroline, her daddy and I took off for a short vacation to my parents house in Tennessee. Their home is 600 miles from mine and we were travelling by car. To ease the “pain” of travelling 600 miles with a 15-month old, we decided to drive all night while she slept.

The drive went great until we crossed into Tennessee and were hit with torrential rains for the majority of the remainder of our trip. That slowed us down a lot and we were exhausted when we finally arrived… just as Caroline was waking up to start the day. Since she doesn’t get to see my parents too often she isn’t comfortable being left alone with them, so Scott and took turns napping during the day. Though she whined every time I tried to nap and I really didn’t get any sleep. We were all so exhausted, the whole family passed out for the night at 5 PM.

The next few days though we were up and ready to roll. We visited downtown Chattanooga (it’s a fabulous city).

And visited with my childhood best friend, Patty.

This is the Walnut St Bridge with the Hunter Museum of Art in the background

We visited the Chattanooga Zoo, which was the perfect size for an active 15-month old to run around. Since we were there on a Monday, it wasn’t crowded and she could pretty much run as she pleased.

We also had fun just playing in Grandma’s bathroom.

All too soon it was time to come home. During the return trip we were in two cars, Scott’s car that we drove down and a minivan that we acquired while there (the reason for the trip). My mom rode back with us and she, Caroline and I rocked the minivan. Caroline did great. We had one person sitting in back with her, lots of books and lots of Elmo DVDs.  She was such a trooper that when we go back this summer, we won’t attempt the overnight journey again.

Caroline had a great Easter. Last year we didn’t really do anything for Easter since she was so young. I was really excited to embark on some traditions this year.

On Saturday, Caroline helped Grandma and Mommy color Easter Eggs. She preferred to bang the eggs together and we all decided that perhaps she would be the keeper of the plastic eggs during the process.

On Easter morning, Caroline dressed up in her adorable dress and inspected her Easter basket. She found the books and stuffed frog acceptable but wanted nothing to do with the chocolate Easter bunny.

Later she hunted for Easter eggs that her brother had “hidden” in the backyard.

After all that excitement, who wouldn’t need a 2.5 hour nap.

This is my favorite diaper, Rumparooz L’il Monster.

Caroline loves to imitate you now. This picture is when her daddy was taking a nap on the couch.

It digressed into the Night Night game, where she says night, night and pretends to go to sleep for about 2 seconds. Rinse and repeat.

She is thriving and growing and cute and sassy and I can’t get enough of her. Her language is amazing. She has started on two-word phrases, “Hi Mama” and “turn page” are her two favorites. I love being able to have “conversations” with her.

Sleeper

I just got this photo from Caroline’s dad who is off work today and has her at home

I can count on two fingers the number of times she has spontaneously fallen asleep so this completely fascinates me.  I guess that is what continuous 4:00 AM wake-ups do to you. I know I’m ready to pass out.

Post and photos of our recent mini-vacation to TN coming soon.

Love you

I know she was just parroting me but last night as I put Caroline to bed, I said, “love you.”  She replied, “love you”. My heart almost exploded right on the spot.

She is also getting pretty generous with kisses these days. Previously, they were reserved primarily for her stuffed animals. Can mommy have a kiss? “No!”. Can monkey have kiss? Commence full on make-out session. But now, she is getting pretty kissy to me and her daddy in the mornings. So adorable and lovely. Just like Caroline.

15-months

Caroline will be 15 months on Friday. Yesterday, she had a check up and weighed in at 23 lbs and 32 inches. Tall and skinnyish. As usual, she wasn’t crazy about having a stranger touch her and she was even less thrilled when a stranger jabbed her with a needle. But she was laughing and running down the halls by the time we left, saying “bye-bye” to the ladies at the front desk.

It is always so exciting when I realize something new that Caroline has figured out or made a connection about in her mind. Today when we were finishing her bath, she started saying “Abby? Abby?” I didn’t really understand why she was saying that at first but finally it dawned on me that she was referring to her Orajel toothpaste that has Abby from Sesame Street on the tube. I don’t think we have ever discussed that Abby is on the tube but she made the connection. Not brain surgery, but it is amazing when it is your child.

Speaking of, I have been letting her watch too much Sesame Street. It makes it so much easier for us to get ready in the mornings, ends tantrums and I just love to watch her go crazy for Elmo. But I need to limit it to 30 minutes or so a day.

Next weekend, Caroline, Scott and I are going to Tennessee. It will be a 10+ hour car trip. On the way down, we plan to drive overnight with the hope that Caroline will sleep the whole time. On the way back though, Caroline will be watching a lot of Sesame Street as an offering for her having to be in the carseat the whole day. I’m not looking forward to it.  I am looking forward to a little mini-vacation with just Scott and Caroline though!

Catch-up

I have been a bad blogger. I haven’t update here in a very long time. I have been working on another project and most of my internet time has been spent on that.  I haven’t been neglecting Caroline of course. She continues to be the highlight of my life even through the toddler tantrums and messes.

She is 15 months and continues to amaze. She understands everything we say and her vocabulary has grown so much that I can’t even catalog her words anymore. She loves to talk.

She is in love. He’s a short, red fellow with a high pitched voice. He sings and dances and she is completely obsessed. He goes by the name of Elmo and the constant cry of “Mehmo! Mehmo!” rings through my house. It is very adorable and I really have to resist buying every Elmo item I see in the stores.

She is starting to really enjoy daddy time. She’s still Mommy’s girl but she is understanding that Daddy is super fun to play with and occasionally chooses him over me.  I prefer this to the ultra-clingy phase.

Caroline now only eats when she can feed herself.

And she loves bath time

This is kind of a lame update but I hope to stay up to date a little more going forward.

Climber

She has been experimenting with climbing for a couple of weeks without much success. This weekend she had her first victory! Life just got a little busier!

Top of the world!!!!

********************

I love being able to communicate with Caroline now. I know I’ve said that before but seriously it just gets better and better. I can now tell her what to do and she does it. “Let’s go take a bath”, she goes to the stairs to head up to bathroom. Bring me your shoe, well you can guess what happens. 

And her vocabulary. Wow! She is adding 2-3 new words a day. I don’t know that anyone else would know what she is saying but they are clear to me. Her favorite word is already, No. I guess I’ll be hearing that one for a while to come.

Respite

 

2 days. 2 days of warm weather. In February!!! It was an oasis in the desert. A needed snack to get us through until the real meal comes in April. By great chance I had one of the days off and of course I couldn’t wait to spend it with the cutest blonde on the block.

We kissed Daddy good bye and talked about how only suckers had to work on a day like this.

After a little house cleaning, we were off to the park. Caroline’s absolute favorite thing is the swing. She would have happily stayed all day.

 

 

We spent the afternoon exploring the park…on foot. I love being able to let her walk and explore and touch. She was so happy!

 

On a side note, the baby mullet is taking shape.

Business in the front.

Party in the back.

 

As I write this, we are expecting 6-8 inches of snow. Mother Nature, you are one fickle b*tch.

Happy Valentines Day!

I have been an absent blogger recently. It’s not that there is nothing to write about Caroline. I’ve just got a little case of Internet apathy right now.

Snow…..m’eh.