Happy Birthday

So, yesterday was the big 1! I had big plans for her big day, but in the end I decided my plans were too big and that she would probably prefer to just stay at home and play with her toys. We had a small party, she will have a bigger one with her little cousins on Sunday.
Her Yaya came over and we had a bbq. I made her a #1 cake. She LOVED cake...well, I think she like the frosting the best. haha...just like mommy. Here's some pictures...

I put this out for her in the morning. She looked at it, put out her hands and shrugged her shoulders and said "What's that" (not clearly of course, but I can understand her)


Getting into it..


The prize! It's so cute. It's this little puppy that says her name and talks to her.


Playing outside at her birthday barbeque




If your happy and you know it clap your hands!


Time for cake!


"blowing" out the candles...


Yummy! She would say "Yumm" when she was eating it.




I found some pictures from my first birthday...I think she looks a lot like me ;)

To My Sweet Caroline

Dear Caroline,
this has been the most amazing year of my life. When I held you in my arms for the first time one year ago, I didn't think life could get any better than that--my heart was so full of love for you. But to my surprise, every day just gets better and better. Watching you grow and learn new things every day brings a smile to my face and joy to my heart. I want to capture it all on video so I never forget every cute thing you do...but, that would be impossible. You do something cute just about every minute of the day!
It seems like just yesterday I was anxiously waiting for you to smile, laugh, roll over for the first time, crawl...now you are walking all over the place, smiling, laughing, talking, throwing things. My favorite is when you throw or drop things just so you can put your hands out, shrug your shoulders and say "uh oh". I know I am so so lucky that I get to stay home with you every day and never miss any of these big milestones--thank you daddy for working so hard so that I can stay home.
Speaking of daddy, you are so in LOVE with daddy. When he comes home from work, you get so excited. You always run to him with open arms before he can even put his things down. You follow him from room to room as he tries to change out of his suit and put his things away. I love watching the two of you...watching daddy love you makes me love him more and more. You have him wrapped around your little finger...well, I guess you've got us both wrapped around your little finger.
Today you went for your 1 year checkup. I made it for the day after your birthday just so you wouldn't have to get a shot on your birthday! To my surprise you didn't even cry with your shot today. You got mad at the nurse and tried to hit it out of her hand and you yelled at her. When it was over you acted like nothing happened. What a tough girl you are. I only hope you can be that tough when you get your blood drawn. Daddy is coming with us for that because I think it might break my heart. NY state requires you to be tested for lead and Dr Tara also wants to check for anemia. I'm so glad that you have been so healthy this year. I feel so blessed that you have not had to deal with any illnesses except when we went to Wisconsin and you got a little sick. That was no fun :( You now weigh 19.3 lbs which is in the 25th percentile...you are 29 inches long which in the 50th percentile...and your head is 17 3/8.
Happy birthday my sweet Caroline. I hope you always remember how spoiled with LOVE you are! We LOVE LOVE LOVE you! xoxoxox

Love,
Mommy

One year ago....









I didn't think you could get much cuter than that...but you did! Still, I miss those times when I could snuggle with you all day long. Now you are all over the place. But, sometimes late at night I come in and pick you up just so I can rock with you while you lay on my chest. I love that, and I love you.



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Private Blog

I keep jumping between having my blog private and having it open to everyone. I am going to be keeping it private from now on (as of tomorrow). My blog is pretty much 100 % about Caroline so I wouldn't want any weirdos looking at her. I just wanted it to say private as my last post so people who have blogs know to check back and that my last post wasn't a year ago. I'm pretty sure I have invited everyone who would want to know what little Caroline is up to, but if not, you know the drill (leave me your email). Happy Monday!

Only 5 more days and Caroline will be 1!! I think I am more excited than she is (considering she doesn't even know!) I can't wait to see her dig her little hands into her cupcake and smear it all over her face!
She's been really tired lately for some reason. She sleeps 12-13 hrs every night and then takes 2 naps every day. Maybe she is growing? She has been getting so grumpy with me when she gets tired. I almost want to laugh because it is so cute...but that would be mean ;) She throws herself on the floor and screams, she pinches me, pulls my hair, pulls Tom's leg and arm hairs, finds hard objects and throws them at me or hits me on the head with them. But then when I give her a silky, make her a bottle, and pick her up and snuggle her she is so sweet and just relaxes and goes to sleep.

Toms brother Teddy and his wife Elizabeth hosted us on the 4th of July. They had a BBQ and then we headed over to a big fireworks show that their neighborhood does at the park. Caroline fell asleep on the way to the park. The fireworks woke her up. To my surprise she didn't scream! She just watched in amazement at the colors in the sky. It was a great 4th of July. Here is Caroline at their house and a picture of the Gounaris girls--Caroline and I, Denise and Giorgia, and Elizabeth.




Tom and I celebrated our 4th anniversary July 7th. We went out to eat and to a movie that day while Tom's mom watched Caroline for us (Thank you). The next day, we decided to take Caroline with us to our favorite beach where we had our first date. She loved it. But, while we were on the beach we left the stroller on the walking path. It was a bit windy and the wind blew her stroller into a patch of poison ivy! We were able to retrieve the stroller without getting any of the ivy on us and the stroller was fine. But, she lost her binky and her bottle :(



Caroline and her friend that we babysit, Jolina.



Running around after her bath before bed.


She loves playing the piano. She's going to be my little musician.

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

My friend Melissa had this video on her blog and I really love it! I LOVE being a mother and am so happy I get to be Caroline's mother! Thanks for sharing Mel!

Chairs

I think Caroline needs her own chair! Lately she is obsessed with finding something to sit in (I guess she see's mom and dad sitting a little too much! Haha). She sits in her Bumbo...and then can't get out. She sits in the baby's car seat... AND she now tries and sometimes succeeds in climbing the couch and anything else she can get her hands on!







A couple videos showing her little personality and climbing skills...

Pictures for my family!

I can't help it....I have to take pictures of Caroline all the time. She's just so incredibly cute. Tom keeps going to work late every day because he just can't leave her cuteness! So, I will just use the excuse that I took lots of pictures to show all my family that live far far away.

Nana sent Caroline some clothes from New Mexico! Here are some pictures of her in her jammies that she sent...and in her blue striped outfit.
Brushing her teeth before bed.

Playing with her toys

Toys R' Us had a "Buy one get one FREE" sale on fisher price toys Saturday. I picked up a few toys for her birthday...but I didn't see the point in waiting to give them to her. lol. She actually seemed to like the box a lot more than the toy...that is until she realized that the toys talk and sing!




Yaya bought Caroline a pretty tutu outfit. She looks so cute in it!








Caroline LOVES her daddy...he went to work and a few hours late she went over to the door and started hitting it and saying "Dadda, Dadda". Then she reached up to the door handle and tried to open it. Isn't she too young to be doing that? Haha!

Tom brings home those stupid blue pens every day from work and once Caroline gets one she will not let go. They are like her little drum sticks...she goes around hitting everything with it.

Having fun on the swing at her cousins house!

Playing in her cousins car.

11 months

Caroline is now 11 months! I can't believe my baby will be 1 in just a month! Ahh! It went too fast. I miss cuddling with her...now she just wants to walk around and explore and is not as interested in me. Sad. But, last night I picked her up out of her crib and she laid on my chest asleep for 10 minutes. I loved it. But, then she woke up and it took me 1/2 an hour to get her back to sleep...so worth it!

She has changed so much this past month. I may be biased since I am her mother...but she is just absolutely beautiful! I think we will have to be careful to keep her away from the boys when she is older. *One of the biggest things is she started walking! She took a couple steps at 10 1/2 months and slowly started taking more. Now she is all over the place. In the past couple days she has started to get back up and walk after she falls instead of crawl. *She doesn't really have any new words. It's still mostly dadda and once in a while we will get a momma. I say "uh-oh" to her every time something falls and she has said the "uh" part of it a couple times. *I now know that she can understand some of the things I say to her. If I say hi or bye she will start to wave. If I say YAY or sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" she will clap. *She is starting to learn to be soft with little babies. I watch a little girl that is 4 almost 5 months old a few days a week. Caroline would really like to clobber her so we are working on being soft and not hitting the baby or pulling her hair. I have to watch her like a hawk because the minute I turn around she usually goes to pull her hair. Not that she is being mean, she just doesn't understand yet...but she'll get there. *As always she is a water baby. She LOVES to be in the water and wet! She likes splashing herself in the face and then screaming. :)

I tried to take just one picture of her at 11 months....but it tuned out to be a lot more. I bought her this tutu for her 1 year pictures. We decided to try it on. I couldn't believe how happy she was when I put it on her. She knew she was getting dressed up pretty!