One Year in the Chair

Here it is...one year in the pink chair (minus the 6 month picture since I forgot that month, I'm sure I'll hear about that at some point later in her life)

Snow Days

I have been going back and looking through pictures from the past month and realized there was stuff going on that I didn't get to post about.  Things have been so busy here with church and PTA and kids and all that that I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and type much!

So about a month ago we had a pretty bad snowstorm.  To be fair, aside from the snowstorm and the past week or so, the weather this winter has been amazing for up here.  Timothy has only had to have "inside recess" a handful of times which is pretty crazy considering most years our winters are full of rain, rain and more rain!!  But the snow was pretty bad.  I love snow, I mostly grew up in Michigan so I have a lot of really great memories of playing in the snow...but this year it was rough.  The tires on our van were old and needed to be replaced so we couldn't get out at all so we were stuck in the house for a whole week, which, if you know me, is like torture!!

It started on a Saturday.  I had taken Charlotte to the movies to see Beauty and the Beast (I cried like a baby, she was so happy), and when we got home I needed to go to the library so I suggested that we all go together so we loaded everyone in the van.  It had just started to snow when we got in the car and by the time we got out of our garage, down our street and turned onto the main road in our neighborhood it was falling so thickly that Brandon decided we had to turn around and just go home.  We slipped and slid back into the driveway and let the kids play in the snow out front for a few minutes before heading back inside.  It snowed quite a bit that night and then stopped but the roads were covered so we were snowed in Sunday and Monday as well.  By Tuesday it was a little better so Brandon took Timothy to school in his car (since it has new tires) and later that day I went to Target just to get out of the house for a bit.  The big snow hit Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.  I think we got just under a foot total.  It was beautiful, and since we were stuck in the house we got a lot done that we had been needing to do and just didn't have time to do.  We painted Timothy's room, we painted a chalkboard in our kitchen, we baked a lot, we made a bunch of baby food, we did a lot of laundry...it was a busy few days.

Then Thursday came...all afternoon and night on Wednesday the weather had switched from snow to ice and Thursday morning our power decided to go out.  Thankfully we have a gas fireplace and a gas hot water heater so we had some heat downstairs and hot water but we still couldn't cook anything.  We ordered a lot of pizza over the next few days!  The kids were fine playing until it started getting dark and then we all had to hang out in the living room with flashlights and candles.  We made them wait till after dinner to play on the iPods and watch movies on the computer until the batteries all ran out.  Thankfully we thought ahead of time on Wednesday to blow up air mattresses and so Thursday night we all camped out in the living room together.  The kids did a lot better than I thought they would about all going to sleep in the same room.  They all slept great, Brandon and I, not so much! 

The next day we still didn't have power so Brandon decided around 10am to drive his car out to my parent's house (because they did have power) and he was supposed to drive back over here in their Suburban and pick us all up so that we could go over there for the night.  So we packed up suitcases, packed up all the kid's medicine, packed up all our flashlights and things in case the power went out at their house too...and he left.  He called me an hour or so later in a panic because he had gone over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and was in Gig Harbor and they came on the radio and said the DOT had decided to close the bridge because ice was falling from the top beams onto the roadway and it was too dangerous.  He tried to turn around and get back over the bridge so that he could just come back here but they had already closed it...so he got to spend the afternoon and evening at my parent's house...in the warmth, with TV and power and a computer...and I was home with three kids...still with no power.  I had a little pity party and the kids and I made the best of it!  Finally our power came on around 5pm that night!! 

So we learned our lesson and got new tires for the van and are hoping and praying that we don't get anymore snow this year!  It's hard to keep three kids entertained in one room of the house with no power!  But the kids did have a lot of fun playing in the snow!  Brandon was great, he got out there with them and built snowmen and played while Caroline and I stayed nice and warm inside!  That is just one more thing I love about living here...we maybe get one good snow once a year and within a few days it warms up and rains and all the snow is gone...it's perfect!

The backyard...before the kids "destroyed" it!

I love this picture of them...they are such good friends, I hope that never changes!

Notice her boots have disappeared under the snow...it was pretty deep!

They thought it was pretty cool that they could sit on the snow on their swings!

He wanted to make a "face down" snow angel...

It was hard to climb up the rock wall when it was covered in snow!

And the day after the ice hit...you can see how thick the ice was on the branches

These trees all looked like they were just so heavy...so many trees broke in this storm, you can still see the damage and branches and trees down all over the place, even a month later!

See the icicles on the swing set?  Timothy thought they were pretty cool "swords"!

One Year Stats

Caroline had her one year old check up yesterday.  It actually turned into quite a marathon of a day.  Timothy had to be at school by 8:10 (he usually goes at noon), then we drove over to Tacoma and had to make a stop at Target before heading across the street to the doctor's office.  My mom met us there and took Charlotte back to her house for me and Caroline and I went into the office.  While we were in the waiting room I met a lady that had just moved here from Pangburn, Arkansas...small world!  Her visit went great, the doctor remarked on how nice it was to see that she hadn't been into the sick clinic at all in her one year of life so far.  Hopefully he didn't jinx us!  She checked in at 20 pounds and 11 ounces and measured 30.25 inches which put her at 50th % for weight and 90th % for height.  When we were leaving the doctor that is the head of the practice was out in the waiting room with a camera crew.  They were doing a story on the practice and he asked me if I would mind doing a parent testimonial for the camera so Caroline and I got to sit in front of the camera and talk about how much we love it there (and I meant it, I do love this doctor's office)...so we may be famous - haha!

We left the doctor and drove over to get some gas and pick up Timothy from school and then we met my mom and Charlotte at McDonalds for some lunch and then came back to our house so I could nurse Caroline, put her down for a nap and then I had to leave to go meet with some ladies from PTA to talk about an event we're doing next month.  I only planned to stay for an hour or so but ended up not getting home till 3pm and then had an hour to get things put back to normal before Brandon got home and by then it was time to get ready and go grab some dinner and get to church.  We pulled up in the church parking lot (and by this point I was exhausted) and Charlotte informed us that she had peed in her pants and I didn't have any extras for her so we basically walked in and then started to walk back out when I remembered that I still had an extra pair of Timothy's jeans in the van so she wore pants too big for her to class last night.  I really just needed my 45 minutes to sit in class and be around other adults!

Needless to say, we were both exhausted when we went to bed last night.  Caroline was up at 2:30 this morning (but went right back to sleep) and then Charlotte came down sometime between 4am and 5am and rolled around in our bed for a while before getting up at 5am.  She started telling me that her tummy hurt and over the next hour it turned into her unable to sit in a still position because she kept rolling around in pain from her tummy.  I had been worried that she was going to throw up but usually when that happens she just wants to sit very still so this was pretty different.  I decided we should go to urgent care when they opened at 7am so we packed up snacks and things and headed out.  Almost two hours, a finger prick blood test and a urine test later we left with a prescription for an antibiotic for what he thinks is a bladder infection (the urine culture will come back in a couple of days). 

So it's been a busy busy busy couple of days over here and I'm very badly needing a nap!  I promise I will take more pictures and be better at posting them once February and March are over!

One Year Old

Well here we are...for the last time.  It is a little bittersweet, but I actually haven't cried yet.  It's a little hard to find time to be sentimental with two older ones running around like crazy and asking for birthday cake every few minutes!  Anyway, we actually started "celebrating" on Saturday, Grammy brought her a present to Timothy's birthday game (so that she would have a new dress to wear to church yesterday which I totally forgot to take a picture of, go me) and then yesterday Grammy brought her another present to open, she got a new baby doll and some shoes.  This girl loves baby dolls already and her mommy loves shoes :)

Today we started the day off by going out for donuts for breakfast and then we had to go to the store and buy her a little cake for us to have tonight.  I stayed up till 11 last night baking her a cake but it didn't turn out right and I didn't feel like making another one, so I just bought one.  Oh well.  We used the cake that I had made to make some pink strawberry cake pops though...these kids love cake pops!  I was a little sad because the pink strawberry frosting I made would have looked great on her cake but oh well!  After we got home from the store she needed to take a nap and because it's her birthday she took an awesome 2 hour nap!

The plans for the rest of the day are to play with our new toys, maybe catch another nap and have some birthday dinner and cake.  She's been playing all day with her new baby dolls and a balloon that she carries around everywhere.  She's a pretty content little girl...but anyway, here's what Caroline is like at one year old.

She loves to eat, she still loves baby food but she also likes pizza, quesadillas, cinnamon rolls, grilled cheese, bananas, yogurt...pretty much anything!  The only thing she doesn't seem to like too much so far is mac and cheese.

She is by far our best sleeper.  She goes down without a peep and if she wakes up all I have to do is feed her and lay her right back down and she's out.  She usually takes two naps each day for about 2 hours a piece. 

She is walking so well now, she tries to go fast and gets tripped up, but for the most part she's got it down.  She also loves to climb so one of our gifts to her is a brand new baby gate to block off the stairs. 

She plays really well, as long as she has some toys she will keep herself entertained and happy.  She is so content!

She can say "mama", "dada", "hi", "nite nite" and sometimes "bye bye".  She can wave really well and she gives good high fives and can blow kisses. 

She is such a blessing and it seems like she's been here so much longer than just one year.  Happy birthday sweet girl, we love you!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

We're missing Daddy while he's away at class, but the kids and I have had a good day so far.  We had heart shaped cinnamon rolls and pink milk for breakfast and they each got a little box of candy.  And even though he can't be here, Brandon sent me roses and chocolates and a teddy bear...it was a nice surprise!  Anyway, hope everyone is having a day full of love!

Don't be fooled, she really does love her brother :)

Hard to believe this is her first Valentine's Day...this time last year I was so sad that I wasn't in labor!

My three sweet blessings, I'm so grateful to be able to spend the day with them!

11 Months Old

Oh my goodness, we're already this close to birthday time...I can't believe it.  It seems like this year has gone by even more quickly than Timothy or Charlotte's first year.  I guess because we've been so busy and I just forget that Caroline hasn't been around for very long, she's so much a part of our family that it seems like she's been here forever, if that makes sense...but anyway, she's growing into quite the busy baby these days!

She takes two naps during the day and usually wakes up once or twice at night still but always goes right back to sleep after I nurse her.

She has tried a lot of new food this past month, so far she likes spaghetti and grilled cheese and chicken spaghetti a lot!  She still loves yogurt the best!

She still has no desire to figure out how to drink out of her sippy cups, oh well!

She has two bottom teeth and one top tooth and the second top tooth is so close to coming in you can see it just below the surface (mainly the reason that she still wakes up during the night).

She took 9 steps last night, the record before that was 3 so we'll see how long it takes for her to build on that!  She's definitely a fast crawler and she loves to dance!

Se has learned a fun new game called "drop everything I can and watch everyone pick it for me so I can drop it again"

She still only says "mama" and "dada" and sometimes "hi"

She's still wearing size 18 month clothes and went up to a size 4.5 in shoes.

She loves to go to Bible class, I think I've only had to leave my class a few times to get her in the past 6 or so months, she has a lot of fun in there!

Stay tuned for lots of birthday fun this month!!

Caroline

I haven't taken many pictures since Christmas and all the ones I have taken are of Caroline so I thought I'd share them!  I was planning on actually writing more than this, but the little princess is waking up so I should probably go get her :)