Pretty Princess Pajamas

A month ago or so we decided to upgrade PJ's to the 24 months size since we needed summer ones. Caroline and I were shopping at Walmart and I was looking through some of the Carter's options for sleepwear. She kept pointing at the Disney PJ's hanging on a wall near us. Initially, I was no fun and said we don't wear Disney Character's it is just too cheesy... and then I thought, "Well, why not??" It's not like a little cheesiness ever hurt anyone! It is just a set of PJ's... I need to lighten up!

So, I did! We came home with 2 sets that day... the Pink Princesses(see above...) and the Purple Dora set. We have since gone back for 2 more sets of different characters. She loves them so and it was a good life lesson for me. She is precious every night when we let her pick out which Pajamas she wants to wear after her bath. She puts on her happy, surprised face and claps... so excited! After she is dressed she wants to go look at herself in the mirror and kiss her Princesses! It is so stinkin sweet!

It really is the small things and that $7 set of pajamas has proven priceless in our household! Sweet Memories...=)

Allergies?? Please, No!

It would appear that my darling daughter may have some allergies. In her brief life we haven't had any difficulty at all with foods, soaps, detergents, lotions, etc, but suddenly Caroline has developed a rash- everywhere. Her back primarily, her stomach, her arms, her bend points... It's fairly mild, but it did appear to be causing my poor child some discomfort(scratching and such) so I took her to the Dr. today to have it checked out. Dr. R said that Caroline has eczema. Big Boo!!! Since my younger brother has eczema and asthma, which often go hand in hand, I am hoping this is a limited issue and that we will avoid the latter. 15-20% of Toddlers have eczema and Caroline has been otherwise healthy so we are grateful that this is the only health concern that we are dealing with.

Caroline has also been spending a lot more time outdoors and in the pool in the past few weeks so I mentioned that to the Dr, as well.

She asked me if we used sunscreen on Caroline and *DING DONG* why, yes, yes we do... I mean, it is essential to outdoor playtime these days. It just didn't occur to me that this is something new that we have been using. Especially since we use a sunscreen created specifically for babies. She said that she has had more children have sunscreen allergies lately than in previous years since the use of spray sunscreens have become more widespread and they are harsher formulas. She said Sunscreen Lotion is more gentle and that we may need to try several brands to find one that works for us. For now, it's farewell easy Sunscreen Spray, Hello Hydrocortisone! The doctor recommended that we use it frequently until the rash subsides.

I hope this is just a fluke and that the sunscreen really is causing her to have an outbreak of eczema as opposed to grass, which was my original assumption. I can change lotions but I cannot get rid of the grass;-) As much as Little C loves to play outside, limiting that would be such a shame!

Now, off to Walgreen's we go to stock up on Hydrocortisone!!!

Regression: Brought to you by Daddy!

Let me preface this by saying that when/if you have a child of your own, when they do cute/funny things it is SO incredibly hard to say "No"! SOME Rules were meant to be broken! If you can't do that for the sake of fun, life would be seriously boring! SO.... Caroline spent this past weekend with Nana and Pops on the Farm. She pretty much gets whatever she wants when she goes to visit since Nana has adopted a "what happens at Nana's, stays at Nana's" stance on Caroline's visits. She asks for it, she gets it(within reason, I imagine) I encourage this since I got similar treatment at my Grandparents house and to this day they are two of my very favorite people on this Earth!

When our girl came home on Sunday night she got to go swimming with her Grandmother, Granddaddy, and Daddy while I cooked our dinner. After we swim we often just strip her down and throw on a diaper if we cannot immediately get her in the bathtub. Which is what happened on Sunday. After dinner Caroline and Chris were raiding our pantry for extra goodies and low and behold she found something she hadn't seen in months... Extra bottles, liners, and lids for her playtex bottles. She picked up the liners, took one out of the sleeve, picked up the bottle, stuck the liner in the bottle, and picked up a nipple/screw top and handed it to her Father and said "Bahh!" Which in our house is code for a bottle with milk in it! The little stinker hasn't had a bottle in 4 months, but we(Chris) were so impressed by the fact that she still remembered how Mommy always made it that we had to indulge her. I rolled my eyes at Chris at the time, but afterwards I was proud that he decided to treat her... and he took it one step up- Chocolate Milk in her Bottle!!! She loved it, of course! So, all of this said to show you this... my half naked child, so extremely proud of herself(and her bottle of chocolate milk!)...

Caroline at 18 months!

Today is officially our last day with an 18 month old, so I had better get on it! So far, this is definitely my favorite age! I have, however, been known to say this about every age as we have gone along, so I may be a bit biased by the big hugs and kisses I am getting at the moment! She does/says so many funny things and she always keeps us on our toes. Never a dull moment in this house!

Chris and I are both major cut-ups and I think it is great that Caroline is now joining in the fun and teasing us. She has always been a very expressive child(Read: LOUD), but her facial expressions lately have been cracking us up on a regular basis. We really feel like we have a little comedian living in our house. Children are FABULOUS entertainment!

I'll ask her a question... ex. "Caroline, would you like goldfish or gushers with your fruit for snack?"

Response: ....taking in the enormity of the situation(ha!), she reaches for the goldfish... wait! pulls her hands back in. cuts her eyes at me and gives me a look like, is this a joke?... stares longingly at the gushers, reaches for gushers... WAIT! pulls her hands back in. BIG SMILE, laughs, reaches for BOTH the goldfish and the gushers and tries to make a break for it to the family room. Hands up in the air, holding her loot, squealing and laughing all the way!

I'm left laughing, chasing my wild child around the house... but after that cuteness- how could I fuss???

She has started making a serious face that has us all in stitches! If I ask her to do something that she doesn't want to do, but she doesn't want to be outright defiant, she will stand still and give me the serious(almost mean) face. Stare and Nose scrunch included. She's smart enough to know that there will be consequences if she does it anyways, but she doesn't like being told she cannot do what she wants to do... who does?!? At this point, I would say on the attitude scale this look is about one step away from "hands on the hips-sass" that I am trying to avoid at all costs. Of course, if it is true that you pay for your raising... I am doomed. I was the Queen of Sass.;-)

She is sweet and affectionate. She gives BIG hugs and says "mmm, mmm, mmm" like she just cannot get enough when she gives hugs. Wonder where she got that from??;-) She also gives random sloppy kisses that are enough to bring you to your knees!

In fact, my favorite moment of the past month involves one of these sweet, sloppy kisses. I went to meet Mother in Cullman, our middle point, to get Caroline back from their weekend playdate. When she first saw me she reached out, clinching her fingers in and out for a hug. Then she leaned back to get a good look at me while she was sitting on my hip and proceeded to lean in and give me a big smack- complete with smack sound- and another hug and went "mmm, mmm, mmm..." It was so sweet I thought I was going to die from a sugar rush!!!

We just recently experienced her "word explosion" and she has begun to repeat everything we say. She asks for, "Tea", "Juice, Juice", "Bawl"(Ball), "Bubbles, Bubbles", "Bays"(Babies), "Cccarh"(Car, very hard K sound), "Bro"(Brody, Mom's Dog), "Pull"(apple), "Baahh"(bath), "More", etc...with enough provocation she can be enticed to repeat any word. M&M's work great;-)

Physically, she is a busy, busy bee. Mommy is a tired, tired lady;-) It is great, though! She runs all day. One of her favorite things to do is play outside and we are taking full advantage of the 3 parks that our neighborhood has. 2 have jungle gyms and one is just a large flat grassy patch that has a circular sidewalk enclosing it. We go to the park almost every day and it has been nice to have a safe place close by to play. She is very sturdy on her feet and never loses her balance... such a big girl! Like most kids her age she has many tiny bruises and for the life of me I couldn't tell you where she got most of them. That's not to say that I'm not watching her constantly, I am. She is just such a tough little thing! She falls and she laughs. My Father actually said he was worried that she had nerve issues since she doesn't seem to feel pain like normal children. I assure you she is perfectly normal, just tough! While she may be dramatic when she doesn't get what she wants, she isn't when she gets a boo-boo!

Caroline, It has been a wonderful 18 months, Sweetheart! I couldn't be more proud to be your Mommy and I know your Daddy feels the same way. Thank you for all of the joy and laughter that you have brought to our lives. If it was even possible, I think you have made your extended family a closer unit simply because none of us can seem to get enough of you! We treasure every sweet moment and look forward to guiding your way in life. We prayed for you, dreamed of you, and the reality of you is so much better than we ever could have imagined. Ok, I'm going to cry now, so I am going to end this by saying... Thanks for being Our Girl! Love, Mommy=)

4th Anniversary Fun!

On May 27th, Chris and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary. In some ways it feels like we have been together forever, in some ways it feels like the years are flying by. We have accomplished quite a bit in our 4 years. 1 Larger Business(which encompasses several other smaller businesses), 2 houses, 2 cats(blah!), many vacations(I do love to travel!), and the light of our life, Our darling Caroline. I refuse to get mushy, but I am such a lucky girl and love and appreciate him more every day. Seeing him as a father to our little girl is just the best! I feel so incredibly blessed and try to soak up each of the sweet moments that my two favorites share! That is happiness, my friends!

To celebrate we decided to take a vacation at our house, just the two of us. We could have gone to the beach or something similar but since we already have a pool to lay out by, we didn't want to waste those precious restful hours in the car. Caroline went to Florence on Wednesday and I came back on Thursday for our long weekend together by the pool. It was restful and oh so relaxing! We decided to do it more often... Congrats, Nana!! Ha!

Chris' parents took us out for an anniversary dinner to Joe's Italian, home of the best Italian food that I've found in Birmingham. The Best, I say!!! Seriously, if you are on a diet DO NOT go to this place. I ate, and ate, and ate some more... and STILL had leftovers. They were fabulous the next day, so I am not complaining;-) It was our first time and we hope to go back soon- yep, it was that good! If you live in the Birmingham area, find it, eat it, love it, take your leftovers home and love it again the next day! ha! And make sure that you get dessert, you won't regret it... see below...

Every bit as good as it looks!

Thanks for putting up with me for 4 years, dear! I don't know how you do it;-)

We love Technology!!!

After having Chris home since Friday, Caroline and I are going through withdrawals today. Obviously, someone has to work(thanks, honey!!!) but when Caroline asks for her "Dah" throughout the day I've always hated telling her, "Daddy's at the office, Baby." I previously shared my iphone obsession, but now I'm going to let you all in on another little secret!We can watch Daddy ALL DAY!!! We are working on equipping all of our family with web cams so we can "skype" each other during the days. We "call" Daddy from time to time so he can see and chat with Caroline, but more often we log onto his UStreamTV address and watch his live feed. He doesn't have time to sit and watch Caroline, but we sure do!;-) She loves it!!!
We call him or text him when we are watching sometimes and he smiles and waves at the camera. Caroline always gets excited when she sees him and gives the laptop smack kisses and "mmmm..." hugs! She talks to him sometimes and shows him her favorite toys or books randomly. We often turn Chris on when she wakes up in the morning and "tell him" what we are going to do for the day. She doesn't quite understand that sometimes Daddy can see her, too, but others our watching him is one sided. But, no harm, no foul! I love being able to "show" Caroline where Daddy is instead of just telling her... Through web cam Daddy gets to be a more integral part of our day!!!

Chris also uses his UStream for business purposes, since people feel more comfortable working with someone over the phone if they can see your face and at least make that connection. It's a win-win for everyone!

Just a tip for those that have husbands that work long hours or are frequently out of town!!!;-)

And if you are in Alabama, GO VOTE!!! It's Primary Day!