Happy Birthday Caroline!

The kids had a wonderful Christmas but I want to leave my thoughts on Christmas with my last post. My focus is solely on Caroline! My one and only daughter turns two on the 29th. We celebrated her birthday tonight with a Dora party. We had her BFF's over tonight for pizza and cupcakes. She was born amongst a large crowd of boys so she is surrounded by many males in her life. Which is perfectly fine with me because she can be all girl and she really doesn't have to compete. And believe me "all girl" she is ~ complete with mood swings. When I was putting her to bed tonight I took a good look inside her mouth and found out that she is cutting her eye teeth ( I guess that's how you spell it.) Which explains the recent drama around the house. I wasn't sure if it was the terrible two's or a cold or just her mood but I think her teeth are to blame for her unhappiness.

We had a sweet little party for her. I decided to stray a little from the norm and we did a book swap. Everyone brought a wrapped book and each child went home with a new book. It was fun. The moms (all teachers at heart) enjoyed sharing the books with their little ones. In all the chaos we had a scary little moment with Connor. Somehow he got ahold of some food that caused him to have an allergic reaction. I had everything clearly labeled but all the other kids were eating right there along side him and he either got ahold of someone's pizza or one of the cupcakes that were made with ingredigents he can't have. I took the time to make special cupcakes for him and Caleb but there was a mix up somewhere. He kept holding his stomach and complaining so I gave him some antihistamine but that didn't stop the reaction. In the past he has puked when he has a reaction and this time he did the same. He puked in the kitchen sink and then all was fine. Scary moment but all is fine now!

We had a special visitor to Caroline's party. Aunt Leah!!! The past few Christmas' Leah comes down to visit from North Carolina. We really enjoy our time with her and catching up on all the latest. She came bearing gifts and she did a great job helping me with party, she even cleaned up Connor's puke (what a friend!) So I'll end this post with a list! I'm such the list maker!

My favorite things about my beautiful daughter are:

1. The way I ache when I look at her. It makes my eyes well just thinking about how beautiful she is to me.

2. The way she says "Mamos" instead of Thomas for Thomas the train. She loves trains!

3. The way she curls up in my arms with her blanket and bunny and sucks her thumb as I read her book, slowly stroking her face with her blanket. She is very attached to her bunny & blanket.

4. The way she sleeps in most mornings just like her mother! She loves to sleep! A girl after my own heart.

5. I love that her favorite meal is a good ol' fashioned hot dog, broccoli, & some mandarin oranges! Yummy! I also enjoy broccoli and oranges! She's just like me in so . . . many ways.

6. The way she loves her grandparents. Especially both her PawPaw's. Somehow she has them wrapped around her little, crafty finger.

7. I love her little language she has created all on her own. She has a pretty good vocabulary but she also has this little language she uses when she is playing. It is quite funny to listen to when she doesn't know you can hear her.

8. I love if she is put on the spot she'll either start whispering when you want her to say something in particular or she'll say ouch to everything she doesn't like. If she doesn't want someone to talk to her she says ouch. If she doesn't want the attention on her she says ouch. It's rather funny!

9. She loves juice! A cup of juice is a magic elixir that heals many wounds.

10. Mostly I love that she is my one and only daughter and she is Caroline! My sweet, dark haired, olive skinned, unwavering, sensitive, expressive, darling daughter.