The Smothers Family: One Year!!!

Caroline is ONE YEAR OLD. How time flies!

This month has been the most fun of all… And I probably could say that with each month that has gone by this past year. Justin and I know how blessed we are to have such a smart, funny, sweet, loving, beautiful little girl. We look at each other, nearly daily, and say how lucky we are to have Caroline. How much we love her. How much <insert funny thing that she did that day> made us laugh!

In her twelfth month Caroline is learning more words and repeating EVERYTHING.

“Bah BAAAAHHH” (bye bye!)

“yah-oooh” (yellow)

“boooh” (blue)

“ghee” (green)

“puhpuh” (purple)

“wow wow wow”

“gnah gnah gnah ghah gnah gnah gnah”

“dah” (light – she’s been saying this since Christmas!)

“ree” (tree)

Justin says “Baby Mum Mum!” and Caroline says “mummm mummm mummm” EVERY TIME!

Although we still send baby food to school for lunch, we have pretty much eliminated baby food at dinner. She loves to try everything that we are eating… All of the veggies, rice, bread, pizza toppings, even some of the meats that we eat. And while she’s spitting food less, she is now throwing/dropping her food off the side of her high chair… making sure to show us when she doesn’t want something! We give her the Gerber’s toddler dinner trays every once in a while – the kind with wheel-shaped noodles on one side and mixed vegetables on the other. They are quick and easy, but we try not to give her those too often. And she likes strawberry milkshakes from Chick-fil-a!

We went to see Dr. Griner for her 12 month visit and immunizations. Everything was fine until the first nurse walked in. Caroline knew EXACTLY what was happening and she cried and tried to twist out of my arms. She is already beginning to remember things and put two and two together. This was amazing to Justin and me! She weighed in at an even 16 pounds and measured 26 ¾ inches.

We also had our first scary-up-all-night-103-degree-fever adventure. It was the weekend before Caroline’s birthday. She woke up crying around one in the morning. She was literally hot to the touch. She was between 101 and 103 throughout the night – even after Tylenol and being stripped down to her diaper. I kept her in the bed with us and I didn’t sleep a wink, although she slept until about 6:30. We were out the door at 8am and waited in the parking lot for her doctor’s office to open. First. Car. There. I was so upset! It turned out that she had an ear infection – directly related to those teeth coming in! She was much better… Just in time for her big day!

The party was so much fun! It is always a good time when we can get the Mayhew-Smothers clan together. Lots of pictures to follow!

Fun stuff that Caroline loves:

· Being told “No!” She smiles and shakes her head! It is hilarious. I didn’t realize that I shake my head when I say “no, no, Caroline” so now, when we say “no” she shakes her head… love it!

· Reading her “Water Water Everywhere” book in the bathtub. She points and asks for it every night!

· Reading out loud to herself. This is SO MUCH FUN to watch! She just turns the pages and babbles… Too cute!

A few things that she isn’t into:

· We took her to be fitted for a new pair of sandals a few days ago. The minute the store owner came near Caroline she burst into tears! Our guess is that she either thought he was a doctor and she was going to get shots, or she just didn’t want her feet touched. It was funny… and a little embarrassing!

· Being fed. You can forget feeding this girl… She wants to do it herself!

Now for pics… Enjoy! Love!

Playing with the aperture settings on my camera

(I really need to take a class!)