{at one year...}

At one year, these are the things Caroline does that I want to remember:

♥ if any type of music comes on, she instantantously breaks into dance. this includes the dryer.

♥ she is walking all over the place... and depending upon the surface she is on, it becomes more of a run.

♥ she learns new words every day... she now says dog, sadie, sadie-dog, mama, dada, daddy, mimi, granddad, gigi, papu (it's rough, but she can do it!), woof, bottle (many variations), paci (can enunciate it!), please (peas), down, baby, woah, and uh-oh

♥ when we sing "sweeeet Caroliiiine..." she now correctly says bah-bah-bah three times. I can't get enough.

♥ she squeals/screams and giggles when she plays tug-of-war with sadie

♥ she can blow smooches and give smooches, but doesn't do it as freely as she used to.

♥ still looooves to wave at anybody and anything

♥ she has the best smile. when she flirts, she squints her eyes, raises her eyebrows and gives the biggest smile ever

♥ there is no better sound than her laugh

♥ she is more cuddly now than she ever used to be as a baby.

♥ bathtime is still one of the best times of the day

As challenging as the beginnings of toddler-hood are, I still love this time. so. so. much.

{happy easter}

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
{1 Peter 1:3}

I am reflecting on what an amazing gift God gave us this Easter weekend. He let his own son, Jesus Christ, die on a cross for our sins. What a humbling thought. This year, my first Easter as a parent, it really hits home even moreso than it ever did in the past.

Love to you all. Thank you for loving us through this blog.

Here are a few pictures of our little bunny for your (or maybe just my own!) enjoyment.

{birthday girl}

Until I get a chance to look through my pictures from Caroline's party this past weekend, here is a quick one of the birthday girl looking a bit apprehensive...

{life with a one year old}

Pretty great, huh?

{we made it}

Wow. It has been a whole year since Caroline was born. This is nuts. Why does time go by at supersonic speeds once you have a baby?! I don't think I ever told Caroline's birth story, so I am going to re-live it one more time. I am sure you are stoked.

I scheduled Caroline's induction on my due date, April 12th. We went in about 8:00am, and I got hooked up to the IV immediately. Then, Dr. Sherman came in and broke my water about 8:30. I was only at 2cm and she said I needed to "just progress" before I could get my epidural. They jacked up the pictocin and off she went. She said she would come back and check on me around lunch. (Lunch?? Is this going to take that long??) Little did I know...

She actually came back around 10ish and checked me, and of course I hadn't budged. I was a bit disappointed, and started to try and mentally prepare myself for what I thought was all women in my family's destiny: a C-section. I know they aren't that big of a deal, but I just didn't want one. Then she said she would come back at lunch, but the nurse could give me some pain meds if the contractions started getting bad.

Boy, did they ever! I rang for the nurse about an hour later saying I was in pretty bad pain. She checked me. No progress. Ugh. She tried to give me a pep talk and push off the meds. I said ok.

About an hour later, I rang for the nurse again. She didn't check me, but she did allow me to have whatever meds they give you before the epidural. It basically just took the edge off. I was still in a lot of pain, but was able to relax a little bit.

The contractions continued to get worse and worse. Dr. Sherman showed up around 1:30, as I am wanting to pull my hair out, and says- oh! You are at about 4.5cm. Good! You can get your epidural now.

So, of course, the anesthesiologist was in surgery for another 2 hours! I progressed to 7cm before he came in. The contractions were beyond unbearable at this point. As Zach is holding my hand, and I am sobbing in pain, I lean over for the doctor to give me the epidural. I ended up squeezing Zach's hands so hard that he had to stop and sit down because he was about to pass out. Oops! I hadn't realized that since I had been in so much pain over the past 4 hours, he hadn't stopped to get lunch. Now, that's true love!

I got the epidural around 3:30, and was able to (literally) instantly relax. I felt like a different person. I was able to get to sleep for about an hour. The nurse came in about 5pm to check me and I was at 9cm. They paged the doctor, and by the time she got there at 6pm, I was ready to push.

I pushed for TWO.LONG.HOURS. Yes. I felt like I was at a gym working out with a trainer, and not stopping the workout for 2 hours. It was seriously the total body workout of my life. In between, Dr. Sherman, the nurse, Zach and I were chatting like we were old friends at dinner. It was awesome. I loved my doctor, and I had really awesome nurses! I had to stop several times between contractions and turn because Caroline's heart rate was dropping. Here we go again, I thought. C-section. But, no. I made it!

At 7:54pm, the most beautiful baby girl was born. The cord was wrapped around her neck twice (which I hear is actually quite common and not a huge deal if you get them out fairly quickly). She screamed to high heaven, and I fell in love instantly, and have never been the same since. She is such a blessing in our lives and I couldn't imagine life without her!

{one year anniversary}

Today marks one year since I left my beloved 4th grade teaching position to stay at home with Caroline. She was born the following Monday, and life hasn't been the same since. It has been a magical roller coaster ride through many ups and downs, which has changed me more in one year's time than anything else has changed me in my entire life.

I love staying at home with Caroline, although I will say it rivals Teaching as one of the most challenging jobs I have ever had (I have been in PR, inside sales, recruiting, outside sales, and teaching). I have had a lot of people make comments about staying at home, asking if I ever get bored. I try really hard to just smile and giggle, instead of having a bewildered look on my face. I have very strong beliefs and opinions about what my job involves as a stay-at-home-mom, none of which include watching my TV shows during the day, doing household chores while the baby is awake, or eating bon-bons ;) (I had to throw that in there).

I feel that my job between 7am and 7pm is to help Caroline develop into a Christ-centered, loving, genuine, humble, and down-to-earth human being. There will always be things to do around the house, and I try to get them done when she naps, or after she goes to bed. If I was to sit her in an exersaucer or pack-n-play so I could get household chores done, I would never get to play with her or teach her the things she should be learning.

I am so lucky that Zach is on board with this frame of mind. While he's at work managing construction projects, I'm at work teaching Caroline. When she goes down to sleep is when we take care of the other things. We both share the house-keeping duties, and he definitely puts in his time as one of the best Daddies ever.

Caroline, you are such a gift from God. I couldn't imagine life any other way.

(These pictures are back from November of 2010. Photography by the lovely Tyan Jacox of tiny bird photography)

{in love}

how could you not be?

{we're walkin' on sunshine... woah!}

Caroline made an April Fool out of me and took off this past Friday! I really didn't expect her to start walking until closer to her 1st birthday. She walked across our living room at home a couple of times in the morning. Then, we got to Dallas Friday night, and she walked all over my parents' living room. It was really neat that Zach and my parents got to see her taking off! She is still wobbly and likes to have a finger to hold on to when she is on a hard surface. I love that she holds her arms in the air when she walks to help her keep her balance. It's precious! It's so funny that people say- "oh-it's all over now that she's walking!" I completely disagree! It was a MUCH harder transition going from sitting and playing to crawling! I have been chasing her around since January, so chasing her walking is really no different! I love, love, love this age. She is so.much.fun!