Happy 1st Birthday Caroline!

To our Sweet Caroline on your first birthday:

April 30th will always be one of the most special days in our lives. That's the day God introduced us to you. You stole our hearts the moment we laid eyes on all 9lbs. 13oz. of you. That was the day that God showed us what it really means to love.

You have grown up so quickly over the last year. You've always been ahead of the game physically - rolling over at 9 weeks, sitting and crawling at 6 months, pulling yourself up at 7 months, standing up by yourself at 8 months, walking at 9 months, and now running at a year old. Maybe because you've done all these things so quickly and effortlessly, it's made time go by faster since our little baby is growing and changing into a beautiful little girl. We love watching you learn new things like playing peak-a-boo, doing hand motions to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, clapping, dancing, flipping through books, blowing kisses... It's so special to get to see the world through your eyes.

Through all this change there is one thing that has stayed constant throughout your first year of life - you are such a HAPPY baby!!! Your smile and your funny little belly laugh are so contageous. You love being around people, playing outside, taking a bath, and especially spending time with Daddy. You do what we've come to call "the Daddy Dance" whenever you see Daddy at the end of the day. There's so much joy in you; you've overflowed our lives with that joy.

We really didn't know what to expect when we brought you home, but you've helped Mommy and Daddy grow together as husband and wife and parents as we communicate more, laugh more, trust each other more, and love more. You've also challenged us as parents and I'm sure as your independence grows you'll continue to challenge us. We won't always appreciate these growth opportunities, but know that no matter what, we will always love you.

It makes us sad and happy at the same time to see you turn one year old today. Sad because you're not our little baby anymore and happy because we can't wait to see what you're going to do next!

You will always have a great life anthem so what a better way to end this than to say:

"Sweet Caroline - bum, bum, bum - Good times never seemed so good - so good, so good, so good"!

We love you and always will.

Mommy and Daddy

Updates

Apologies for the months that have gone by without an update. A lot has been happening in our world - all good - and so here are some highlights.

In February, over Valentine's Day weekend, we traveled to Portland, OR to visit our friends the Campions. They have 3 kids, 2 boys and a girl who is just about Caroline's age. We had a great time in the beautiful green city of Portland. It's hard not to have a good time with such great friends.

Caroline continues to move and groove. Her walking has improved so much over the last two months. She's a pro at it. She also has a little bit of a daredevil streak in her too. Thankfully she's pretty solid enough to take a fall and get right back up to do it again. Here are some cute pictures of her.

For Easter we celebrated with church on Saturday and dinner with the family Saturday night. Then in the morning Caroline and Bryan both had received baskets from the Easter bunny. It was so fun to watch Caroline go through her basket and pick things out. She loved playing with the Easter eggs and her new toys.

Easter Sunday in the afternoon we went up to the Huntington Library in Pasadena for tea with the whole family. We had a great time - Caroline LOVED the scones as she ate like 3 or 4 of the mini ones. Then we walked around the beautiful gardens. It was a gorgeous Easter Sunday!

Sorry for the sideways video....it was hard to keep up with her. :)

9 Months Old and Walking

Caroline turned 9 months old on January 30th and she continues to amaze us everyday. Most of our time with her is spent with Bryan and I just watching to see what she does next - she keeps us laughing!

This weekend Caroline took her first steps! We watched in amazement as she let go and carefully kept her balance for about 5-6 consecutive steps. WOW! I managed to get a few video segments tonight. Pretty soon this timid little steps will turn in to a full speed run - UH OH!


Bryan and I took Caroline to her 9 month check up today. The weigh-in shocked us both a little bit. We were guessing that she was about 25 pounds and she only weighed in at 21lbs 7 oz. She's almost 29 inches long. All in all with her weight, height, and head circumfrance, she's in the 90th percentile - very proportionate!! Dr. Lee (who we feel so blessed to have as her doctor) was very impressed with her motorskills and of course her happy personality. She said more than once that Caroline was such a happy baby. Everything checked out well and Caroline only had to get one shot which she did very well with - only a few tears. Our next appointment isn't until right after her first birthday and our goals at that check up are: no more bottles, only sippees - no more pacifier - and all table food! Pray for us!!

It's so hard to believe that our little girl is already 9 months old and walking. She's still babbling "mamamamama" and "dadadadadada" and is starting to say those words in reference to us. Those words are such sweet sounds from her mouth. She's living up to every bit of being our Sweet Caroline.

Super Bowl Weekend

For Super Bowl weekend we went out to Palm Springs to celebrate Bryan's mom's birthday with everyone: Jaime, Sue, Alyssa, Laurie, Pat, Patrick, and the three of us. We had a great weekend. The guys played golf one afternoon while the girls and Patrick went to the Living Desert Zoo. The weather was absolutely perfect, and we were very happy to spend Sue's birthday with her. Here are a few pictures of Caroline and her cousins, Alyssa and Patrick.

After the desert, we drove back home to watch the Super Bowl. What a great game! Yay for the Steelers! I was happy along with my grandma in Pittsburgh and Uncle Dan in Dallas. Our favorite commercial was the Dorito's commercial with the "magic crystal ball" that was really a snowglobe. If you didn't see it, look it up - well worth watching again! Caroline enjoyed some time in two new forms of transportation: car and wagon.