My little sponge

I am trying to think of all the 'new' things Caroline is doing lately. I used to worry and still do sometimes that I won't be a good 'teacher' to my children. That I wouldn't be able to teach them anything before they went to school. Turns out I don't have much to worry about...she picks stuff up on her own just from being around me and mimicking anything she sees or hears. I have done my share of 'teaching' her some things but I can't believe what she knows and I go 'how did she learn that?'.

Genius, my friends. I tell you, she is a genius.

She now knows FIVE animal sounds. In addition to the dog and monkey she already knew I have taught her cow, kitty cat and duck. She's her own Ol' McDonald :)

She now puts down her fork or spoon when Brad and I begin to pray before meals. She stops what she is doing and puts her hands together with the biggest smile and then claps when we say AMEN. I hadn't even started working on that with her!

She also knows who Jesus is and can identify pictures/statues of him when I ask. She is more vocal and rambunctious in church now so I usually ask where Jesus is and she looks to our big crucifix and points and is quiet and transfixed for at least a few minutes :)

She knows her please's and thank you's....I am so proud of this one! Alhtough, she thinks as long as she says please she gets what she asked for. Gotta work on that one.

We have alwasy played the 'stinky feet' game with her where we smell her piggles and then make a big fuss of them being smelly. They aren't but she LOVES it. This past weekend she started smelling her own feet (or ours) and then waving her hand under her nose going 'eeew'...cracked us up the first time she did it!

She now pushes her own nose and makes a honk-honk noise and then pushes ours and giggles at whatever noise we decide to make.

She knows where the baby is and will come over, lift my shirt, hit my tummy and say 'baby!' and then air kiss my stomach....awwww! She also thinks there is a baby in her belly AND in Brad's though :)

I know there is so much more she does because she changes everyday but I can't think of it all!

One of the biggest things she is doing now is brushing her teeth! We had given up on trying to do this long ago and I was so worried all her teeth would fall out soon. We used to have to pry her mouth open and listen to her scream while we did a quick once over. After my sister's family spent a weekend with us and she saw her cousins doing it, she wanted to participate. So, we went and got her a fun toothbrush with Cookie Monster on it (although she calls him 'Cook') and some training toothpaste. Now, the only screams come when we literally have to pry the toothbrush out of her fingers :)

Long time, no blog...

I have good reasons though. We've been busy growing and taking care of this little slice of heaven :)

I guess I have gotten into that mindset of "no one is going to want to read about the boring things we have going on" or I am too busy with the few 'big events' we have going on that I let my blog fall to the wayside.

If you still even read this blog (does anybody, really? let me know...) I am sorry!

We've had THREE ultrasounds already so we've seen lots of 'Santa Baby' as my nieces have nicknamed him. Yes, they tell me it's a boy this time! Abby and Ania have all sorts of reasons and explanations about why I am having a 'boy baby' this time and since Abby was the ONLY one in the family to be correct right from the get go with Caroline...I have to wonder this time!

All we want is a healthy baby and if you are close enough to us to know our struggle right now, you know that we aren't just being 'cliche' or anything.

I am through the first trimester but I can't seem to find any energy still. I was doing SO well with everything until about week 10...I swear I barely 'felt' pregnant until then. After that I was nauseated all the time and if I didn't take a nap I was sleeping on the couch anytime after 4 pm. I am starting to show off a bit more of a bump than I expected and I THINK I feel movement every now and then!

I only have pictures of our second ultrasound on my computer and those ones are actually the best ones. The first ultrasound was just two weeks before this and all we had was a blob. I mean, I thought the baby's head was it's butt. I'm going for mother of the year. But, the next time we looked the baby was super cooperative and kicking and fidgeting and we could make out so much. I don't know if this was because we were seeing a specialist and their machine/tech is better but it was amazing! I can't wait for the next two weeks to pass by...we get to check out our little one again and take some more measurements and hopefully get some good news.

Santa is bringing us something special....

I figure since I made a big announcement for Caroline, the next one deserved the same. The Easter bunny and Santa Claus must have been working together this year. Right before Easter we found out we had a Christmas package on the way. I am hoping to be able to 'open' this package before Christmas but we'll see :) All is going well and we are aiming for December 17. I see the nurse again tomorrow and the doctor in a few weeks. I don't know what it is with the months of December and January but we seem to want to cram everything into those two :)

Caroline wore her shirt to tell both of the families and my mom noticed right away and froze. I think she walked around in it for over five minutes with Brad's family before anyone realized it! And, it was Brad's sister who just walked in the house who realized it first and thought she missed the big announcement :) I even had to look at the digital test twice to make sure the 'not' wasn't in front of 'pregnant'...nope just one word! I am so thankful for this gift as it did take some more time and effort than we had previously gone through and I also had a 'female issue' pop up right around my birthday that made me even more worried. But, God is in control and I am so happy to be pregnant again and pray that everything continues to go well. Please pray for us all also and we'll keep you updated!

God Bless my mother

Mother's day is this weekend. I think I have a pretty great mom and even though I won't be with her on Sunday :( :( I am thankful for her everyday so that makes up for it.

This will be my second Mother's day. On my mom's second mother's day she already had two babies. I came along a mere 15 months after my sister. Caroline is now 15 months old herself.

I have NO idea how my mom did it! Maybe it's because by this time next year I will have two babies that my energy is a bit more zapped than normal or the fact that Caroline has about 10 times the energy that I normally have! She is at such a FUN age and I love spending my days with her.

She has a HUGE vocabulary now and we carry on 'conversations' and she understands so much of what I say.
She is a little stinker and knows how to push my buttons or do something she is not supposed to do. She has the most adorable smile when doing it all though so it's ok :)
She loves to dance and does this stomp thing with her foot...I have no idea where she learned it.
She still has the temper and lots of her own ideas and a strong will to get her way. She definitely has a mind of her own.
She LOVES to be outside. Brad will usually be the one to take her outside and when we bring her in she screams like someone just slapped her in the face. She loves going out and hates coming in.
If you walk around my house you will see lots of piles of rocks. She loves piling rocks together and carrying them around-one in each hand. If she doesn't have a rock in her hand that's because she has a stick in it instead. My girly girl loves the outdoors :)
She eats anything and everything. Seriously. If it is on my plate it is even more appetizing to her. If she is close enough she won't even ask but just grab it right off the plate! Obviously she hasn't inherited my picky eating habits.

Our days are spent between singing, dancing, listening to music, watching some Sesame and Micky Mouse, eating, snacking, reading books (OMG she loves this part), making messes, taking ONE nap (we both usually do this these days!), throwing a fit or two, following me EVERYWHERE and she has even learned to help me put laundry in the washer and dust the living room-just from watching me do it!

Again, I don't know how my mom handled all of this with a brand new baby. I can't imagine having a brand new baby with Caroline being this age. I never thought I would have two kids under two but by Christmas we'll be there :) Granted Caroline will turn 2 a month later but I am sure we are in for an adventure. I hope she takes to it well and I am as awesome of a mom as I think I'll be to both of them. After all, I do have a pretty awesome mom myself so I hope I got some of her goodness.

Happy Mother's Day all you moms. We ROCK!

Olive Juice, mom :)

I'm noticing a pattern

Yesterday we actually had plans. Places to be. People to see :) This doesn't happen often-we would actually get out of the house!! Yay! This doesn't happen much until the weather gets nicer and warmer. Somehow when that happens, I get much more energy :)

Caroline of course woke up way too early...before I did even. Which meant I had to do everything-choose our clothes, start the daily chores, wash my face and brush my teeth, do my hair and makeup-EVERYTHING with her underfoot. Oy. She can really get into stuff within a short span of seconds. I was beyond frustrated with her and was only half dressed myself while she was still in pj's. We had barely started and already mommy was crying. Ok, so I was crying AFTER spending 5 minutes with a flashlight on the floor looking for my wedding ring. Guess who can reach up on mommy's nightstand? Guess what mommy doesn't leave on her nightstand anymore? It was found don't worry.

I do leave her bedroom open while I get ready so she can terrorize that but my bathroom/bedroom has better toys evidently. I called my mom after I found the ring and got my heart to start beating again just to talk myself down again. While on the phone my little angel came out of her room (yes, after she lost it, she left me alone to look for it!) with her church coat. As I talked I kept an eye on her as she walked to the kitchen and made her way to the laundry room. When I caught up with her I saw a similar sight to my last post.

She even managed to put one arm on....the wrong arm but she did it all on her own!

Either she REALLY likes to be outside or she doesn't like being here:) I think its the first one...I hope!

Just like mommy!

Sometimes it amazes me how much Caroline can do and understand and comprehend as she gets older. Every once in awhile she will do something all on her own out of nowhere and just wow me.

Yesterday I was looking something up online in the living room and heard her little padded feet enter the kitchen. Uh-oh, mommy must have left the gate open. Caroline saw her escape and took it! I went in there after her to bring her back and found the funniest site. She really must have thought she was going somewhere and since I knew she wouldn't get far I ran and got the camera so I could share the joke with Brad later. Here's the joke:

If you look carefully she has her keys and credit card in one hand and her purse on her other one (while holding My Little Pony). I told Brad I think this means she wants to go to the mall :) He just laughed.

Sassy pants

I decided to update the blog just now. I just asked Caroline if she pooped (I already knew the answer as she now makes sound effects whe she does her biz and her eyes bug out of their sockets) and she replied "poop". We've learned so much in the last few weeks :)

She knows how to say poop and poo-poo. And, will walk to her bedroom door and wait to be changed afterwards. Smart cookie.
If you ask her what the doggy says she replies 'woof-woof'...sometimes she is very quiet about it though.
She knows the monkey goes 'ooh-ooh ahh-ahh' and loves bananas.
She knows she is 'sassy' and repeats it whenever you tell her but she puts much more emphasis on in it so it sounds more like 'saaassssssssssssssy'. More like its a good thing to be :)
She knows and will point out where her hair, nose and piggles are. Those are her toes if you couldn't guess.
She knows music is for dancing and her best move is twirling. She spins and spins until she usually falls over from the dizziness. Cutest. Thing. Ever.
She knows how to throw a tantrum. BIG ones. Or at least bigger than anything she ever used to do. She does the dead weight thing really well. Especially at bedtime...
She's gotten really good at understanding questions and commands. If I tell her to give something to mommy she is usually very good at bringing it to me or handing it over. If I ask her where her baby (doll) is she will go get it. Then she does the cutest thing and puts it on her shoulder and pats it like I do when playing with her. She is a cute little mommy :)
She says mommy and daddy or da all. the. time. We love it. She has said busia, poppa, Dave-Dave (my brother in law and one of her favorite people). She knows how to wave and say hi and bye. Adorable. She has been blowing kisses for a while now but after she waves bye she usually knows to blow kisses after that. Melts any heart.
She can pat her hand over her open mouth and do what we used to call the Indian call. Forgive me if that isn't politically correct anymore! She also does the thing where you take your fingers and 'bounce' your bottom lip while humming to make that bub-bub-bub type sound.
She talks and repeats so much and it is amazing how much she understands. I am working on 'all done' with her arms out and everything when she is done eating and we are getting good at it. Perhaps a bit too good....:)
We went to Ash Wednesday mass at night when Brad got home from work. It was quite the experience as that is uaually her time to run around like a hellion and get her energy out before bed. Needless to say she was quite energetic and 'saaaasssssssy' in church. At one point, I can't even remember what part of mass it was, we were all sitting and the whole place was quiet and the priest had just sat down and what did that mean for darling Miss C? Brad was holding her and puts her hands out and proclaims 'all done!' for everyone around us. We were nowhere near being 'all done' so it was a bit embarrassing but more cute than anything.