I completely abandoned you, poor blog. I actually have a job that keeps me busy, I love spending time with Josh and Caroline on the weekend, and, quite frankly Mr. Blog (I'm making it male, for some reason), I forgot to update you.
Goodness, so what has been going on in the past three months? Yikes, I'm that far behind? Oh, geez. Thankfully, I'm an over-poster on Facebook, and that will help me outline the past three months of our lives into one oversized, overrambled, overdue blog entry!
October meant pumpkin picking! Caroline had fun, except for when it came time to pose for pictures (of course). I am obsessed with all things pumpkins (pumpkin bread, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin beers... yummy). We ended up only getting a couple small pumpkins, chosen by Caroline because it's more about the experience than buying the overpriced pumpkin, anyway ;)
In early October, I made an unexpected trip to Virginia to attend my grandmother's funeral. She was my last remaining grandparent and we will all miss her so much. I am so glad I was able to make the trip to Virginia to share memories of her with my families and, of course, toast Manhattans in her honor. It was such a bittersweet trip home and, despite the circumstances, it was nice being able to spend time with my family and see cousins I hadn't seen in years. Miss you, Nanny!
October meant HALLOWEEN! Our little one went as Superman AKA Supergirl AKA Supertoddler. It was the cutest costume and she was really comfy in it. She had so much fun in her tutu and cape. She had a blast at her school's Halloween carnival: she tried to play games she didn't understand, handed back candy and said "nooo" with a look of disgust, and practiced her photobombing skills. Due to a case of the "terrible twos," we didn't make it out trick or treating, but it was still a fun Halloween. It ended with Josh and I turning the porch lights out at 8pm and hiding from a huge group of trick or treaters that went through the neighborhood at 8:30pm because we're old and uncool like that :)
In November, I turned 29! Eeek, the last year of my 20s! My boss gave me the day off work, which was super nice. I met Josh for lunch complete with a birthday beer, got a beautiful new fossil watch, had a nice lunch at Bonefish (this year, Caroline decided to behave until I was almost done eating, so I didn't spend my entire birthday lunch eating and boozing on my own - improvement over last year!) - it was an awesome birthday :)
Later in November, Caroline turned 2! Tons of details below on our little two year old (because I know that's what you guys really care about). Her birthday fell during our week at the beach, so she got to spend her birthday with her mommy, daddy, memaw, papaw, auntie, and my Aunt Linda. She had a cute nautical cake (which she didn't want a single bite of), blew out her birthday candles like a pro, unwrapped her gifts slowly and inspected each one, and was a true birthday princess. I cannot believe our little girl is already 2.
We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving week in the Outer Banks (Rodanthe, NC to be exact) with my family. We loved every minute of it, even the moments of crazy toddler antics. It was so nice to spend a relaxing week with my family. For Thanksgiving, we went to an amazing buffet! I didn't touch the turkey - my plate was filled with shrimp, scallops, and oysters!! Caroline was fuss-tastic, so yes, we were those parents with an iPad in a restaurant to keep her happy. It was a holiday and that's the first time we have ever done it and heck, it allowed us to enjoy our holiday meal so #hatersgonnahate. It was such a nice week, we keep talking about how we wish we could have stayed longer :)
Caroline is 2 years old and still a perfect, little giant. She is 34 pounds and 38.5 inches tall. Basically, huge and the size of a 3 year old. She is healthy (well, except for today, since she's home sick) and beautiful. She is getting more hair, enough for pigtails!
She has become quite the fashionista! She has recently began refusing to wear anything that isn't a dress. She is obsessed with her "Elsa Dresses" (any dress that is blue is an Elsa dress to her) and will sometimes dig through her hamper to find one. Yes, I have sent her to school in sun dresses and tights if we're out of weather appropriate dresses for her to wear. She loves picking out her own clothes and her shoes. She also loves deciding whether mommy is allowed to do her hair in pigtails for the day.
She loves singing. Her favorite is singing Skidamarink-a-dink-a-dink with me, especially the "I love youuuu" part. If she's in a good mood, she'll try to sing Twinkle Twinkle, the Itsy Bitsy Mermaid, or her ABC's.
She definitely has her favorite animated characters (she's not interested in anything on TV that isn't a cartoon these days. She loves Elmo and "Mee Mow" (Mickey Mouse). Disney movies are her favorites, especially anything involving Disney Princesses. "Mermay" (The Little Mermaid) is her favorite movie; I would add how she says Ariel's name, but it has so many vowels grouped together I wouldn't even know where to begin. Second is Frozen with "Anna, Elka, Owaf, and Daddy" (yes, she thinks daddy is a character in Frozen for some reason). She also loves "Ella" (Cinderella), "Rapuhpuh" (Rapunzel), and "Ah-Ora" (Aurora).
She is the perfect mixture of girly girl and tom boy. She loves her dresses, shoes, jewelry, purses, and princesses. But, at the same time, we were told that she loves dirt more than any other child at her school and I often have to scrub it out of her hair at night. She is rough and tough but as sweet as can be.
She is getting very good at speaking and communicating and is learning new words daily. Just this morning she finally said "milk" perfectly (her prior word being "no" for milk). She can say please and thank you, tells us she loves us and gives us kisses, and loves pointing out animals and telling us what sounds they make. She talks constantly, even when it's just gibberish, but the gibberish is becoming more coherent daily, which is awesome! It helps us communicate with her and know what she wants :)
Speaking of the pets, she still adores Ellie the most. She talks about her on the way home from school and gets so excited to see her when she gets home. She loves the cats and tries to pick them up and gives them a lot of hugs. She's smart and is cautious around Wrangler because he's a grumpy old man, but she loves sneaking him kisses and hugs when he's in a good mood. She loves helping me feed the dogs, loves telling them to sit down and go outside, and has even learned how to close Ellie in her crate.
That's all for now on our precious babycakes. Right now she's grabbing my hand and making watch "Mermay" with her, so off I go! I will try to be better about updating my blog because I do love documenting our lives. So long, for now!
