"One and a Half"

Caroline is now 18 months old, or as kids like to say, "she's one and a half." She actually has been "one and a half" for a couple weeks now but I have failed to make a blog post about it. So, what's life like with an adorable 18 month old?

AMAZING, though sometimes chaotic. Caroline is learning to speak and is constantly saying things. The problem is, 75% of the time we don't understand what she's saying. I think that's frustrating her because she wants to communicate with us so badly, so she does get upset. When she's upset we give her "quiet time" which is usually one of us sitting on the sofa forcing her to stay on our lap, and usually the wiggling and screaming stop within a minute. The worst parts of her tantrums are the hair pulling (OUCH) and slapping my glasses off my face (I'm blind as a bat) but we're working on it :)

Everything other than those moments of chaos? Wonderful.

She's doing very well using her words. She knows dog ("doh") and cat ("tat") very well and makes sure to point them out to us every time she sees them. We're teaching her what sounds animals make and she has woof woof ("ooo ooo") down with her meow meow ("mow mow") getting better every day. She tells us when she wants juice ("ju") and grabs it out of the refrigerator for us. When she wants to read a book she points at it and says book ("boo") if it's out of reach, or carries one over to us and raises her arms to sit in our lap and read. She sings the nakie baby song, the song we sing before baths, with us ("nay nay"). She says night night ("ni ni") and is really good at falling asleep in her crib these day, not on the couch like she used to. She knows no ("no no no no noooo") a bit too well and yes ("ya!"), but often uses the wrong one to answer questions. She's doing a wonderful job communicating with us, so hopefully as she gets better she'll have less tantrums like I mentioned above.

She loves "talking on the phone." If you put something up to your ear and say, "hello," she'll grab the nearest object, put it up to her ear, and answer ("hewo"). She walks around the house having intense conversations on her "phones." We don't know where she got it from because we rarely speak on the phone, but it's adorable! I'm going to Target today to buy her an actual play phone; I can't wait to see how she reacts!

Her favorite toys are not actually toys. She'd rather have her makeup brush, her travel sized shampoo bottle, her plastic cup we use for baths, or her daddy's Captain America shirt than any toy in the house. She loves playing with books, has regained interest in her excersaucer (every time I go to pack that thing away she starts to love it again), and her zebra that she rides on. 

She's still enormous. I'm currently packing away some 2T clothes but she's fitting comfortably in most. I'm not buying her anything smaller than 4T because she's growing so fast. When we're at a playground and parents ask how old she is they are shocked that she is only 18 months old. Their child, the three year old she's been playing with, is smaller than her. It happens a lot. She's one of the youngest in her current daycare room but also one of the largest. She has her 18-month checkup next week so we'll get exact measurements and percentiles then, but I'm pretty sure they'll all indicate, "your toddler is HUGE."

She looks normal sized… until you remember I'm 5'10" and Josh is 6'4"...

She loves watching cartoons and Disney movies. When she sees Cinderella's castle at the beginning of the movie, she sits down and stares at the TV because she knows it's going to be amazing. She loves the Little Mermaid, Tangled, Cinderella, and especially Frozen. I sing "Let it Go" to her all the time to calm her down and she tries to sing along ("de de doooooe"). She also loves to "sing" her ABC's and dance along to her favorite songs, like The Itsy Bitsy Spider, If You're Happy and You Know It, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She is getting so good at Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes; she especially loves showing us her toes.

She loves food but is often picky about it. Her favorite foods are pasta, black beans, apple sauce, rice, tacos, BACON, pancakes, goldfish crackers, and Texas Roadhouse rolls. She still doesn't like sweets and looks absolutely offended if you try to feed her one (she probably gets that from me). She loves her juice and is going through an anti-milk phase, but she'll eventually drink it if it's there. 

She loves giving hugs and kisses these days. If I ask for a hug, she'll run to me with her arms wide open ready to engulf me with an enormous hug. And those kisses, they're our favorites. She goes right for the mouth. If I ask for a kiss, she'll go right for my lips, pucker up, and go "MUAH," often leaving drool all over my mouth, but it's so worth it. She has the sweetest heart and is so full of love. She has a habit now of kissing everything. We were in Home Depot this weekend and she was kissing price tags on shelves, she kisses Ellie constantly (and then gets upset that she has a mouth full of fur), and she kissed a dog statue in Macy's this weekend while petting it (germs are good for the immune system, right? sigh).

Every time she hits an age milestone I always say it's my favorite age. Toddlerhood is definitely proving to be the most entertaining and fun stage so far. She makes me and Josh laugh constantly; I don't think we have ever laughed or smiled so much. She makes us incredibly happy. The other day I showed up to daycare to pick her up in the Altima and saw our Jeep already in the parking lot. Her daddy had shown up to her daycare early, in the car without the carseat, just to see her, hug her, and hang out with her until I got there. That's how much we love her. I still miss her every day she's at school and wish I could be home with her every day, but Josh and I are both helping to provide for our family which is what works best for us (those student loans aren't going to pay for themselves). Plus, Caroline adores her school, her teachers, and all of her friends so I know we're doing the right thing by having her there.

Being a mom is still hands-down the best thing everrrr. I'm so proud. I'm proud of all of the things Caroline has accomplished and proud of what a sweet, kind, and smart girl she is. I'm proud to call myself her mom. And I'm proud of myself and Josh for rocking at this parenthood thing. Motherhood is honestly the bomb, especially when you have a munchkin as awesome as our sweet Caroline.

Lake Lure, NC!

We had an amazing week with my family last week in Lake Lure, NC. We had no wireless internet and no cellphone reception, and it was absolutely refreshing. It allowed us to focus on enjoying our time together instead of fooling around on our phones to check on things that really don't matter. Caroline had a wonderful time and enjoyed spending time with her Memaw, Pepaw, and Auntie (and her Mommy and Daddy, duh). I'm terrible at remembering the days things happened or the order we did everything, so I'll just talk about some of the highlights and post some pictures :)

Lake Lure Farmer's Market was really fun. Caroline mostly walked around with her daddy while the rest of us shopped around. The view was gorgeous - the perfect view of Lake Lure! Afterward, we got some appetizers and beers at an italian restaurant. Italian nachos (made with italian sausage instead of ground beef) are the bomb, guys!

We also had great time at the swimming pool. Caroline was very unsure of the water at first, but ended up loving it. Josh was helping her "jump" off the side of the pool, she was splishing and splashing, and she was by far the cutest little thing there. And she definitely had the cutest belly at the pool, that's for sure!

The Lake was also a blast! We enjoyed a few wonderful afternoons on the beach at Lake Lure. Caroline, once again, was unsure of the water. However, by the time the afternoons were over she was trying to go play with the big kids, and Josh and I had to keep grabbing her to keep her from going out too far. Her favorite lake activity? Grabbing sand and throwing in the water (she didn't seem to notice that most of it ended up in her hair, and not in the water at all). There was a swing set on the beach which she found to be the coolest thing ever. I love my little beach babe so much!

Chimney Rock was one of our favorite places. It was a really charming area on the river, with a fantastic view of the mountains, with cute restaurants and stores. We enjoyed walking around the restaurants. We'll just pretend Caroline didn't have a meltdown at the restaurant, causing Josh and I to eat our lunches in shifts (there terrible twos can come early, right? please tell me the terrible twos can come early). We really liked the River Walk, where you can walk on the rocks and see the river. Caroline wanted to go swimming in the river so Josh let her stick her toes and fingers in.

We had a fantastic afternoon in downtown Asheville near The Biltmore. We opted to not tour The Biltmore itself because, well, it was too darned expensive. But we enjoyed an amazing lunch instead. I got one of the best grilled cheeses of my life, and a delicious IPA. The grilled cheese had cheese (duh), cream cheese (omg), bacon (YES), and avocado (nom nom). I need to recreate this sandwich. We then walked around and shopped for a bit and, much to my dad's delight, Caroline got to see a train go by! It was a lovely afternoon.

One of our favorite parts was the scenic tour around Lake Lure. It was Caroline's first time ever on a boat. She was not a fan of the life jacket, but she really seemed to enjoy the boat ride. It was a 90 minute ride and she probably stayed awake for about half of it and snoozed for the second half. The boat ride was fun, our tour guide was hysterical, and the views were breathtaking. We got to see gorgeous homes, amazing mountainsides, and filming sites for Dirty Dancing. I think it topped my list of favorite vacation moments.

We spent another afternoon in downtown Asheville. This time we went to the actual downtown area, had a great lunch (and a delicious porter beer) at a pizza restaurant, and walked around some very fun stores. Downtown Asheville is very pretty and has some very interesting people. I loved a bookstore we ended up in that is dog friendly, sells champagne and coffee, and is absolutely gorgeous. If we lived in Asheville, I think I would work from that store every day.

We loved spending time with family. We don't get to see either of our families often enough, so it's always wonderful to spend time with them. I am so glad we were able to spend the entire week with them and that Josh was able to work his schedule so he could come too (Caroline was such a #hotmessexpress at moments I don't know how I would have survived without him). It was so good being around my favorite people all week!

Thanks so much to my mom and dad for inviting us to the mountains. We all needed the "break from reality" and some quality time with family. I love you guys (and Allison, duh) so much and can't wait to hopefully get to see you again soon! <3

I must actually do some work now, shhhh. After a week off work it feels weird getting "back in the grind" again and is hard to get motivated. Maybe another cup of coffee will do the trick!