Fil-It

When Dad's away, the girls will play! At Chick-Fil-A! Yay!
(way too much rhyming there, but I couldn't resist!)

Last night, G was on call. And admittedly, we have had a few stressful weeks. Long days, coupled with a few virus invasions, Caris' transitioning classes and subsequently dropping a nap=over tired, birthday plannings, yard projects..... Anyways, our evenings have been a little rocky. Typically, they consist of trying to comfort Caris, cook dinner while holding Caris, feed her, bathe her, get to bed all after spending 30 minutes in traffic and within an hour time span. And usually flying solo. It's a little chaotic.

So last night, we had to run an errand and in efforts to avoid more stress after a particular hard work day, I made the decision for a girls treat to the Chick! Let me just say, great decision. Caris was all smiles and we were able to enjoy a meal together. People watching, playing games, silly songs, all the fun things girls do :) Caris was treated to a sip of mom's milkshake and some juice, as well as a pink balloon and games! A special dietary splurge, but well worth it.

Lil' C was a happy one. And thus her mom was also.

And one of us completely cleared their plate......and it wasn't me.

We may have to make this a regular occurance!

nononono

Birthday celebrations, pics and otherwise, forthcoming.....as soon as we recover from our whirlwind week/end....

But until then I leave you with our newest acquired skill.

Our One-Year-Old has officially learned the proper use for No. Complete with the head shake motion. Over the last week, this has clearly transitioned from accidental usage to clear indication of Caris' dislike and/or unwillingness to partake in requested activity. Particularly with food.

Caris, do you want more milk? (enter head shake and cure...'No') Do you want to try this food? (head shake, 'No')

I have to say, thus far, the 'NO' usage is implemented politely. Sweet little head shake, quiet smile. Simple No.

But I have a feeling that as she figures out how to apply this meaning in a broader sense, polite usage may not be the norm....

For now, I am kind of enjoying the increased level of communication and understanding this little skill brings us. I am HOPING we can appropriately foster this skill to be used in the right way....yes, I know that is a BIG hope. But, hey, we'll give it a shot.

Isn't amazing how toddler's master no so quickly? I read somewhere recently that toddlerhood mimics that of adolescence. Oh my. I am a little scared of both.

But I think we are well on our journey into the first stage.

Birthday Baby!...I mean Big Girl!!!

Happy Birthday To Our Sweet Girl!!!!

You are a 1 year old little lady today.

We love your sweet, silly smile...that is sometimes a smirk. Your happy singing and crazy dance moves. Your little laugh and silly faces. We love your pouty face too :)

Your blue, blue eyes, so full of wonder and joy. Sparkling with life. Always observing their world and looking at each person with sincere intent. The eyes that carry with them traits of so many of your relatives, on all sides. So knowing, and so learning at the same time.

Your sweet and quirky personality. Silly and studious. Funny and full of joy. Caring, snuggly, and sweet to all people. Social little butterfly and nature loving.

Always ready for the next adventure. You love feeling the wind, swinging high on your swing, running fast, fast spins, fast rides in your wagon, and bumpy rides.

You are truly a joy and amaze me every day. I love watching the little girl you are becoming. What a precious and wonderful journey this last year has been.

Talkie Walkie

Hard to believe that talking and walking are up next on the developmental radar.

Miss Caris is quite a chatty little one and I continue to be fascinated by the development of language (all my speech therapist friends, feel free to pass on your expertise!). And defined loosely, Caris 'talks' A LOT. She has complete conversations with her friends at school and any engaged adult. I mean, it truly seems and sounds as if she's talking directly to us, we just quite understand all that's being said. And everyone once in awhile, it sounds like what's she's saying makes sense....

And on top of her 'practice' conversations, we are hearing quite a developing vocabulary emerge. 'Mamma' (which I think also means I want..) is a favorite word and said very clearly and enunciated. Love me some of this :)

'DAAA' usually accompanied by squeals of delight...

'UhOH' 'UhOh 'UhOH' is a very favorite word. Typically when she gets going with this, she loves to repeat over an over again. And usual also repeats the action that instigated the 'UhOh' as well....I love to get her going on this one.

'Oh Wow' we hear this from time to time, but not as consistent. Usually when on her swing...

'Bye Bye' also a favorite. Mainly because Caris loves to wave. And once (I

have 5 witnesses to prove) Caris said 'bye bye Bobby to her Uncle when he left. I mean it was a clear little sentence. And along with this, Caris has associated the word wave with the action. So now if you say wave, that's what you'll get.

'Yaash' as in Caris do you want more food? 'Yassh' More milk? 'Yasshh' and sometimes interchanged with a simple 'Ya' as in Caris' are you done with your bottle? 'Ya', I guess you can take it...

We've also heard a few 'Ball' 'Milk' and 'Dog' in the mix.

But the best is her little conversations. Seriously the funniest thing.

We are also teetering on the verve of walking. Caris will 'walk' around every room by holding onto whatever she can get her hands on. She also really loves to walk around holding someones hands. But I think we have a ways to go in terms of balance....So we'll see when she decides she's ready to make an independent move. Who knows with this little one...

I love to watch Caris learn. It is so amazing how these little baby minds work and process. Lately, lil C has been really picking up new skills and is so observant. When we took her fishing, it took her all of 5 seconds of watching her Dad reel the rod for her to push his hand away and take over. Same when she first witnessed mom try to clean her ears with a Q-tip; now anytime she sees one she sticks it in her ear. It really just amazes me how quickly new skills are acquired.

Can't wait to see how much she changes in the next year!

Aaaaayyyyyy, Sic 'Em!

Well, this post is clearly delayed.....but we had a great time cheering on our Baylor Bears this season! We are 'basketball' people when it comes to sporting events. And love any chance to support Baylor. So the combination of Baylor, Basketball, Sweet Sixteen -to- Elite Eight, and Houston created a perfect alignment for a FULL weekend of BASKETBALL!

Caris' first pigtails.....

She was a great little cheerleader

We bought tickets the second Baylor advanced. It was so fun to have the chance to see Baylor play in this venue. We attended MANY games in the Ferrel Center back in Waco, a little different!

Friends and family came to pre-party; our house is just a few miles from the Reliant Center. Alli even bypassed Aggie loyalty to cheer for the Bears!!

Fun times with the Baylor alum

Way to go Baylor and Lady Bears! All the the road ended in Houston, they were great. And we are excited for next season! Caris loves to watch the games and cheers along :)

Bunny foo foo

Sweet Caris, or our very own Little Bunny Foo Foo, celebrated her first Easter. You may recall she attempted to make it in time for Easter last year, but her plans were foiled :) The Easter holiday is one that is just so much better with the presence of a little one; especially this pretty little Easter Baby. We have soaked in the beauty of the Texas Spring the past few weekends, with the opportunity to spend quality time in natures splendor. Welcoming the arrival of new life and growth.

Happy Easter and welcome Spring!

Miss I.N.D.E.P.E.N.D.E.N.T.

Oh my. We have an INDEPENDENT lady on our hands right now. (Beyonce, you would be proud). In the last month or so, Caris has really made efforts to assert her new found independent streak.

She now takes her comb when I brush her hair and proceeds to brush her own hair. She will not let me take over the task once she begins.

The same with brushing her teeth (or really tooth + .5). Her hair brush has also now become a tooth brush.This particular task she takes over with even more gusto. Not allowing me to remove her new tools from her hand for obscene amounts of time.

And along with these acts of self grooming and the adorably ensued demonstration of pride by our litte one, there is self determination.

And by self determination, I mean fits.

The 'I-do-not-want-you-to-remove-that-object (paper)- from-my-hand-I-had-that-(paper)-in MY-hand! Do-NOT-force-me-in-my-jammies-or-carseat-I-am-not-ready-for-that!' fits that incorporate back arching and screaming.

I will add that we had an OVERTIRED baby on our hands last two weeks, so the little fits were no doubt exacerbated by fatigue.

And will also add that for the most part, they last for a mere few seconds. We have been working hard to work through her frustrations and she is doing much better.

But....we are still very much exerting independence.

I have much expected this phase. It is a natural phase of development, of course. But I expected it MUCH later. Like 18 months or so. Am I crazy? Could she really be going through this phase right now? From all that I have learned and heard from other moms, that is exactly what it seems like. Or is it something else?

Regardless, I think it is pretty darn cute to see our little girl washing her hands, brushing her teeth, and combing her hair. So big and so proud of her new skills.

Now if only I can focus her efforts to unload the dishwasher....we'd all be happy.

So big, lady.

TGIF

This made my heart happy after a long work week.

The comment section on Caris' school sheet for the day read as follows:

"Today I was...."

Evidently she was 'talking' all day and cracking up at everything she said (her new found conversation skills are a topic on their own).

Her teachers were cracking up over her when I arrived. She had the school in stitches all day.

I hope it makes your end of week happy too : )

There's an App for That

I have several friends with new little ones on the way or just arrived. When I was pregnant, I had absolutely no clue what kinds of things I might need as a new mom; I was pretty clueless when it came to baby care and gear. Luckily, a great friend who was a recent new mom graciously offered to take me to the baby store to point out the things she used along with the items that were a bit more 'superfluous'. Granted, I still ended up with many things we never really found great use for and inevitably we needed some items more than I expected. And most assuredly each new little life and their caregiver has unique needs and different things that work for them.

But I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that there has been a clear number one baby gear item. It has the most wide reaching impact and has benefited not only mom, baby, and dad, but also grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends.

Yes, I am talking about the iPhone.

No doubt the most used tool I have in my aresenal on a day to day basis.

Caris fussing on a long road trip? No worries. Just quickly download the FREE rattle app and baby is mesmerized for hours.

Not so great at remebering a camera or taking pictures? You're in luck. The iPhone can doument any precious moment at any given time. And added bonus: looking through pictures and playing back videos can provid great entertainment for your little one.

Need to send the grandmas and aunties a baby fix? Simply utilize aforementioned function to email or text to latest cute new Caris move and the Caris fix is delivered in the matter of minutes.

Daughter a music lover? Well, we are in luck. Pandora App, iPod, all always within arms reach to play a little tune for our dancer. And recently added, a BABY PIANO. Seriously, now Caris can play the piano on my phone. (and she does)

Need to catch up on correspondence in the midst of newborn care and round-the-clock feedings? Email at your fingertips. And if you need a game, distraction, diversion, to help you through the long nights. Well, there are Apps for that too. Scrabble anyone?

Want to provide some education on the go? Simply download a phonics or alphabet game.

There are also baby monitors, baby care schedules, animal games, and flash cards. All available within minutes.

And with the internet always at my fingertips, I can always google 'Can my baby eat (insert food) at (insert age) ?' if we are eating out or 'Is (insert illogical concern) normal?' and all sorts of need-to-know-right-now questions.

Yes, I use my iPhone alot. And okay, Caris already knows how to swipe through pictures, use her 'forefinger pincher' to play games and to change songs. And, ya, I am clearly pretty dependent on its presence at my fingertips. And we are clearly a product of the technology era, love it or hate it. But you know what? I'm okay with that. Because on numerous occasions, it has been my saving grace.

And for a brief (scary) time period yesterday when I 'missplaced' my very valued item, I realized just how much I put it to use. And how much I DID NOT want to lose it. And the beauty that is the iPhone saved me again. By simply logging into my moblie me, I was able to locate it's whereabouts (still in the hospital), send a page to my phone requesting benevolence on the part of it's finder to please page me, set off a two minute alert, and lock it so it's valued contents could not be disturbed. And within minutes, a gracious woman belonging to the 'sisterhood of the working nursing mothers' paged me to let me know she had heard my phones alert and was notified of my pager number.

And all was right again.

So new mommies? Want to know my top recommendation? The tool that will become your 'right hand (wo)man'? That has tools you never knew you needed?

Whatever IT is when it comes to baby needs. Well, I'll just say it.

There's an App for That.

Magic and Secrets

First there was the 'Magic Crawl'. Caris would move around the room, getting to desired object, seemingly by magic. A little scoot, roll, semi-crawl, stand, unkown movement, and then there she was. Across the room. A no evidence of traditional 'crawl' witnessed.

Then there was the 'Secret Crawl'. Not wanting anyone (especially mom least she forge her carrying) to know, Caris would crawl in secret. When no one was looking. She was caught in the act crawling while mom did the dishes and dad worked outside. Busted.

And then came this:

She finally decided it was worth her efforts. Caris, as per usual, does things on her own accord; no pressure from social norms or peers. (haha)

And now she's speed racing with the kids at school.