Fun Friday!

It was a rough morning at the Campbell household. Caroline was in full force teen mode--soooooo moody! She was as happy as she could be one minute and then crying the next. Heaven help me if this is what I have to look forward to! I figured everything would be better after her morning nap. And it was...until I tried to pry her stuffed Rudolph from her hands so he wouldn't be covered in peanut butter and blueberries during lunch. She clung to that stuffed animal while she ate...well, until he made her mad and she threw him in the floor and cried. But he was quickly forgiven because she would then reach for him and plead for me to hand him to her. We finally solved this by wheeling her highchair in front of the TV to watch a little Mickey Mouse while Rudolph was banished to the dining room. I will point out that our day definitely got better with our Gymboree class and a trip to the park to enjoy springtime in February! Oh, and yes, good ol' Rudolph took the trip with us (but he did have to hang out in the stroller while we played...with no tears from little miss priss!).

She was convinced Rudolph HAD to sit with her at lunch!

Helping Ailish clean up the balls for Miss Stephanie

Finally figuring out how to get out of the tunnel without a face plant involved

Love this expression!

I love this kid!

There are bubbles in the air, in the air...

Helping Miss Stephanie shake the parachute

Playin' at the park

"I see a bird!"

She loved exploring!

Walking across the bridge

13 & 14 Months old!

Since I missed a 13 month update, I figured I'd just combine them. Caroline is learning so many new things everyday that it's difficult to keep up with. Here are her monthly facts x2:

*She is still talking non-stop and has quite a few "real" words: Mama, Dada, Ma (Max), Wowo (Roro, my sister), bye bye, hi, thank you, Dora, map, Mouse (Mickey Mouse), quack quack, woof, nana (banana), bubble, pop, shhh, uh oh (her favorite!), all done, night night (another favorite!). She will point to things and say "what that?".

*She uses some signs: all done, more, cookie, milk.

*She weighs 21 pounds.

*She has 10 teeth (just cut 2 top molars about 3 weeks ago).

*She loves to eat pizza, corn on the cob, macaroni and cheese, cookies/animal crackers, chocolate, green beans, any kind of fruit, peanut butter and grilled cheese sandwiches, and mashed potatoes.

*She walks all over the place (not running yet, thank goodness!) and loves to climb stairs every chance she gets.

*She is in love with her wagon and climbs in and out a million times a day.

*She loves stuffed animals, baby dolls, and balls. She gives her babies (and Max) hugs and kisses all the time.

*She will come up to you and lay her sweet head on your leg to give you some lovin'.

*She's doing great drinking milk out of a sippy cup (but not a straw cup--those are for water according to my particular little girl).

*She's moved up to the Wobbler class at daycare.

*She's going to be a bookworm like the rest of my family--woo hoo!!

*She loves to dance during the hot dog dance at the end of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Caroline has had 7 ear infections since July and will be getting tubes on March 10. I'm not nervous about it (yet) because I am ready for her to be able to hear clearly and not have to be on antibiotics every month. She also started running a mysterious nightly low grade fever in November. Our doctor finally sent us to have some blood work done, and we found out that Caroline might have something wrong with her thyroid and that her ANA count is a little wacky. This could be transient from all the ear infections and antibiotics. They're just not sure so we're scheduled to meet with a rheumatologist in Gainesville on March 8. I'm hoping and praying this is all tied to her ears and will resolve itself after she gets the tubes. If you think about it, can you please say a little prayer that this isn't something she's going to have to deal with her whole life. Thanks so much!!





If you'd like to check out Caroline's 1 year pictures made by the fabulous Danita Brooks, you can check them out here. Choose "website", then click "clients", and the password is "caroline4". Enjoy!

Mashed Potatoes as a Finger Food

Mashed potatoes have become one of Caroline's favorite foods, and we've discovered that forks or spoons aren't necessary...fingers work just fine!

New Years Eve

In the 9 1/2 years that John and I have been together, we have never done anything for New Years Eve. Pretty sad, huh? :-) We've really been ok with it, but when we found out that some great friends and their little girl were going to be in Tampa and were planning some fun festivities, we decided to take a little road trip. It was great to see Bobby and Natalie and finally meet Miss Perla! Perla is 2 days older than Caroline, and is a little miracle. She was born at 24 weeks, and this little fighter had a rough start but is doing so good now. The whole gang had appetizers and drinks at Tenana and Ryan's before heading to a late dinner at Bern's. (Insert plug here: if you are ever in Tampa and want a fantastic meal--go here! In fact, it was just featured on a show about the best steakhouses on the Travel Channel) Hope you enjoy a few pictures from the night:
PS--The super cute onesies the babies are sporting were made by Natalie!

Christmas...only almost 2 months late (oops!)

We had a fantastic Christmas this year! Much different from our sleep deprived delirium of 2009 with a 20 day old baby. We packed up the Explorer with John, Caroline, Max, Baby (the cat), me, lots of gifts, birthday supplies for party #2 and our luggage (whew!) and drove the 11 hours to Hernando. Caroline was so fun this year! She kind of had an idea of what was going on. On Christmas Eve she had to sample Santa's cookies to make sure they were ok, listened to a couple of Christmas stories, and went to sleep to wait for Santa. When she walked out Christmas morning, she said "ooooh" when she saw what Santa had brought. But she enjoyed playing with some candy and a little sled that my mom had more than any of her presents (well, except for her new shoes!). Here are some pictures:






We also had birthday party #2 since my sisters weren't able to make it down for the big one. She got a wagon from 2 of my sisters, and it quickly became her favorite thing ever! My BF, Amy, and her little boy, Charlie, came for a visit too. We had a great time hanging out with them and really wish we could do it more!