First things first, we celebrated her birthday on the 12th at a local ice cream shop, Crank and Boom. I though I had dodged all the basketball games by choosing to have it on selection Sunday... oops... it was smack-dab in the middle of the SEC championship but the room was equipped with a big TV so we had a fun time cheering on the Cats and eating way too much ice cream. Caroline was in a pretty good mood before the party, scooting around just doing her thing when the guy from the store that was serving the ice cream tried to talk to her.. big mistake... haha. She broke down in tears and pretty much clung on to me or Andy for the rest of the party. She's happy as a clam when one of us is holding her but if you want to make her cry just try to hold her ;). When it was birthday cake time she didn't even attempt to take a bite but instead waited for her big sisters to give her little bites of icing. Such a little lady and pretty status quo for how things go in her life ;)
On her actual birthday, Andy and I took the day off... b/c obviously she knew it was her birthday ;). I will say she did love it when we would sing Happy Birthday to her which we did many times throughout the day. The whole fam picked Harper up from school and we went to celebrate lunch at Malone's. Caroline enjoyed tons of bread, French fries, and a Cookie Monster! Got to hit all those food groups for bday lunch. One of the sweetest pictures is of her and Andy with the Cookie Monster :). Both of them just look so happy and sweet. The big girls were great too - meals out are never 'relaxing' persay but we're definitely hitting a stride where it's at least not too stressful or disruptive for others. After lunch we all took naps then let her open her bday present... Moana. That of course has been watched approximately 10 times in the last 6 days. To top the day off we celebrate with some ice cream cone cupcakes. Caroline definitely made up for her shyness at the party by shoving the cupcake in her mouth and not coming up for air until I took away the bottom of the cone. She loved it and was NOT a happy camper when I finally took the last bit away.
I feel like between 11-12 months, Caroline has learned so, so much and understanding a ton. She continues to wave, say hi, bye, mom and dad, loves playing Pat-a-cake, itsy bitsy spider. She gets SO excited when the hot dog song comes on and says 'haa haa' when she hears it. She does attempt to sing sometimes and it is the cutest. She has started smacking her lips to give little kisses though very rarely will actually kiss and often gives a stiff-arm when you go in for a kiss. She does occasionally blow little kisses though. She is following directions so well and understanding a ton - i.e., put the cup back in the drawer, give me a bite, etc. Her first word was mama :) She continues to have this funny little scoot where her left leg stays kind of tucked in and her right leg hangs out straight - she does this so much that the side of her left leg is super rough, almost like it's getting calloused where a knee should be. Sometimes she'll tuck whatever toy she is playing with in that left leg and pinch it in there while she scoots so she can get places faster. She generally is dragging her bunny around everywhere and although I wash it pretty frequently, the white bunny basically stays grey. She really isn't even pulling up on anything except my hands. She'll get up on her knees but hasn't figured out how to move to her feet and literally has no clue how to walk yet. I hold her hands standing to see if she'll take steps but usually she just laughs and pivots all around with her feet planted. I'm sure she will figure it out sooner than later and then our house will officially be total chaos :)
Things that make her very unhappy include telling her 'no' though that has gotten better, at least when I say it. When her sisters tell her no she still gets VERY upset and she can turn those tears on and off as fast as she wants. She's a good eater but when she's done she is done and starts waving her hand across her tray slinging food everywhere or just picking it up and dropping it on the floor.
At her 12 mos check up I think she was about 19 lbs, 29 inches long - 45% in both height and weight. Still wearing 12M clothes, eating everything we eat. Some of her favorites are beef (taco meat, spaghetti meat), pizza, fruits, cheese, yogurt.
She does not seem like a 1 year old at all to me - maybe it's the lack of hair or walking abilities or maybe that I'm just clinging on to still having a little baby in our house, haha :). Either way, she is the sweetest and we are so thankful for all the joy she brings to our family!
