Sunday, March 27, 2011

What a difference 3 months makes...

The last time I posted about Karoline, her at 9 months, she had one tooth, was scooting/rolling, only said "uh-uh," and still loved strangers oohing and aahhing over her. That's not my baby anymore! I can't believe how much she has changed in as little as 3 months...
*She now has an official nickname that has really stuck. Karoline is now also known as baby Koko thanks to her Grampy.
*Karoline learned how to clap, wave (by simply opening and closing her tiny hand), has attempted to blow kisses (by placing both hands on her cheeks and then opening them to face out but still right by her cheeks-it is incredibly cute), and loves doing fishy faces followed by a lip smack.
*She loves trying to put socks and shoes on her feet, headbands on her head, and necklaces around her neck. She is often successful and even got Roman's shoes on the other day.
*The week I posted about her 1 tooth, she grew another. The week after that, two more! She now has her two top and two bottom teeth. We see her struggle with teething and everything that goes along with it, but she can't seem to grow anymore! The poor thing is currently dealing with too much drool, gagging, throwing up, diarrhea, congestion and sleeplessness. Pray that it all will pay off soon and we will see a few more pearly whites!
*Once she got those 3 additional teeth, Karoline decided it was time to crawl. She was crazy fast from the second she learned how it was done. Although she was a champion crawler, that wasn't enough and she is now pulling herself up to anything and everything. She cruises along and loves her new walker.
*Stairs-Karoline loves them, I hate them. She had never even taken an interest in them when all of a sudden I catch her half way up the staircase! My stomach literally dropped as I raced up to grab her and she just looked at me like, "Look what I can do Mom!" The gate is now up and will be for some time.
*Her favorite thing to do is suck out of a straw, take the straw out, put the straw back in, and repeat. Toys, not so much, but when it comes to anything Mommy and Daddy have (phones, remotes, tupperware, cups, headphones, etc.), she wants in!
*Karoline does have a few favorite toys right now. Her walker, pop-up toy, and chair get a lot of use these days.
*We are seeing her go from the, "Look at me and how cute and happy I am," to "Who are you and why are you smiling at me?" stage when it comes to strangers. I have been terrible about having babysitters and now that seems to be out of the question. Thank goodness for Grandma and Grammy!
*Karoline is a copy-cat! She watched me grab a baby wipe to blow my nose and without hesitation, Karoline was grabbing a wipe to blow her own nose. She scrunched up her nose and really blew! She has also copied my cleaning by taking a wipe and "washing" whatever surface she is near. Just now I was about to rub lotion on her, but I rubbed it around my palms first to warm it up. Karoline couldn't wait to get ahold of the bottle and pretend to lather up rubbing her tiny hands together. Darling!
*Karoline is a cautious little girl. When she started pulling herself up to things, she would cry until we would help her down. Now she places one hand on the ground and then will sit down oh so carefully.
*Karoline has gone from the passive infant to a baby that knows exactly what she wants and knows how to get it. She points, looks at you to make sure you see her, and then will whine until she gets it. Smart girl and a bit of a firecracker now.
*How polite can a 1 year-old be? Well, Karoline can say, "Thank you!" It's about the cutest thing to hear, especially because she says it as she is giving you something. She was handing Grammy these little fish one at at time and every time she did Grammy would say, "thank you." Karoline soon followed along and would say, "thank you" in response. She can also say "daddy," "bapa" or "bama" (which is supposed to be mama, but I'll take it!), "wow" (a favorite a couple of months ago) and still loves to say, "uh-0h."
*This girl is as flexible as they come and this is a favorite position as of late...
*She is a daddy's girl for sure. Just today when Tucker and I picked her up from the gym's child care (because she was crying), she would not go to me, only Tucker. This has happened on more than one occasion and so I am thinking she is showing a clear preference.
*Karoline also prefers her brother and sister over me most of the time. She wants to be wherever they are, do whatever they do, and can't wait to be one of the big kids. Roman and Capri can still get her to laugh as hard as ever when I can barely get a giggle!
*She is still very nurturing and I can't get enough of her loves. Karoline gives loves by hugging, kissing (mouth open, tongue hanging out), patting, or just leaning her head into yours. She will share her love with any of her family members, especially her cousins London and Isla. She couldn't be sweeter!
*On the other hand, she has already learned how to throw a temper tantrum! You really can't call it a temper tantrum, however, considering how cute and funny the whole thing is. About a month ago I was vacuuming when I saw her approach the outlets. I told her, "No, no, no Karoline," to which she responded by looking at me with disgust, starting to cry, and laying down and rolling on the floor. She would then look up every few seconds just to make sure I was watching. Cutest tantrum ever.
*It looks like baby food is out for this little one. We thought we were so tricky by giving her a drink or food item she does like, but then slipping in a bite of baby food right before. Karoline is way too smart and way too fast for that now. Feel free to leave ideas of food she might like that is still healthy!
*Karoline still loves the bath and being in the water. She splashes and pours and plays for as long as I let her. When we get her out and she is still shirtless, we tell her to pat her tummy and she pats with a big smile on her face.
She had her one year check-up and the doctor said she is doing great! She is such a smart one and ahead of the game in so many ways...including knowing how to bug her big sister. We just adore her and would love to keep her this way forever, especially the not walking part. ;) I don't think we will have to worry about that for awhile, however, particularly because she is very tall with teeny tiny feet (she still wears size 2 in some shoes!).

Here are her stats from her check-up:
Head Circumfrence: 18.5 inches placing her in the 90th percentile
Height: 31 inches placing her in the 94th percentile
Weight: 21lbs placing her in the 40th percentile
This means that she is already starting to thin out and stretch tall like her Curtis family members. I am still loving her chunky thighs and bubble bum and hope they last for awhile!

Friday, March 25, 2011

My sweet Karoline turned one...

Karoline Marie turned one on March 5th, 2011. Although I am so excited for this new stage of her life, I am sad to see my baby grow. She has been an angel and a complete delight for all of us. But more on that to come. First, I wanted to share her fabulous first birthday party...
That's right Karoline, you are 1!
The princess at her throne...that she can't get enough of! She loves her new chair!
Karoline and her biggest fans...or Roman and Capri and their biggest fan!
Karoline giving loves to a happy baby Isla.
Check out this cake! A friend of mine made this and I still can't believe how incredible it turned out. Not knowing how big it was going to be, I made some pink frosted cupcakes and they matched perfectly!
Me and my mini-me.
Introducing Karoline to her first cake and I think you can sense her excitement...
It tasted great too! Here the princess is with both hands in...
This was the first time she has ever had any major dessert and she went nuts! I had to pull it away after a bit or else she would have been sick.
We cleaned her up in the sink and had to hide the rest of the cake. This is definitely a Momma's girl. :)
Such a fun party with our families here to celebrate. I didn't manage to get pictures of everyone else, but I did get one of our little bunch:
Happy Birthday Karoline! We love you!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Febraury 21st, their actual birth day...

Their actual birthday fell on President's Day this year. You may or may not know that Tucker and I knew I was going to deliver the twins near President's Day which brought us to their middle names of Capri Kennedy and Roman James. I had always loved the name James but it really fit well with the theme! Anway, they were actually born two days later, but this year it was great to have their birthday on a holiday. Here is Capri with her bunch of balloons. The kids got the biggest kick of tying them around their waist and pretending they were going to take off!With the day off, we went with the family to go swimming at Lifetime and had a blast...for about 5 minutes. As soon as Tucker and I got in with Karoline we saw the worst possible sight at a pool...poop, and it was everywhere! It was absolutely nasty and we rushed to get everyone out. We headed over to the hot tubs for awhile but then found out that the pool would be closed the rest of the day. Bummer. The kids did have fun in the locker room and thought it was the best location for hide-n-seek...
Once we got the kids dressed they wanted to play in the kid zone/day care there at the gym. It really is that cool with tons to do. So, we hung out with the babies while they had a ball being supervised by others. Awesome.
To make it even better, we decided to head to Red Mango for dessert. Roman and Capri devoured it in about 5 minutes...
And that concludes the birthday festivities!

Let's Party!

I was starting to feel guilty when Roman and Capri's birthday was drawing near and I didn't have a princess party set up for Capri or a superhero party set up for Roman. They deserve a fabulous party full of their favorite things. So, I decided to do my best and made up these invitations for them...
The word was out, the kids were beyond excited (they asked multiple times a day if it was their birthday for the week prior), and so we headed to Grammy's for the twin's 4 year birthday bash.
We were so lucky to have so much of our family there to help celebrate. Tucker's brother Tyler and his family was in town again this year which was extra special. Tanner and Drew and all of my family were able to attend as well so the kids had lots of loved ones!
Here are pictures of some of those so willing to make this a great day:
Of course their baby sister Karoline was happy to come!
The Nielson boys, Tyler, Tucker and Tanner-loved that we had an excuse for them to get together.
Grammy and baby Isla waiting for presents to be opened:
My sister-in-law Jesse (who took most of these pictures, thank you!) and Grandma:Aunt Cheri, Uncle Robert and baby London:Grampy and Eli...I am pretty sure he was having a good time!Opening presents was a hit for everyone. All the cousins were so excited to see what Roman and Capri opened each time. Capri received this beautiful doll, complete with a pram stroller and cradle. To. Die. For.Ava and Lily were as sweet as ever and couldn't wait to give them their presents. These girls are definitely cousins!This is Roman with the favorite toy of the day, and Tucker totally gets credit for finding it. Everyone loved playing with this thing!Karoline also had a favorite present, the balloons. She got pretty excited about them...Jesse was an angel and offered to make each of the twins a cake. The boys helped and I think they did a fabulous job. Both of the kids still talk about their cakes whenever we bring up their birthday!
Roman got his Batman cake:
And Capri with her princess cake:
All of that worry about themed birthday parties went out the window when I realized what is most important to having a great birthday, having all of your favorite people to celebrate it with! Roman and Capri could not have been happier as they played and played with their cousins, grandparents, and aunts and uncles that love them to death. With all of the fun, however, I didn't catch a picture of our family. Next year!

When I Grow Up...

Roman and Capri had a "What I Want To Be When I Grow Up" day at school last month. When I first asked them what they wanted to, Capri said Rapunzel and Roman said a knight. Pretty sure they thought it was a great day to wear Halloween costumes and dress up for fun. After a few conversations that week, we discovered their true career goals (that I am sure they will maintain throughout their lives). Presenting...
Capri the future ballerina:
This is Capri doing her ballerina passe/yoga tree pose. I just love that she has learned all of these yoga poses from school! Capri dances around the house and then strikes one of the poses, so cute!
Roman the Jet Pilot:
I went to my parent's house and grabbed my dad's old army stuff to pull this one together. He had two outfits to choose from, an airline pilot or jet pilot. It took him a while to decide, he thought both were pretty cool, but in the end, this picture on my phone of a jet pilot sealed the deal. He was pretty excited. Unfortunately, by the time we got to school, Roman said he had a tummy ache and didn't get to show off his sweet getup. Maybe next year...