Just Some Pictures

 Caroline looked particularly cute yesterday.  I loved her hair.  It wasn't long after I took the pictures that she ripped out one ponytail about 75% of the way and looked like a lopsided puppy for the rest of the day.  Oh well.

 Here is some happy news.  Caroline now has three cousins within a year of her age.  My sister Annie had little Felicity in November, Eli's sister Kim had baby Quincy a couple of weeks ago, and now my sister Alaina had baby Sullivan this morning!  She'll always have a cousin to play with.  Lucky kid!

 This is after taking the pony tails off.  I took pictures of her right before bath time and I couldn't believe how long her limbs are.  This kid is going to be tall and lanky, just like Eli.  I mean look at that arm and the leg in the next picture!  She always outgrows her clothes early, but only because they get to short.  She can't wear a lot of the 6-12 month clothes anymore, they still fit her around the waist but the pants look like capris.

Silly baby!  I think she looks like Phoebe in this one.

Dance and Birthday

We had a very fun weekend.   On Saturday night we went to our stakes Valentine's Dance.  It was a lot of fun!  It was 50's themed, and I am proud to report that Eli and I won the Hokey Pokey contest.  We had fun with our friends there.  It made me laugh because this was my first time going to an adult church dance.  It was the opposite from a youth dance.  At a youth dance everyone comes out for the fast songs, and they clear the floor and head for the snack table during the slow songs.  At this dance, a lot of the people there were older, so they a lot left during the fast songs and crowded the floor for the slow songs.  It was really fun to have a night out with Eli.  He is actually a good dancer, a lot better than me. 

  

Yesterday was my birthday.  I am 26 now.  I don't know if its from being a mom or just being closer to thirty than twenty, but I just wasn't as excited about it as I usually am.  Well, it's not that I wasn't excited, but it didn't seem to matter as much.  Either way it was still a great day!  We went to church, came home and I got to take a long nap!  For my present Eli is going to watch Caroline so I can go shopping by myself!  Also, part of my present from him, and the best part for me, was some empathy.  Let me explain:  Caroline didn't sleep well Saturday night.  She wouldn't go to sleep for the sitter so she was up really late.  She has also been teething.  I brought her home after the first hour of church so she could take a nap, but she only slept for an hour.  So, in the afternoon, while I was napping, she would not take a nap for Eli.  She was whining, and crying.  She just wanted to be held.  But at the same time Eli was trying to do laundry, clean, and help me start dinner.  She was really a stinker for him, but I'm secretly glad she was like that for him, but now he knows what it's like sometimes.  She's usually very well behaved, but sometimes when she's not feeling well she can make things difficult.  And Eli is very nice, and appreciative of how I try to take care to take the house and have dinner ready, but now he knows and understands exactly what it can be like sometimes.  I wish I could go to his school so I can completely understand what he is doing too.

I made my own birthday dinner, not because Eli wouldn't make me a dinner but because there was something special I wanted that just isn't in Eli's repertoire.  I made Grandma's fried chicken, mashed potatoes, rolls, creamed corn, and honey carrots.  It was the best!  I am proud to say I can make mashed potatoes that taste exactly like grandmas.  If anyone in my family wants to have some, just come see me and I'll make it for you.  They are the best!  I really felt like I was having a birthday dinner at Grandma's house again.  It was a great birthday!

Thanks family and friends, it was a great birthday!

Valentine's Day

We had a lovely Valentine's Day around here. Caroline even got a present on her first Valentine's Day!

I woke up to Eli already gone, which is usual around here.  He catches an early bus and I wake up with Caroline.  But as I was waking up I heard the front door open, which kind of scared me because I thought Eli was gone and who was coming into our house?  But it was Eli, he had a bouquet of flowers for me, my favorite chocolates, and a beautiful letter he wrote for me.  Eli might be embarrassed, but people should know that he writes the most lovely letters to me!  Not all the time, but when he does they really warm my heart!  That was wonderful to wake up to.  Then he was able to stay around until 10!  He got Caroline up and gave her a single flower and a little puppy toy, which she wouldn't stop hugging!  While I nursed her, Eli read her a letter he wrote to her.  It was so sweet and went straight into her baby book.  I know I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again, but Eli really is the best!

I hope Valentine's day was good for Eli as well.  Because I was planning on giving him his present that evening, I didn't have it wrapped up for him yet.  But I quickly wrapped it and gave him a Landon Donnovan jersey.  He plays for the US mens soccer team.  I think Eli liked it.  Then Caroline and I brought him lunch at school.  Caroline walked all the way down a very long hall pushing the stroller.  You'd think it would have tired her out, but she didn't take too long of a nap.  I made strawberry stuffed French toast for dinner that night.  Then, how is this for romance, I went into our room to rest a bit while Eli studied and fell asleep at 8 and slept until 8 the next morning.  It sure felt good to sleep that much though.

Thanks, Eli, for making your girls feel loved.  We sure love you!

Of Hair, Poop, and other Randomness

That's right, I chopped off my hair, and I love it!  I was just getting so sick of it, it was so tangly, it wouldn't hold any curl or anything I did to it, and if I didn't bush it twenty times a day I would get a huge rats nest of tangles underneath.  So, yesterday, I found a picture of a haircut I liked, ran over to Great Clips (I never have gone to a place like that for a haircut before, but I don't have as much money to spend on hair anymore.  It was only $17 and they did a good job), and cut off almost 9 inches!

So, I asked Eli to take a picture of me, and he did but he said my smile was too fake.  So I told him to tell me something funny.  He told me to smile as if I just heard that John Travolta was coming to the KFC Yum! center in Louisville to present a special showing of Grease.  It was just so absurd it made me laugh so hard.  He kept talking about John Travolta and wouldn't stop.  It's probably not that funny, but it made me laugh.  And now I know what I look like when I laugh with my new haircut.

I just love it.  It feels so light and so much healthier.  It holds curl better, still goes up in a pony tail, and does not get tangled! 

Grandma Rhoads got Caroline this dress.  We call it her peacock dress and it is adorable!

 So, this next part is about poop.  If you're squeamish, don't read it. 
Caroline has a green smoothie every morning and is very very regular.  Pooping 3-4 times a day is normal for her.  Well, on Friday we had a very busy day and I didn't have time to make one, so we just had some toast and bananas.  She didn't eat much lunch because we went to have lunch with Eli at his school and she was too distracted by all the people and things going on to eat.  We were at costco at dinner time and she ate about 1/3 of a slice of the costco pizza.  So it wasn't her healthiest day.  And she only pooped once, and it was a weird consistency (pardon the details).  The next day was normal, she had her smoothie and regular healthy meals. And she pooped 3 times.  I just think that is amazing and definite proof of the power of green smoothies.  I know I am not as regular when I don't have one everyday. 

Well, that's about all.  We had a nice weekend and a lovely Sunday.  Church was great, we had a relaxing afternoon, and then had a delicious and fun dinner at a friends house.  Caroline now weighs 18 lbs, and is a happy girl.  She is getting close to walking too.  She makes everyday fun!