happy birthday, baby girl!

sweet caroline turns one year old today! i absolutely can't believe it. it seems like just a few months ago that we were welcoming her into our world, introducing her to her brother and bringing her home. what a whirlwind year it has been, full of sweet baby memories and plenty of two-under-two challenges. i have definitely learned that every baby is not the same, and we are still working on figuring out some things about our little birthday girl. :) while i am not quite sure how to get her to sleep more than 10 hours at a time, i can tell you for sure that she loves playing with her brother, she enjoys riding in a shopping cart more than any child i have ever seen (uh-oh, daddy, hide your wallet!), and like her mother and papa, she has never met a stranger. the resounding comments we get from strangers and friends are "she is the happiest baby" and "she is always smiling". caroline loves to be out and about, and she does not want to miss a thing! she is without a doubt a momma's girl, so my arm muscles are getting quite the workout these days!

caroline loves music, dogs barking, and cars whirring by our house. she is beginning to imitate words like "night night", "bye-bye", and "more". she cracks us up by signing "all finished" with every bit of energy in her body, sort of with the same gusto that ethan once used for signing "please". i'm laughing just thinking about them! caroline has already figured out how to climb up the slide in our backyard fort (with me right behind her), and she is so happy outside.

apparently someone told our little birthday girl that for their birthdays, girls like to have slumber parties where they stay up all night and get very little sleep... because that has been the trend around here for the past couple of nights! nobody has been invited except caroline, me, and a couple of pesky teeth trying to break through, so i wouldn't really call it much of a party... but this too shall pass, and before i know it, we'll be celebrating her second birthday, and i'll be saying, "remember when she was teething?!" ok, so maybe we won't reflect on that too much in the years to come!

we are planning a fun little bakery party for her this weekend-- i can't wait! so stay tuned for pictures of sweet caroline's birthday party! until then, know that we are celebrating this first year with our daughter and praising God for her life. may every day that we share with her bring glory to God!