Caroline began a new plan for nutrition at the beginning of this month; peas became a fast favorite for her. Katelyn, on the other hand, confirmed her hatred of peas when she tried a bite of Cara's food exclaiming, "oh, oh NO!" Lunchtime in our household became a lot more fun as Katie and Cara sat side-by-side in their highchairs. I accomplished some pretty intense couponing and exactly one week later Cara began squash, 4 days later green beans, 4 days after that sweet potatoes, more peas, and then the carrots. I'm not entirely sure she likes carrots, but she did eat them.
We celebrated Katie's 4th Miracle Day by thanking God for the amazing blessing he has given us! I couldn't be more thankful to be her Mommy, and I hope she knows that always! Six days later we celebrated Caroline's baby dedication with our church; standing before our church community and proclaiming that "our baby belongs to Jesus"!
The day before Valentine's Day the girls and I went and had Caroline's monthly pictures taken and we even managed to take a few Valentine themed ones with all 3 of us! Katie and I baked some pretty special heart-shaped sugar cookies together. A few days earlier Katie had made her 1st batch of cookies with me. She correctly identified an egg, helped stir the batter, and giggled every time we rolled a ball between her hand and mine. All the cookies we bake together are definitely made with love. The day after Valentines Day Joe and I celebrated TWENTY years since our 1st date.
Cara improved on her ability to sit propped up and crawling her legs forward as the month began ... and steadily progressed to moving her hands, although not quite officially crawling she did complete one full crawl (moving each hand and knee forward one time). By the conclusion of the month she was making her way around the room with a sort of half-crawl seal-like maneuver. Sitting also improved, but she's still a bit wobbly as she tries hard to stabilize. She made her 1st decision Mommy and Daddy cannot control ... she has chosen to sleep on her side. Although I am fearful and want her to sleep on her back, like all the "back to sleep" signs say to prevent SIDS, she is holding onto her decision ... even quite literally as she holds onto the bumper pads for support. Katie made a decision of her own regarding sleep this month - Naptimes are officially over! ... well, as long as she can control it; occasionally she does fall asleep without realizing.
I discovered a new found love of the park ... Katie sometimes falls asleep after some intense climbing, swinging, and sliding. As the weather is beginning to improve with a few unseasonably warm days we have begun walking through our neighborhood - this is working well for my weight loss plan (between the girls and the stroller I'm pushing 110+ pounds). I packed up Caroline's baby swing when I discovered that KATIE was getting more use out of it than Cara; when I wasn't looking of course. Katie spoke her 1st 4 word sentence when on TV the question was asked what an item was and she correctly responded, "That is a banana!" My girl definitely knows her favorite fruit!
Poor Katie had yet another ear infection which makes it sound like she gets them a lot when truthfully this is only number 4 for her lifetime. She does however HATE taking medicine so it's pretty traumatic for everyone involved ... usually, but this time she did GREAT - so proud of her once again! We've continued to battle illness, mostly common cold viruses, and struggled to complete a full night of sleep; but, all-in-all it has been a good month for our family! We have the two most amazing, talented, beautiful, and sweet girls - What more could a Mommy ask for?
