hippity hop

The Easter Bunny has been making tracks in our household, and we're getting very excited about celebrating the holiday!  Given that last year's Easter was nothing but an all-day scream-a-thon by poor baby Caroline, we are thrilled to be making plans for a more festive celebration this year. I'm headed to Charleston next week for a mommy-vacation, so I needed to get all our Easter preparations completed this week. I've been slowly picking up items for her Easter basket the last few weeks, and it's now all assembled and sitting on our mantle where I can enjoy the seasonal decor. Included in the goodies: sidewalk chalk, bubbles, new dinnerware, a floppy hot pink bunny (all found in the dollar section of Tar-jay; Love it!), her very first piece of chocolate, a girly toy car, and a Care Bear! 

Call me crazy but I don't recall Care Bears costing an arm and a leg back when I was a kid in the '80's. I do believe they were reasonably priced, with the intention of luring children into collecting all 7548979 of them. Apparently that is not the marketing strategy anymore. Little buggers were selling for $22 at Babies R Us!  (including a care bear tv show on dvd, which we will not be needing.) Luckily I had 2 coupons and got it for $9, but sheesh. The cherished memories of my youth now come with a hefty price tag apparently.

which one is broke-the-bank bear?

We made the obligatory trip to the mall for the annual photo with the Easter Bunny. Since last year's photo was such a smashing success (with her only at 6 weeks old!), I was nervous that Caroline would be less than enthusiastic about climbing into the paws of a giant rabbit this year. 

I must confess, a small part of me wouldn't have been terribly disappointed if she burst into hysterics. The kids-screaming-at-Easter-Bunny photos always crack me up. But apparently rabbits in all shapes and forms (and sizes) are ok in Caroline's book. She happily perched on his lap and smiled away. There were so many good ones, the technician and I had a detailed discussion on the pros and cons of each shot before picking one. (I'm sure this is much more enjoyable for the guy than the conversations with the moms whose kids are refusing to be cooperative. What can I say, my girl aims to please.)

After bunny photos I let her run around on the germ infested highly alluring indoor playground. She had a blast climbing, crawling, and toddling around. I prefer not to wonder about the sanitation standards of the mall, or else I would lie awake at night with visions of influenza dancing in my head. Instead we just used a copious amount of hand (and foot) sanitizer and she went on her merry way.

Caroline's Easter dress is all ready to go, but she still needed shoes. I have searched high and low and believe it or not, it is rather difficult to find a dressy white patent leather shoe with a buckle strap in size Infant 3. Perhaps I am a bit too detailed in what I am searching for, but this is only because I know from experience that anything else will be skillfully removed from her feet and hurled on the floor in less than 10 seconds. The buckle strap is essential. So with this in mind, I headed to Marshall's on a quest to find shoes. And wouldn't you know it, I found something better instead.

why hello there absolutely precious pint-sized rocking chair....

Who could resist such a fine piece of furniture?? I knew exactly where it's new home should be...in our living room, where the much-beloved jumperoo used to be. (We finally had to retire the jumperoo after 7 months of dutiful service. She has finally outgrown it and prefers to be entirely mobile, not confined in any way. That, and Bill was growing paranoid that her excessive jumping was causing the stucco to crack. I kid not. He showed me where the hairline fracture is located on the outside of the house and is completely convinced that her enthusiastic gymnastics has caused it. Sigh.)

Nana was just as thrilled with the fantastic find as I was and offered to give it to Caroline as an Easter present ("one that will last a lot longer than the toys!") So now it has taken up residence in our living room and Caroline loves it! She's been practicing her rocking skills.

So we've made our list and checked it twice and now it's time for the Easter bunny to hop on over for Easter morning! We'll be in Louisiana for Easter weekend and we're looking forward to seeing everyone!

what we've been up to

It's been a long week over here. Caroline didn't have 'school' this week on account of spring break, and to top it off she got another ear infection. So she's been not feeling too hot and off her usual routine, but we've been trying to keep ourselves busy. Here's a photo tour of what we've been up to, in a nutshell.

playing with toys...and sharing nicely with Winnie

eating

swinging

eating/playing with food

searching for treasure in the trashcan

playing on the playground

blogging (finally had it printed into a book!)

eating leaves on the playground

eating/wearing the food

bathing to remove the food




disinfecting bath toys after a poop-in-the-tub disaster due to eating too much food

playing at the children's museum

crowding winnie at his lookout spot

escaping

snoozing

another day, another trip to the zoo

Buying a membership to the Houston Zoo was one of the best investments we've ever made. We've made countless trips to the zoo within the last year, each trip more exciting than the last as Caroline becomes increasingly aware of the animals. It's usually Bill that takes her to the zoo on Saturdays, and I think she has now associated 'zoo' with 'daddy time.' Today I asked her 'Do you want to go to the zoo?' and she kept saying 'Dada? Dada?'

It was an absolutely perfect day for strolling around. 72 degrees, overcast and breezy, and springtime in full bloom on display. 

Our first stop is always the Natural Encounters exhibit...it's air conditioned, which is a huge plus in the summertime, and there are lots of animals she can easily see from her stroller. The different types of fish are always a hit....4-eyed fish, pirhannas, ginormous catfish, tropical fish.

There's also a climb-through fish tunnel which she enjoys immensely. Climbing+ fishies....what more could you ask for?? She would be happy to spend the entire day climbing around and looking at fish.

The elephants were all out today and happy to see visitors. Caroline laughed at the 2 baby elephants splashing around in the water. 

She was also intrigued by the longhorn exhibit...she studied them intently as if trying to figure out exactly what they were.

We stopped by the turkeys to say hello. I'm sure she was somewhat confused now though, since she associates 'turkey' with part of her dinner. She enjoyed his gobble gobble quite a bit, and found it hilarious when I tried to make the gobble noise myself.

And of course we had to hit up the highlight of the zoo trip, the petting zoo. Those poor goats. Every time I set foot in there I just feel so sorry for the amount of over-loving they receive from all the kids all day. And yet they never complain or run away or bite anyone....they just stand there as curious little hands yank and pull away. Which is more than I can say for a certain pug I know. Perhaps our next pet needs to be a goat.

unlike Winnie, this goat is happy to pose for a picture with the baby

And on the way out we had to monkey around with the bronze monkey statue. That held her attention for a fascinating 45 seconds. Then she found a leaf on the ground and proceeded to eat it, along with the other 345987 leaves nearby. Time to go home!

One way I know she is definitely getting older: she did NOT want to be confined to her stroller. She used to be pretty content riding around, but now, once you take her out to see something she has no desire to get back in. Methinks it is time to invest in a red wagon. Perhaps the Easter bunny will bring her one!

one year photos

Just a few quick goodies. I forgot to post the video we showed at her first birthday...just a little montage of her first year!

Also we made a quick trip to the photography studio last week for some photos for her first birthday. Enjoy!