The Growing Caldwell Family

Although she is talking a lot more, she can't really say Tigers, so I have been working with her that when I say Tigers!, she says Go!  She will do it sometimes (she has a mind of her own), but when she sees something LSU she yells, "Go!"  It is quite hilarious!  When I let her pick her own outfit, she will grab one of her LSU outfits (the closer we get to football season, the better her odds of grabbing something purple and gold) and yell "Go!"  She is funny!  Maw Maw Yvonne sent her these precious bows!  They are gold with purple paw prints on them.  So, so cute. Here's a full shot of the dress that looks so comfy and cute. 

Without meaning to, Saturday felt like a day for me.  Sarah Graves, Aaron, and I went to breakfast, then we headed to the mall.  Aaron and Sarah Graves hung out while I did some shopping.  Sarah Graves played in the indoor play area in the mall and she and daddy tried out some accessories while they waited. There were some great sales going on and I was excited to take advantage of them.  I have been struggling with feeling like I don't have much of a style anymore.  Don't get me wrong I have never been a trendsetter, but lately I have felt like I have odds and ends and nothing that really looks outstanding.  I see pieces of clothing when I go in stores and I like them, but I don't know how to put them all together.  Saturday I went to the GAP for a great sale (50% off all women's apparel) and stumbled upon a sales person who was fabulous.  I could show her a piece that I liked and she helped me put it together to make an outfit.  She even made recommendations on sizes

Today we went to a party at the splashground for our friend Mia.  Sarah Graves and Mia are good buddies and Sarah Graves just worships her!  When she sees her, Sarah Graves starts to move her feet very fast like she is trying to jump up and down and she squeals, "baby!"  Mia is happy to see her and starts to smile.  Where Sarah Graves is into everything and extremely focused on discovering everything, Mia is relaxed and takes the world in at a more relaxed pace.  They balance each other out well! Mia celebrated her birthday at the splashground.  Splashgrounds are huge fun for little people because they cool off in the water and have the independence of moving around on their own.  Independence is a big deal to us, so that makes this the perfect activity! I wanted a picture of these two together, but we just couldn't get them both looking at the camera.  Here SG is reaching out to Mia for a hug.  SG looks a bit like a giant being 7 months older and on the tall side for

Even though she has a cold, we still managed to have a fun time last weekend.  Saturday we went bowling with Pops and Aunt Nay.  Sarah Graves didn't bowl, but boy did she dance!  She liked the music they were playing and the colorful lights that shined on the floor.  She made herself a stage and went to town! She was fascinated by the ball return machine and the "hot" air it blew.  Pops talked to her about how the ball hit the pins, or in my case, went in the gutter! Afterwards, we went for pizza!  I knew Sarah Graves didn't feel too good when she wasn't interested in pizza.  I guess she just didn't have much appetite.  She really liked playing with Aunt Nay at the table.  Pops helped her "read" the menu. 

Poor Lucy.  She went to the vet last week and Aaron asked about some tear stains that she has on her face.  The vet checked it out and thought that her eyelid was a little curled causing her eyelashes to rub against her eye and for her to produce more tears.  Sometimes this is caused by allergies, but the vet isn't sure what caused it for Lucy.  He recommended an eye specialist and we are fortunate to have one not far from us.  Aaron took her yesterday and the specialist confirmed our vet's opinion that she essentially needs an eye lift procedure to keep her eyelid from rubbing against her eye.  The surgery will require her to wear a halo collar for a few weeks while it heals, but hopefully that will take care of the issue.   Our vet also noticed that Lucy has a wart growing in her mouth.  Apparently, this is just something that happens sometimes.  He said that he can likely remove it while she is sedated for the eye surgery.  Poor Lucy.  She has been so healthy and now at onl

 Friday night I baked cupcakes with chocolate frosting.  Needless to say, a certain someone had plenty of appetite for dessert!  She looks like she has a beard with the chocolate frosting all around her mouth.  She really enjoyed her cupcake.  She quickly decided that the frosting on her felt gross and asked to have it wiped off.  She is a funny kid!

Sarah Graves wasn't just having a hard time sleeping Thursday night, she was coming down with a cold.  She has a bad cough, chest congestion, and an icky runny nose.  She hasn't been running any fever, so we haven't been to the pediatrician.  Right now, we are treating the symptoms with saline nose spray, ibuprofen to help her sleep, and the nose suction device that she can only handle for a second.  Boogie wipes are the best things ever!  My mom bought them the first time she had a cold and I thought she was being a bit over the top, but these work so well and keep her from having a raw, irritated nose.  She actually sticks her neck out so you can wipe her nose.  We've tried teaching her to blow, but she isn't interested in doing it.  We have some good news that my grandmother came home from the hospital on Friday and has home healthcare and my mom looking after her.  They are treating her with blood thinners in hopes that the blood clot will get better.  Her leg i

Dear Sarah Graves, You are just nonstop energy and you are such a fun girl.  You have learned to twirl in circles and you run around on tiptoes making me think of a little ballerina, except you are constantly running while you do it!  We tried out a kids inflatable play area, Kangazoom, and you loved it!  You went from thing to thing bouncing, climbing, and sliding.  Daddy and I had just as much fun as you did with it!  We also discovered that you love to run in sprinklers.  We bought you a slip'n slide and Lovie took you to the sprayground.  As always, you are constant motion!  The only way to get you to sit is to let you fingerpaint or play with stickers in your high chair.  Stickers are a new passion for you that provide hours of entertainment peeling them off your fingers, put them on your body, and peeling them off again.  You are working on more and more words.  You have put 2 words together a few times, which is a nice glimpse into the future when you will be telling us

I just rocked Sarah Graves back to sleep. She rarely really wakes up at night, but every now and then she wakes up and cries and needs help going back to sleep. I very much appreciate getting a full night's sleep, but there is something so sweet and special about rocking a sweet baby with only moonlight to light her room and that feel of her body getting heavy in my arms. I am up late anyway preparing for a presentation I am giving tomorrow. I didn't write the content, so I need a lot of practice. I am also up thinking about Maw Maw Yvonne. She went to the hospital today because she has 2 large blood clots in her leg. Mom is flying out in the morning to be with her. Aaron will stay with SG tomorrow. I am working on how Monday and Tuesday will work balancing SG and work. Mom will be back on Tuesday night, so I'm sure we can work it out. It just may be a little crazy around here! Prayers for a speedy recovery are much appreciated! - Posted using BlogPress from my iP

Sarah Graves has been a climber from the start, but she stunned me the other day when she just climbed right up her jungle gym to get to the slide!  We were in the yard and I am used to her running around and running underneath the fort part, but all of a sudden I looked up and I could see her head peeking over the top of the ladder and there she was climbing up onto the fort part.  I was so proud of her and scared for her all at the same time!  I was proud that she had the confidence in herself to just climb right up and wasn't the least bit scared.  She did it about 10 times in a row just to prove that she really could do it.  That's my girl!

This jumper came in the mail as a special prize from Ms. Margaret Ann.  It is so cute!  It has her name on it and although it's hard to see, she has a bow that matches it perfectly.  We are always thankful for these special things made for her!

Sarah Graves doesn't like to sit and read books like she used to, but she does like to flip through magazines.  She loves to point out pictures of babies, dogs, and dadas.  I guess the women in magazines don't exactly look like baba!  She loves to flip through a magazine while she eats and I think she learned this by watching Pops who has something to read at breakfast and lunch.

Last Friday we received a package in the mail and this cute outfit was in it!  Ms. Margaret Ann sent this to SG and it has such cute detail!  The flowers on the shirt are really cute.  We are always thankful for these sweet girl clothes!

 We have struggled with music that is appealing to us and the lyrics are appropriate for little ears.  I came across this deal for CDs that are songs from the eighties with new lyrics for toddlers.  One of our favorites is My Puppy's Fur to the tune of Jesse's Girl.  These CDs have been pretty fun to listen to in the car and the lyrics are a lot better for her to pick up than some of the hip hop stuff that we also enjoy!

Over the weekend, I made some fingerpaints for Sarah Graves.  I made them because I knew that she would put her fingers in her mouth and I wanted something that would be safe for her to eat.  The trusty internet was quick to provide options for making edible fingerpaints.  I chose to make mine using vanilla pudding and adding some food coloring to it.   I gave her some cardstock paper so that it would stand up to the weight of the paints.  At first she focused on putting the paint on the paper.  Then, she tasted the paint and discovered how tasty it was.  After that, the paper was a distant memory and she was eating the paint by the handful!  We 've let her paint several times and she loves it!  She eats most of it, but she puts some on her paper.  I figure it's still good for her sense of touch to put her fingers in the goopy paint.  This is her first masterpiece that she produced.  We couldn't be prouder of our little artiste!

We went for Sarah Graves' eighteen month check-up and she gets a gold star.  The pediatrician said everything looks great and that she is developing beautifully.  Here are her stats: weight - 24 pounds and 13 ounces (33rd percentile), height - 33 1/4 inches (74th percentile), and head circumference - 18 1/2 (26th percentile).  I think it's interesting that she is not off the charts tall because so many people comment on how big she is for her age.  I mean, she isn't exactly tiny, but clearly there are a lot of kids bigger than she is.  I asked the pediatrician about her reluctance to eat any vegetables, and most fruits in their whole form.  She said feeding them to her pureed was fine and to really praise her if she even put a piece of a vegetable in her mouth, even if she spits it back out.  She said to really reward her for just trying new things.  I also asked about her not drinking milk and she said that as long as she likes yogurt and cheese, she's fine.  I've

Dear Sarah Graves, I can't believe that this is my eighteenth letter to you.  What a big girl you are becoming.  I am noticing more and more each day that you are becoming a little girl and not a little baby anymore.  Some of it is really helpful like you being able to scramble up the stairs on your own and feed yourself a variety of foods, and sometimes I miss having a chubby little baby to hold and cuddle.  I have enjoyed every stage with you and that is true right now.  You have learned to walk on your tiptoes and you practice a lot!  I love that about you; when you learn something new, you practice it over and over until you have it mastered.  It's the only way you will really learn.  You are also fascinated with being about to do a somersault.  You put your head down and work and work on using your legs to push your body forward.  It's about the cutest thing ever!  You are becoming more and more attached to your babies.  You like to have all of your babies around yo

We were walking in the neighborhood over the weekend and someone had their sprinkler on and Sarah Graves was thrilled to run in it.  She was all up in their yard and we don't know them, so I kept calling her to come out, but she was having a blast.  She was actually a bit of a turkey about and would run away laughing when I tried to grab her to come out of their yard!  We decided to get her a toy to play in the water in our backyard and this was definitely worth the $5 we spent on the slip'n slide.  I didn't bother teaching her to dive on the slip'n slide for fear she might get too aggressive and hurt herself.  She loved just running through it!