The Growing Caldwell Family

We have some new favorites at our house! She didn't like bananas mashed or cut into little pieces, but she likes to take a bit off the banana like a big girl!  We hold it for her and she will take little bites off of it.  She usually eats half a banana, but she has been known to eat the whole thing!  She prefers them when they are super-ripe, like you would probably think to throw it out.  So if you have some older bananas, pass them our way!  Her Grancy says that a banan is a meal in itself. She loves Cheerios!  We are trying to teach her to say Os, but no luck so far.  Mom made this darling little container for them with her name embroidered on it! Greek yogurt with blueberry puree was about the only thing I could get her to really eat for a while.  She just fell in love with it. 

Just a warning, this post sort of rambles and may be more for my own benefit.  Last Sunday, we went to a class to learn about parenting an older baby.  I arranged for mom to come with us since she spends a lot of time with Sarah Graves and I wanted us to all be on the same page.  There were two other couples attending the class.  One family has an eighteen-month old boy and the other has an almost two-year old boy.  At one point during the class, the question was asked whether we had any tips we would share that helped us get our little ones to sleep.  I am always happy to share what I have read and learned along the way, so I volunteered information on how we sleep trained Sarah Graves.  Like me, mom was more than willing to share what we researched and learned.  The conversation that followed is still nagging at me over a week later.  Clearly, I hit a nerve with my information because one mom immediately went to crying (I mean bawl...

Yesterday was a gorgeous day in Atlanta with sunshine and temperatures in the 60's.  We, along with everyone else in this area, decided to head to the park.  Since Sarah Graves learned to walk, it has been too cold to get outside to play.  I was anxious for her to have a chance to walk around in some open space and to feel the sun on her face again.  The Red, White, and Blue park (I think it has a more official name, but that is what everyone calls it) is right down the street from our house and right next to our church.  I'm not sure that she loved it quite as much as we hoped she would.  She wasn't unhappy at all, she just wasn't all smiles and giggles about it the way I had hoped.  She definitely loved seeing the other kids and she wasn't the least bit afraid to try out the climbing type structure and slide they have.  It was really too big for her, but she gave it her all and climbed through it with me right behind her.  I don't think sh...

I feel so fortunate that so many people came to Sarah Graves' party.  Here are pictures of people from her party.  Libby and baby Emily were visiting Atlanta for another party and were so kind to come to ours as well.  I never dreamed they would come down from North Caroline, but it was great to have them there since we went through our pregnancies together and I feel like we know Emily from her blog! Our friend Natalie and her husband Chris came with baby Mia.  Mia and Sarah Graves are old friends since Lovey keeps Mia sometimes when Natalie works. Aunt Nay came and we sure are greatful for all of her help getting the food ready for the party.  She was also great and caught a lot of the pictures! My friend Sarah came, and I so appreciate her making the effort to hang out with me now that I have a baby and my social life is much different.  Grandaddy flew in just to be at Sarah Graves' party.  We were thrilled that he and Granny B could make ...

Sarah Graves received many nice gifts for her birthday.  Some were practical and some were fun, but they were all cute!  We didn't get pictures of everything, but here are some that we took. Lovey and Pops gave her this fun plate to celebrate her birthday.  It will be a special keepsake for years to come. Sarah Graves was excited about her presents! We gave her a cozy coupe!  These have really come along way since I was a kid.  Now there is a "floorboard" for when they are really little so their feet don't drag.  She looks like she's in a parade when we push her around the house in it!  She leans back and grins! We also gave her Duplos.  Daddy is going to play with them for now and when she figures them out, he'll give her a turn :) Family friends, the Fredettes, gave her a darling dress with this matching headband.  I never thought she would leave a headband on, but she walked around with it on for quite a while.  Sometimes it...

Mom had the idea that instead of a bib, we should do an apron for her to eat her cake in.  So, Mom embroidered this cute apron for her that said Happy Birthday Sarah Graves with the cupcake with one candle.  It was really cute, but SG was much too distracted to pose for a photo.  The apron was also genius for keeping the cupcake crumbs out of her lap! I didn't think about practicing blowing out candles with her.  She knows how to blow on her food when it's hot, but I think this made any sense to her.  She did really well while everyone sang to her and stared at her. I was a little concerned that she might get upset, but she just looked around and took it all in.  At first, the cupcake was a little bit of a mystery to her.  All it took was me helping her get a dab of icing in her mouth and she understood exactly what that cupcake was for!  She sat there and munched and munched on her cupcake.  She ate some ice cream with it, too and tho...

This outfit is one of the sweet things that Ms. Margaret Ann made for her. She was thrilled to have found a balloon leftover from her party floating around. The simple joys when you're one!