Carly at 18 Months

 Carly is absolutely the LIGHT of our lives.  She brings so much joy to us, and truly reminds me to delight in the little things, like going OUTSIDE.

 She loves to pick up rocks, touch the flowers, and talk about what she sees.

 She can sign "outside", "flower" and "bye bye".

 In addition to making us smile,

she makes us LAUGH.

She has recently gotten really (really!) goofy. The boys call it "spazzy". 

She will run around the house (especially when we have company over) and ram into things and say, "Ohhh!" really loud.  Then she crashes and laughs. Such a goofball.

***

 She is kind of (A LOT) into EVERYTHING, so when I shower, I still have to stick her in here if Josh is gone.  She pretends to hate it, but by the time I get out of the shower, she's pretty happy with all the cool toys.

 Once I'm out of the shower, I usually get her out and let her hang out with me while I do my hair and makeup.  She will pretend to put on my blush, etc and sometimes she even gets the eye shadow open and applies it to her skin.  

She's a trendsetter. I'm just sure years from now eyeshadow on the chin will be a thing. ;)

Today, however, instead of getting fancy with mommy, she threw my makeup mirror in the toilet.

Not sure what to think of that. Little stinker.

***

 She's a little fish and loves the water when we go to the pool.  She'll tolerate being held in the deeper part of the pool for a little while, but then she points to the kiddie pool (with the baby slides) and signs "swimming, please!".  It's pretty darn cute. 

She knows how to hold her breath, so when she falls she almost never comes up coughing anymore, and she has tried to get in swimming position in the super shallow water (imagine trying to be like a crocodile) and it's so cute.

I'm grateful she loves it so much considering she's had basically zero exposure to the water until this summer.

Sidenote: I cannot say enough how much I love her little Saltwater sandal tan. She wears those things like 24/7.  The pair she wears was Logan's, and then Wyatt's, and now hers. The shoes are indestructible!

***

 I am still nursing Carly.  At this point with Wyatt, he'd been weaned almost a month.  But I am nowhere near wanting to quit with Carly.  This week as she came down with a stomach bug I was particularly grateful that I am still nursing as it's such a great comfort and so full of what she needs when she's sick. 

She is for sure our last baby, a realization I have come to slowly over the past year and a half, but one that I have peace with (hallelujah!) and I have even sold some of our baby things this week.  (The boppy, some baby sheets and our beloved bath seat.) I still have my cloth diaper stash for sale (let me know if you're interested-- it would be a great deal for someone just starting out, and I have everything you need!)

Just yesterday was the first time she woke up and didn't cry or talk to herself, but called "Mama! Mama!" which came through the monitor loud & clear.  It made my heart swell.

She often wakes up from her naps kinda hollering, and if that's the case, this is often what I walk into-- her legs stuck in the bars of her crib.  It's usually not hard to get them back out, so I wonder if she's just playing around, but a few times she's been stuck past her knees, and then it gets more difficult!

She has worked her way down to one nap this summer, and I can't tell you how happy that makes me! This has made keeping the kids quiet so much easier (only once a day, not twice a day!) and is going to make school drop off and pick up so much easier as well!!!

The only bummer is if we get off schedule.  For instance, one morning she woke up too early, and I ran to the store mid-morning. Well, she fell asleep on the way there and would not wake up. So I had to carry her around Walmart (I had no blankets as I had just cleaned out/vacuumed the van and I didn't want to lay her on the cold metal of the cart) while Wyatt pushed the cart and did all the shopping.  Thank goodness for little helpers, amirite???

 My favorite picture of our girl from Josh's sister-in-law. 

I sometimes can't believe she's real, and she's ours.

 This is "the spot" where I do her hair everyday. We comb it with water, then style it.  I am working to grow it all out and am not interested in giving her bangs (I'm just lazy to have to cut it that often. I already cut all three boys + Josh's hair every six weeks, and am not interested in adding this little lady to that rotation that often!) so I have to comb it back to keep it out of her eyes as it grows.

 When I'm lazy, she rocks the "side pony"... She's not thrilled with it. Ha!

 This girl has given me my share of sleepless nights, worry over whether I am doing things right, and has just generally added to my overall workload (hence looking exhausted & harried) but when she looks at me with all that love, or pets my hair as she says, "sweeeet... sweeeet"... I know in my heart that life wouldn't be nearly as full or good without her.

Having four kids is no joke, and I feel like that truth just keeps smacking me in the face (like this week when I had one sick baby, one sad (missing daddy) six-year-old, and two want-to-do-all-the-things and have-all-the-fun nine-year-olds) and the one ME that exists to serve all FOUR of THEM just can't.keep.up.  It's exhausting.  I work from "son" up to "son" down, as they say, and often the hours in between as well.  I told Josh I could work from when my eyes open until they close again and I would STILL not be done with everything on the list. 

I am learning to balance it all.  To do some chores, some work, everyday, but to also stop and "embrace" this crazy chapter in life where the kids are all going to different directions. 

***

  Thankfully Carly isn't just a mama's girl. (I mean, at bedtime she wants me and only me, but the rest of the time, she adores daddy.)  When Josh gets home from work, she excitedly says (and signs) "Dada!" and runs to him. Then she gives him the most heartfelt hug, with her head resting contentedly on his shoulder, and I just can't tell you how heart-melting that reunion is everyday.

 She also loves the twins.  She is able to tell them apart (most of the time) as of this month, and that is super exciting. This was the age at which Wyatt was able to tell them apart as well.  

Logan worries about her, a lot(!!!) and Jack loves to care for her.  Logan will do her hair; Jack will feed her.  Logan will keep her out of trouble; Jack will do anything to get a laugh from her. 

She is going to grow up so loved and adored because of those two. In their eyes, she can truly do no wrong. I will so enjoy watching their relationship grow as they age.  

 Speaking of aging, man do they grow out of the clothes quick these first two years!  I feel like every  month or so I am going through her clothes, getting rid of what no longer fits, and moving in new stuff.  Last week I sorted through all her drawers and came away with a giant hall of adorable baby stuff to pass on to a friend of mine here in town. 

It's hard because I tend to be overly sentimental, so getting rid of clothes is hard, but knowing they are going to a good friend with a sweet baby girl of her own helped me let go of things that would have been harder otherwise.

Carly is getting to be a girly girl, wearing her purse everywhere, stuffing things in it,

and being the sweetest mama to her babes.

She has two babies-- a cabbage patch doll she got for Christmas;

and an American Doll baby I totally forgot about that I found at a thrift shop for $8.00!!

She prefers to carry them both around, hugging, kissing, patting and feeding them. 

Seeing her play like this makes me so excited for doll houses and barbies!

Josh's sister has two daughters and they had so much fun chasing Carly around, playing with her, and watching her sign.  I loved seeing the three of them together.

***

 

Every time Carly walks by the bathroom, she steps up on the stool and asks to brush her teeth.  "Brush?" as she signs brush with her little pointer finger. We turn on the water and she stands there alternately wetting the brush and sucking the water out of it. 

Often times she will ask the boys, and they will set her up brushing. It's so sweet.

***

I think Carly's favorite person right now would have to be Wyatt.  He makes me laugh, he's super sweet when she's crying, and she always knows he's Wyatt (as opposed to Jack & Logan, whom she still mixes up). 

 Carly is Miss Independent!  She loves when we go outside and I just follow her around, letting her call the shots.  She marches everywhere she goes with such determination!

***

She got really sick earlier this week, as I said, with some kind of stomach bug.  I'll spare you the details, but there was lots of vomiting and diarrhea and one sad, tired, dehydrated girl.  I am so happy to report that as of yesterday she is on the mend and back to her old self. As much as I loved the extra snuggles, and spending so much time just holding her on the couch, I was ready for her whining voice to be turned off, and to quit being her full-time binky. (Joys of being a nursing mom!)

Carly, you are just my favorite little girl, 

and not a day goes by where I don't thank God for you in my life.

Thank you for making our summer so fun & full of giggles.

You're just the best.

Love,

Mommy