Real Pictures & Caroline at 13 Months

A while back I thought of how I hardly have any nice, quality pictures of Caroline.  So I got my camera out a few days later and snapped a few.  Yesterday we were in the sun all day long and by the end of the day I felt about as healthy and hydrated as an emery board.  So today I told the kids we could do whatever they wanted as long as it was indoors.  By early afternoon we were bored and irritable so I called a pow wow on the living room rug.  After we made plans for the rest of the afternoon we all just sat around for an hour playing with Caroline.  She was the literal center of our attention -- right in the middle of all of us.  We watched her toddle back and forth between bookshelves and baskets, emptying, re-shelving and rearranging like it was her very important work.  We asked for kisses and hugs and she obliged.  We laughed at her silly faces.  And we all commented about how cute and funny she is and how lucky we are to have her.    

These days she is:
- saying mommy, baby, banana (nana), thank you (a barely discernible 'tee-too') and a few other miscellaneous syllables
- occasionally getting into mischief (like smearing green smoothie all over the couch and carpet in the living room while we were planting fruit trees the other day -- shouldn't have left the smoothie cup on the floor (I'm looking at you, Nate))
- saying hello to strangers at the library, les schwab, the grocery store
- making friends with all the doggies we run into in our travels
- becoming pretty sure-footed and trying to run through most of her life
- opening her mouth wide when she thinks she might get a bite/sip of what you've got
- giving hugs and kisses
- waking up too early in the morning (always before seven)
- sucking her thumb and twirling her hair when she's tired, or nervous, or just calm
- loving the baby on the album cover that comes up on my phone screen when we listen to lullabies
- always wanting to be in the tub with her brother and sister
- winning our hearts over daily with her darlingness and infusing our lives with so much sunshine