There are so many things about this stage of Caroline's life that I don't want to forget. I have been thinking a lot about posterity this past week, or rather the last few days since Caroline turned one. There is so much about her life in the past year that I have forgotten already. Granted, none of the stuff I forgot is really important, but now that she is a year old I realize how quickly she is growing up and suddenly I want to remember all the little things, too. There is a part of me that wants to hang on to my baby forever. I know that isn't possible, but hopefully through journaling I will at least be able to hang on to a few more memories than I would have otherwise.

That said, this past week has been fairly uneventful. Except for a fall where Caroline tripped over her shoes, hit her mouth on a shelf in the armoire, busted her lip and chipped a tooth, we have made it through relatively unscathed. I am so amazed at how she handled the fall. Caroline is a tough kid. She hardly cried at all. I, on the other hand, was a mess (at least on the inside--I was pretty calm on the outside) but we got her all cleaned up and she is fine. Her lip healed completely in a couple of days and except for the tiny chip on her tooth you'd never know it happened. After chuckling at me a little bit and asking me if this was my first child, the dentist assured me that I don't have to worry about the tooth so now Caroline is fine and I am fine. And I learned a very important lesson: Babies don't need to wear shoes. I think my neighbor said it best when we told him what happened. He said "She doesn't need to wear shoes unless she's getting her picture taken. This is Arkansas after all."


I'll leave you with a few family pics from Caroline's party:


Our little family
















Caroline and her daddy


















The Rush Family
















The Ellcey Family