Thursday, January 4, 2018

Caroline Rose is Four!

On December 20, 2017, Caroline turned four years old. While she may not have grown much in size this past year (she’s just over 3 feet tall and only weighs 25.5 pounds putting her in the first percentile for height and weight), she has grown tremendously in all the ways that matter. 

The biggest change for Carrie this year was becoming a big sister. It’s something she has wanted for a very long time (since she could voice her opinions). I would say Ruthie has far exceeded her expectations. She didn’t have to wait for Ruth to “grow up” to become her playmate. I’ve said before that Ruth and Caroline are practically inseparable and that remains true. 



They love to read books together,


Color together,



Feed their babies together,



And take tea (or hot chocolate) together. 

While I do love my older girls just as much as my littles, the older girls are more independent and not as eager for me to photograph their daily activities.

Caroline has struggled for the past several months with a radical hearing loss. We are grateful to learn that she has no permanent damage and will just need a minor surgery to place tubes in her ears. That surgery is tomorrow, Friday, January 5, 2018. It has been very frustrating for all of us and particularly isolating for Carrie. 

Things Caroline loves:
-Ruthie
-all things purple
-coloring with and sniffing her smelly markers
-writing her name
-listening to books on CD (really loudly)
-kids song cds
-Wild Kratts
-watching movies
-babies
-“remembering” when she was a baby and wishing she was still a baby
-when her big sisters play with her or carry her piggy back 
-breakfast 
-rice
-cousin Matteo

Things Caroline doesn’t love
-naps (the idea of them, she generally takes a great nap every day)
-big dogs
-cleaning up her toys/games
-getting ready for bed
-when I tell her that her shoes are on the wrong feet

In general, Caroline is a very happy, healthy little girl. She tends to be kind, generous with her toys, and a social girl. She seems to be going through a phase where she cries a lot about everything, but she’s four now so I’m pretty sure she’s about done with that. (Haha!) I was tired of the tears every time I brush her hair so I finally just cut it. It has helped a little bit, but probably not significantly enough that I would keep her hair short. 

And we had to take our annual Christmas photo together! Her first Christmas was in the NICU and I hadn’t been allowed to hold her for two days because her lung collapsed and she had a chest tube. But on Christmas Day I was able to hold her again and was so thrilled. The next year I took a picture wearing the same shirt and it has since become tradition. 



First Christmas: 5 days old 


 
Second Christmas: 1 year + 5 days old 



Third Christmas: 2 years + 5 days old



Fourth Christmas: 3 years + 5 days old 



Fifth Christmas: 4 years + 5 days old. 

Happy fourth birthday, little love! You are such a special girl and we can’t wait to see what this year holds for you!



Daddy-daughter date to the museum! Hess family tradition to go to the museum at age 4.

1 comment:

  1. Love your tradition with her, hopefully you can do this for many years.Carrie has a sweet way about her, shows especially with her love for Ruthie Love You Mama Hess and your beautiful family xooxo

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