Well, it happened.  Leo turned one.  And surprisingly, I wasn’t as emotional about it on the day of and days after it happened as I was in the weeks (ok, MONTHS) leading up to it.  I thought I’d be a bag of tears on the ground thinking about my baby graduating to toddlerhood.  But in honesty, I was just excited to see if the little guy was going to smash cake in his face.  Yup!  Alex, Leo, and I survived a year.  And a huge first birthday bash that I’m still recovering from and promised myself I’d never do again (remind me of that next August).  And I would absolutely have NOT made it through the last 12 months if it weren’t for a few of my friends you are going to meet in the next few blogs.  I told you way back when that I joined a mom group (which makes them sound totally lame, like their driving around minivans with banana clips in their hair and a trunk full of soccer balls) and happen to meet an amazingly supportive group of friends.  We’ve helped one another through this crazy, fun, terrifying first year together and are off to explore what’s in store for year 2.  It has been so awesome to watch their babies grow into little humans.  And since we’ve been together since the first five weeks, I feel like their kids are my kids.  And I’m so happy that they are part of our lives.

You are going to meet little Miss Caroline today.  Caroline is 2 days older than Leo but was the first in the group to walk and I’m pretty sure she was rolling at something crazy like 2 weeks.  She has lots of spunk and is sweet as sweet can be which is not surprising seeing as her mama, Erica, happens to be the same.  I remember in the early stages of the group when I was still awkward and shy and wasn’t sure if the Charlestown girls would accept Leo and I since we were the only ones living on the other side of the tracks, Erica always went out of her way to make sure we were included.  We walked the streets in a giant pack, each mama pushing a stroller, and Erica would always be the one to hang back with whoever was last (which was usually me) and make sure they felt included.  I’m not even sure she realizes she does this, but that’s what makes her even more special of a friend.   And Caroline’s dad is Ollie, who loves his girls (and loves golf, which Alex is psyched about). Ollie was such a good sport and pushed through pictures despite having the flu.

I feel so lucky to have this family in my life.

Yayyy for Caroline’s birthday!

When Caroline was a baby, she had the coolest mohawk ever.  Her hair just stuck up in one spiky row all down the middle of her head.  The mohawk has created a nice little hair swoop now.  Love this girl’s locks.

I love these next two pictures of Caroline with her daddy and mom.

Oh sweet Caroline, I love you from the top of your mohawk hair to the tips of your toes.  Happy birthday sweet baby girl.

And yay to you Erica!  We MUST celebrate with Union Square Donuts ASAP!