the birthday girl!!

Yesterday was her big day....It was a fun but busy day. When she woke up in the morning Mommy and Daddy both went in and started singing "Happy Birthday." She didn't know quite what to make of it--she was crying because she wanted her bottle and didn't appreciate our musical talents. But she cheered up and had a happy day. Here she is posing in her monthly birthday chair pose, but this time she got to wear a crown (it says "fun to be 1") and a button that says, "I'm one year old today."

Grandma and Grandpa (Mommy's parents) came in the morning and Grandma helped Mommy get ready for the party. Here are the decorations and the cakes I made. She loved her balloons!

Granny and Papa (Daddy's parents) came later in the day with cousin Ashley and they played awhile. Around 5:00 two of Daddy's sisters came with more cousins and the party began. We had dinner, then cake, ice cream, and presents. She liked hearing us all sing happy birthday to her! She wouldn't keep her crown on, though, so that's Mommy's hand trying to keep it on in the picture.She had a little cake of her own and she dug right in. It was pretty funny to watch. After awhile, though, she finally had enough and started rubbing the icing in her hair!

She had no interest in her presents--just the ribbons on the packages. So Mommy unwrapped them all! Every once in awhile she'd come over and look and play with something, but she always went back to the ribbons!

She was such a good girl and even though she was up well past her bedtime, she was smiley, playful, and having a good time. It was exhausting, but a fun day. I can't believe our little girl is one.

happy easter

Here are some shots of Easter morning. She enjoyed her basket--especially the maracas. Her Easter basket has been Mommy's Easter basket her whole life, so it's nice to continue the tradition. She was an angel in the nursery, the ladies said--quite a change from the usual separation tears for the last month or two.

goodnight moon

Goodnight moon is her favorite book. How do I know? She brings it to me every night before bed. I even hid it behind some other books to see what she'd do. She found it and brought it anyway! Smart girl, huh? I guess maybe she's ready to turn one....



...But that doesn't mean I'm ready for it. I can't believe that in four days she'll be a year old. Where has the year gone? Where has my tiny baby gone? She's every inch a toddler now. Every stage is fun, but I am already nostalgic for her infanthood.



Today was picture day for her birthday. I know it's four days early, but I figured with Easter coming up this weekend, it would be really busy with people getting their kids' pictures taken. I wanted to avoid that. The whole day was centered around making sure she was happy and ready for her 11:00 photo shoot. It didn't work very well. She has a bit of a cold, so she was fairly fussy, clingy, whiny, and not very smiley. But actually, that made my decision much easier! I didn't want to give into temptation and buy more than the package I had already planned on, and this made it easy! There was only one picture with a really good smile, so that's what I got, and I wasn't tempted at all to get anything else. Hmm....maybe I shouldn't worry so much about making her so happy on picture days after all!? Anyway, here is the result. Sorry for the white space around it....it has to do with the size of the picture and the size of my scanner, but I don't know how to fix it.

we all scream for ice cream

It may only be spring, but we've had a few days of summer weather. On one of those days we decided to make a trip to DQ for our almost one year old's first ice cream cone. Here are the yummy, but very messy results!

these shoes were made for walking

She finally has some walking shoes that fit. I first tried the inexpensive route of finding a really nice pair at a consignment store. They were so cute, but her feet were just too thick to fit in them. Then I went to Stride Rite and had her sized and she tried some on, but I couldn't bring myself to pay their prices when she'll grow out of them in a couple of months. So I shopped on ebay and found the exact same shoes she tried on, brand new, for a third of the price!

They finally arrived yesterday and she's wearing them today. She doesn't quite know what to make of these big things on her feet. She's lifting her feet really high off the ground, almost like marching. It's really funny, but she's walking more normally as the morning goes on, so hopefully she's getting used to them.

spring has sprung!

And to honor the first day of spring, here she is....Miss Cotton Tail herself:

I know it's a little early for Easter, but her overalls have little bunnies on them, and I knew if she didn't start wearing them soon she wouldn't be able to wear them, since Easter will be here soon, so what better day to don the bunnies than the first day of Spring!? And once the bunny overalls were on, I couldn't resist trying on the bunny ears, too.....

I know, 12 years from now she'll be looking at these pictures saying, "Mom, what did you make me wear???" Oh well. She can't voice her opinion yet, so until then, I'll dress her to make me happy! :)

We had great weather today to inaugurate the new season. It looked kind of iffy this morning, but as the day went on it got brighter and eventually the sun came out and it was at least 70 degrees! We ate dinner outside on our deck (where our little one tried to eat leaves from the bushes for her dinner) and she got to swing in her swing some more.

more outdoor adventures

I thought Sunday was beautiful...well, today is even better! Not only is it sunny and gorgeous, it's SEVENTY FOUR DEGREES!!!! My parents are in North Carolina visiting my brother and his family, and I was a little jealous that they get to enjoy the warm weather, but not anymore! We have our own North Carolina right here today!

So because it's so nice we went outside again...several times. First we went out to get the mail. I sat on the front step to read it in the sunshine and she sat down on the sidewalk at my feet and played with the things she found on the ground--leaves, pebbles, dirt...whatever she saw. I only had to say "yucky" twice this time! Mostly she just played with them. When she decided to crawl to the flower bed and get dirt on her hands, I decided it was time to go in.

A little bit later we went out to the swingset in the back yard. The last few times she's been in it she hasn't been sure she likes it, but today she loved it. She was in it for about a half hour, just looking around, listening to airplanes, birds, cars driving by, and finding our shadows on the ground and talking to them. She liked that part best, I think. Toward the end her eyes started getting heavy and I could tell it was close to nap time, so we went in.

After naptime we went for a walk with the stroller. I put her new spring hat on and tried to get her to wear her sunglasses....no such luck. She couldn't wait to pull them off and chew on them. But it was quite funny to watch!


What are these things, Mommy?

I don't think I like them.....

But hmmm....they're fun to play with and chew on....

...but I think I like it just like this instead...just my pretty face!

Oh yes, she has an ear infection...we went to the doctor yesterday. I'm glad I took her in. She hates her medicine, though. I thought all kids were supposed to like the pink stuff??? She can't stand it, so the battle to take it twice a day for the next 9 days will not be my favorite part of the day. Yuck.

a whole new world

What a gorgeous day it was yesterday! Sunny, 50ish...beautiful. We all three went for a walk around the neighborhood. She loved it--just looking all around, "talking," and leaning back in her stroller, relaxing, enjoying the ride. She loves being outside, and I think the added motion of the stroller just made it even better. She hasn't been for a real walk outside since last fall when she was still rather little, so I'm sure it seemed like a new experience for her.

After we got back home we didn't want to go inside just yet, so we took her out of her stroller and let her experience walking outside for the first time. She didn't have her walking shoes on, but the sidewalk was dry, so I figured it would be okay for a little bit. She discovered a whole new world of rocks, dead grass, leaves, and holes in the pavement.

And as part of discovery, of course, she wanted to eat everything she encountered. Oh boy, we've got our work cut out for us now! "Yucky!" I must've said about 50 times, as I swiped something out of her hand as it was headed for her mouth. It was a fun afternoon watching her explore.

Sadly, I think she's sick again. I'm going to call the doctor when the open in a few minutes and see if they'll see her. Another cold and possible ear infection--that's why I want her to be checked. She's been rather fussy, which isn't like her.

So the World of Weed (and daughter) has just gotten bigger to include outdoors. I'm so glad--I've been having cabin fever for a month or so now, and can't wait to get back outside in the sunshine.

Oh, and here are a couple of pictures from her 11 month birthday on Friday. I can't believe her real birthday is only a few weeks away! What a grown up girl!!!

a new look

I finally updated to the newer version of my blog, and in doing so, I made some changes. I hope you like the makeover!

We have a bonafide toddler in the house now! She's literally "toddling" all over the place now, holding onto things less and less and walking on her own more and more. This morning she saw a toy on the floor that she wanted, walked over to it, bent over and picked it up, and stood back up and continued on across the room. What a big girl. What happened to my little baby girl?

a walk around the room

She started walking on Monday and already she's tearing around the house. Well, tearing probably isn't quite right....stumbling is more like it. But she's really taken off and is becoming more and more brave. Yesterday was the first time she went after something besides Mommy or Daddy. She saw her snowsuit across the room (that pink thing on the floor...lazy Mommy didn't put it away) and wanted to get it. She made it all the way across the room and only stopped walking because she bent down to get the snowsuit.

Later she saw her toys across the room and headed toward those. She seems to do better when she has something in her hands/mouth. Otherwise she has to think about it more.... "Hmmm...do I really want to make the effort? Is it worth falling down?" she seems to ask herself. With something in her hands she's too busy thinking about that to contemplate the risks involved! (She's a pretty advanced almost 11 month old, isn't she to be contemplating ANYTHING?) Here she is coming toward Mommy, block in hand.

guess who's walking???

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's true! That's my girl!!

And just like when she crawled, she did it first for Daddy while I wasn't home! BUMMER!! What's up with her? She's with me all day long every day, cries for me all the time if she's not within sight of me, and then she walks for Daddy???? Silly girl. Maybe she's a daddy's girl after all.

But anyway, first she walked to him, then she crawled up the entire flight of stairs. When I got home (I was getting my driver's license renewed and I didn't even have to wait in line! Woo hoo!) she did it for me and we were able to get it on video. She went back and forth, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy, Mommy... and then she had had enough, I guess. Walking's over for the day.

wearing a dress again!

So last week it was so fun to put her in a dress that I decided to do it again this week, even though it was cold. I just put her snow suit on over it and she was toasty warm (I think!). Here she is this morning.









When she wakes up she is usually SUCH a happy girl and has the reddest cheeks. Lately her right cheek has been chapped, either from the dry cold or the fact that she rubs her face on her blanket a million times before she goes to sleep, so that makes that side especially red. A couple of days ago when she got up from her nap she was just as happy as can be and I couldn't resist taking a couple of pictures.

I don't think I have any other exciting news to report. Oh, I finished my cake decorating class and at the last class we learned how to make roses. I wasn't especially looking forward to the task, since the week before we had tried a little bit and my super stiff icing was like clay, trying to squeeze it out. It was awful. This week I purposely made my icing a little thinner (even though we weren't supposed to), and it worked wonders! I learned the roses pretty easily. My cake, on the other hand, left much to be desired. I used a different icing recipe to ice the cake, and it was way too soft (I only used butter instead of half butter, half Crisco, like the class recommends) and it allowed way too many crumbs to come up and show through. It tastes delicious, though, so that's all that counts, right? It's an applesauce spice cake with cinnamon buttercream icing. Anyway, I will only show you the roses....I'm too embarassed to show the rest of the terrible icing job!!!

Oh wait! I remembered something exciting!! She learned to wave this week! Everytime Daddy leaves to go to work he waves at her and we try to get her to wave back. Finally on Wednesday she figured it out. It's so cute I can hardly stand it. She waves her whole arm....sometimes both arms!

That's what's up in my world these days.

wearing a dress

It doesn't happen very often that she wears a dress, since it's been so cold, but today it was warmer so she wore one to church. I just had to take pictures and show you all...just because I love to play dress up with her! She had on little black patent leather shoes, too, but those came off for her nap and didn't make it on again for the picture. Oh well....

Look! She's standing by herself!


Did I write that she has yet another tooth? It's number 5. She's still sleeping through the night, too, which is the most exciting news of the century for her sleep deprived mommy. Of course, I'm having trouble going to sleep at night, so I'm still not getting as much sleep as I'd like, but at least it's not her causing it anymore. She's doing her part of the dutiful daughter and getting the sleep she needs and allowing me to get mine...now if I could just keep my mind from churning and turn it off at 10 pm and go to sleep.

a piece of cake

Well, a whole cake, really. This is the cake I decorated tonight. It tastes much better than last week's. It's chocolate, and I don't even like chocolate cake, normally! I've been using this cookbook called "The Cake Mix Doctor." It uses a box cake as your base, but you add lots of other things to it to make it seem more homemade. The white cake was kind of dry. This chocolate one is really moist and dense and good. Anyway, this week we learned how to do the shell border you usually see around cakes you buy that are already decorated and how to make some different kinds of flowers.

Not much else to tell you about, except that she's been sleeping through the night again! Hooray!! Last night was an exception, but for the most part she's sleeping from 7 pm until 6:00 or 6:30 am!!! It's so nice to sleep all night....I forgot what it felt like.

Her new favorite thing to do is wiggle in her high chair. She looks like she's dancing. I don't know where she got this idea, but she just sits and shakes her head and upper body back and forth like a little dance. It's so cute! She also really enjoys standing up in the bathtub...a habit Daddy and I are trying to break. Clapping is still a favorite pasttime as well, especially to music.

happy valentine's day

let him eat cake

So just for fun I'm taking a cake decorating class at Michael's craft store on Monday nights for the next few weeks. It's great to get out in the evening by myself and do something just because I want to. Last week we learned how to ice a cake, with lots of neat tricks I never knew. Then tonight we had to take an already iced cake to class and we learned how to do writing and to make stars (for borders and filling in pictures). If you know my husband you know how big his sweet tooth is, so he's ecstatic that for the next few weeks he'll have a whole cake to eat each week! I made him take a picture of it before he cut into it after I brought it home, though, so here it is. We got to choose any design we wanted, so I did hearts for Valentine's Day. I am pretty happy with how it turned out except I accidentally touched my knuckles on the cake while I was doing something else and it made a mark.... if you look carefully at the top you can see it, but oh well. It doesn't change the taste!

For those of you who want to know what's going on with our little one, her fourth tooth has popped through, she was 10 months old last week, we went to the nutritionist and found out she's gained more weight and that for her height, she's exactly where she should be weight-wise. She's just a little shorter than most babies her age, so she weighs less too, so that brings her percentiles down. It was a huge relief to know that she's getting enough to eat. She's slept through the night for the last few nights, so that's a huge blessing (yeah, I know, most babies slept through the night months ago, but not my baby.... we've tried everything, including letting her cry it out forever, but she'll cry all night if she feels like it.). We'll see if the sleeping through the night trend continues. She's gone through spurts before, getting my hopes up each time that it's permanent, so I'll just have to wait and see.

These pictures were taken on her 10 month birthday. The second one I took because this is what she tries to do whenever we take a picture now. As soon as I took it she fell off the chair onto the floor!!! I felt bad for taking the picture and not stopping her instead, but maybe it taught her to not climb on the furniture anymore!













She continues to crawl all over, becoming more adventurous with where she goes. We've learned to keep the bathroom door shut, after finding her sitting on the bathroom floor with a large portion of the toilet paper unrolled all around her (she was only out of my sight for a few seconds--how did she do it that fast???). She hasn't discovered the stairs yet, so I'm thankful for that. I have a gate ready to put up at the bottom so she doesn't try to climb up, but I haven't had to do that yet.

She's still cruising all around the furniture, and has become really, really fast. If she has something in her hands she'll even let go and stand there for quite awhile holding it, chewing on it, and playing with it, without holding onto any furniture without realizing that she's balancing herself.

We're supposed to get a huge snow storm tonight, so we'll see if what they're predicting is true. I hope for the sake of my teaching friends that we do, so they get a snow day, but it seems like whenever they make a big deal about it and talk about it forever on the news, it's never that bad. We shall see!

eat your heart out, Mozart...

...you have some competition! Here's our own little prodigy.

It's been super cold here the last several days. We haven't gone out much. She has another cold, and Mommy's and Daddy's are still lingering around, too. Yuck. When will this end?

She continues to stand for longer intervals, and today she kind of took a step--twice! I say kind of because as soon as she stepped out, she fell down, but she really did try to step! She'll be there before too long.

Her newest passion is clapping. She's been clapping since Christmas Eve, but not very often. Now she crawls, sits up, looks around, and claps a few times, and then does the whole process again. She also likes to clap in her highchair. This is all well and good until Mommy's trying to spoon a bite of squash in her mouth and she claps her hands together with the loaded spoon in between her hands! Yes, this happened yesterday. Squash went everywhere. It happened again today with oatmeal. Yum! And today she was really fussy, even while she was eating (this is rare--she's decided she likes eating now, most of the time), so she was crying (with real tears and everything) while I was trying to feed her. All of a sudden she started clapping. I said, "Most people don't clap while they're crying, sweetie." She didn't seem to care. She kept on clapping and crying. It was pretty funny. I had to contend with both as I navigated the spoon from the bowl to her mouth. I was lucky any of it ended up in her mouth.

Stay warm, everyone!

bigfoot

Our tiny girl has some big feet, don't you think? Daddy put his shoes on her the other day, just for a laugh.

As I'm writing this I'm listening to those big feet kicking the wall between her room and the computer room. She's just gone down for a nap, but rather than falling asleep nicely, she's fussing, playing, and making it very well known that she doesn't want to go to sleep. I just peeked in on her and she was laying on her back cross-ways in the crib with her feet up in the air kicking the back of the crib and the wall. What a stubborn little thing!

it's been awhile...

Sorry to those of you who check here all the time for an update. It's been hard to update lately for several reasons:
1) my laptop stopped working, so I now can only get online when my little girl is sleeping--something she doesn't do very well!!
2) we all three have been sick--Daddy is still sick, I'm not sure but I think I may be getting sick again, and our little one is getting over an ear infection.
3) I subbed at my old school Monday and Tuesday of this week, so there were several busy days in there. Grandma came down to babysit, which was great, but they were still tiring days for me. I don't know how you working moms do it!!

So anyway, no updates....sorry.

Let's see, what can I tell you about? She's got another tooth--one of her two front teeth popped through last week and is steadily growing in. I'm sure the other one is close behind. Her gum is swollen right there. She's crawling like a pro and cruising around the furniture at record speeds. She's learning to keep her balance and can let go and stand on her own for a few seconds at a time. She'll be walking before I know it.

That's about all that is going on here. It's freezing cold, so we've been staying in as much as possible. I'm looking forward to warmer weather so we can get out more. Cabin fever is going to set in before too long. I guess I got spolied with the warm fall and beginning of winter that we've had. Now that it's really winter, I'm not ready for it!

across the room!

We have an honest to goodness crawler on our hands now! I think she's been holding out on us, because this afternoon she just up and took off across the living room! She crawled to the window, which is low to the ground, pulled up, and stood and looked out for 10 or 15 minutes.






Then she got down and crawled back across the room to her Incrediblock toy and started to play. Daddy caught her on video, so I got to see it, even though I was gone at the grocery store! Soon after I got back I got to see if for myself as she crawled over to see Mommy. Since then she's been all over the place. We can't leave her alone now.

Here she is crawling to Daddy, who is inside her house (a Christmas present). She loves pushing the doorbell, which turns on the light (the light is her favorite part).

standing, standing, and more standing

Boy, does she ever love to stand! She used to play so contentedly on the floor by herself while I got something done. Those days are long gone. Now she wants to stand up to everything, and if she's not standing, she's trying to pull up so she can stand. She's now perfected the art of walking around and around in circles around her leap frog table. She does this for a good 20 minutes or so before getting frustrated and wanting to move on to something else.



And the most frustrating is that she's learned to stand in her crib (thankfully after we moved the mattress down this past weekend!) So now when she goes in to go to sleep, if she feels like it she'll pull up and stand, and then cry and cry because she can't get down and go to sleep. I never know if she's crying because she's standing or if she's crying because she just is tired and having trouble going to sleep, so I always have to go check on her, which makes her even more mad because "Mommy came in and didn't get me!!!" I guess I need to teach her how to get down if I ever want this phase to end!