1 year and counting....milestones.

 

 So, as we already know, my baby is 1! And with her grand first birthday, comes a new set of milestones!! She can finally walk around without any help from mommy or daddy, she is off the bottle and off of formula, and loving whole milk, and she can eat anything from fruits and veggies to peanut butter (which she loves!).

We had her official 1 year check up on the 9th and it was a bit disappointing for mommy. Here I thought my big eater was just packing on the pounds, only to find out she hadn't even gained a whole pound from her 9 month check up. It left me completely baffled and I really had a battle with myself as far as if I was failing her, or not doing enough for her. The Dr. reassured me that she was fine, yes it is worrisome, but that she is healthy, and it hitting all those important milestones at the right time, but she did want to go a bit further and test her for a few things. So, down to the lab we went and I had to watch as they held my sweet baby down and poked her with needles. I think I cried as hard as she did. :(

They did a lead draw on her and checked her thyroid. All tests came back normal. Now we have to go in for a weight check next month to see how she's doing before they decide if we have to do further testing. She may just have a high metabolism and will be tall and lean (lucky her!)

 

 I took this right after the needle poking :( Mommy and Sophie went to Village Inn after and had pancakes and my big eater had over 1/2 her big pancake, plus some of my eggs!

 Here she is playing peek-a-boo with me around the computer screen. She is getting such a personality and loves to play games and pranks! She likes to try and hand you something and just as you almost get it, she snatches it back and giggles lol.

We are also starting to work with using forks and spoons (baby) with our meals as well as saying please and thank you. Her newest word so far though is "no." And yes, it is said in the same menacing tone I use to stop her from doing something naughty lol, and is usuall followed by almost angry sounding baby babble directed at mommy and daddy. It is so hard not to laugh when she does that!

 

Upon her 1st birthday, I remembered I had wanted to do a comparison picture of her when we first brought her home, and how she is now. This duo presented itself to me the day of her party! One of her favorite places to sleep is on daddy, and I can't blame her...he is one of the best snuggle buddies ever :) But look how tiny she was when we brought her home! Compared to the big girl she is today! Ugh, where did that sweet itty bitty baby go? Now she's a full blown, sassy toddler, but she will always be my sweet baby girl <3 

 

You are my Sunshine...Sophie's 1st Birthday!!

Sorry I am just now getting around to getting these pictures up! I was having some problems with the blog site, and then some tooth problems as well, so here we are now!

My baby turned 1 on January 5th. This was seriously an emotional day for me. I cannot believe that she is 1. I don't know where the time went, because I swear it was just yesterday that I was still waddling around, barely comfortable with huge ankles, getting anxious to meet her. I last posted some of the pics from her 1 year session, but here are a few more of the "cake smash" session. I'm still waiting on some more pics from the photographer, so as soon as I get them, I will post them as well.

 

 And of course I made Sophie's cake myself. I wanted to do the cupcake cake, but I wanted to make it different than ones I have previously done for others. I dipped the bottom half of the cupcake in candy melt which made it more sturdy, and then added a fondant banner of her name going across the side of the cupcake.

 

 She really wasn't too keen on the cake, as you'll see in  a few pics down. Not sure why the pictures are out of order :(

 Now this small cake is the cake I made for her actual party. I went with the theme of "You are my Sunshine" for her party b/c that is the song that I sing to her when she is cranky, tired, or sad and it always seems to help. Plus, I love the bright colors that can go along with the theme.  We were able to hold the party at my grandparent's house and lots of family and friends came to celebrate the day with us. For her, I'm sure it was like Christmas all over again. Thank you to everyone who could make it and who generously gave her more toys that she can handle :)

 I decided for food, since we were having the party in the middle of the afternoon that we would do a chili bar! I made a huge batch of chili and then had all sorts of fixings for the toppings, and provided baked potates and hot dogs for anyone that wanted chili dogs or chili baked potatoes. I also made fruit kabobs and veggie cups! We had hardly any food leftover so I consider it a great success!

 I also made sure to decorate her high chair so everyone would know she was the princess of the day!

I used alot of fun tablecloths, mostly provided by grandma, for decorations. I even made a sun out tablecloths taped together. I made a banner that said "you are my sunshine" and hung it over the sun.  For desserts I made simple cupcakes: vanilla w/vanilla frosting and orange dreamsicle cupcakes. I also matted one of her birthday pictures and used it as a guest book so I could keep track of all that came and so Sophie could see it when she's older. 

Big picture of what the basement looked like decorated. 

 Here is the pic I promised from above. Not happy about that cake at all! It probably didn't help that mommy may or may not have smashed her little face into it a bit lol. But it makes for a funny picture ;)

My little girl is 1. Officially a toddler. I know I say it all the time, but really, I do wish I could slow down time and that I had more time to just be with her and watch her grow. She is such a beautiful, amazing, smart and happy, sweet girl who loves her momma and daddy, loves to snuggle, and is in general, easy going. Happy Birthday baby girl, Mommy loves you so much and is so proud of you!

The countdown begins...

In just 3 short days, my baby will be ONE. I'm really struggling with this. I can't understand where my year disappeared to. I feel like I haven't gotten enough time with her this year, even though I know I've been with her every day. Her turning one is almost as bad in my mind as me turning 30, which thankfully I have another year before that happens!

I'm sitting here typing this and remembering how just a year ago, I was sooo nervous and so anxious, crying and laughing, ect., just thinking about having this sweet baby. I knew I was ready for her, but at the same time, I wasn't sure that I really was ready. I sat there wondering if I was going to know what to do after she was here, or if I would just fail miserably as a mommy.

Sitting here now, I still have those fears. I think all moms do, especially with the first one. There are days when I have no idea what I'm doing, and am literally just "winging" it. Other days, I am so proud to be a mom, and feel even better when I can give good advice to another new mommy. And then there are the days where she has scratched the heck out of her face, or her eczema has flared up furiously, or I want to lose my cool because she won't stop crying-those are the days I feel like I'm failing miserably. I know that I'm not. Just some days, you can't help but feel that way.

Now on to more happier things lol.

Christmas this year was more fun than any of my past ones. Sophie's first Christmas! She could have cared less about opening presents, but was more interested in what someone else was opening lol. Our living room looks like a toy store aisle on a bad day, but she LOVES all the new things she got! her Laugh & Learn house, zany zoo, and scooter are her favorite go-to toys. We plan on hiding some back in her room, and then swapping them out with the ones in the livingroom every so often. That way she plays with all of them!

I've posted some of our christmas pictures, done by the Lovely Rachael. Rachael has done our pictures from the beginning and I will continue to go back to her. She is amazing with Sophie and a blast to work with! I've also included a few of her birthday pictures as well. I'll have even more for the next post!

 

 

 This is one of my favorites!

 

 My baby is going to be a year old :(

 

She's just so beautiful :) 

 

We hope that everyone had a very merry Christmas and a blessed year! We are looking forward to what 2013 has in store for us!