Leah's Winter "One"derland Party

Leah had the BEST first birthday party. It was spent enjoying time with family and friends, devouring cake, admiring awesome decorations, swimming and opening tons of gifts. All of her aunts, uncles and cousins made it to the party which made it extra special. Thank you everyone for a wonderful first birthday party for our sweet little girl.

The Birthday Girl: 

In her custom made dress by Grandma D.

                                         

Decorations:Done by her creative Auntie Nikki - so lucky to have an aunt who is so awesome at party planning. The party wouldn't have come together without her:

Time for Cake:

Make a wish...

Not so sure...

Getting Messy...

Messier...

Messiest, but it sure was yummy!

Swimming:

Opening Gifts:

Wow.. look at all of these...

 She needed some help!

Cousins and Aunts & Uncles:

We also celebrated Grandpa C's birthday, which was on the 26th. 

Note the decorations done by Mommy were not quite as nice:

Happy 1st Birthday Leah! Can't wait for the next one!

1 Year Old

It's here! Your sticker pictures and monthly updates are coming to an end. And (although mommy and daddy can't believe you are 1 year old already) we are so happy about the smart, spirited, energetic little girl you are becoming. I'm sure you can tell from our monthly posts that, Leah keeps us on our toes, but it's in a good  way (most of the time). You have made the past year the most happy and exciting (but tiring :-) ) year for us. We wouldn't have it be any other way! Thank you for the laughs and joy you bring us every day. We love you more than you will ever know.

Here is what you learned before you turned 1:

• You're a good little eater, you'll eat about anything which is nice for us. I hope you continue to love those vegetables and fruits. Your favorite food is sandwich meat (ham or turkey) and mac & cheese.
• You are almost to having only whole milk - no more formula. It was a really easy transition and you are drinking it cold, which is very nice. 
• Next to go... the bottle... wish us luck on that one. Going to attempt it next weekend. 
• You say ma ma, da da, ziggy, yah, no and lots of other sounds that we don't know what they are yet.
• You can WALK! And now you are getting pretty good at it with limited falls. It's nice that you can get around where you want and it's super cute to watch you waddle.
• You are learning so much. When you learn to put blocks in the right shape, etc. you think you are super cool. You are so proud of yourself and love to clap when you do a good job.
• You also still have a temper. When the shapes don't go in the right spot, you get mad and bang them on the box. :-)
• I love your giggle. I love that you giggle a lot now. Daddy usually makes you giggle the most but the other night Parker made you laugh more than I have ever heard you laugh before.
• We are working on pointing out family members in your book. You actually point to the right people sometimes so I think you are learning who they are (or you are just a good guesser).
• You are more into books now than you have ever been. Sometimes you will sit on my lap and we will actually get through a whole book before you want off. Your favorite books are the ones that have things you can feel or that have flaps you can open up.
• You traveled to Florida this month. So before your first birthday you have been to San Diego, Las Vegas and Orlando. It's sad that you have made it across the country already and you are only 1. Shows you how spoiled you are.
• You still LOVE to dance. You love having music on and swaying side to side. 
• With that dancing you started singing to yourself too... so cute!
• Your favorite toys: your princess castle and Parker's old red and yellow car.
• Now you have made it 4 nights in a row sleeping through the night (our new record). It was a little rough after vacation but we are getting back on track.
• You like to stack rings or blocks. 
• You love your blankets. Doesn't matter which one it is, you love to snuggle with any kind of blanket. Although Grandma's silky ones are your favorite and you do love to steal Paige and Parker's from them.
• You love it when "we are going to get you..." You squeal and start booking it in the other direction, but if we take to long you do have to look back to make sure we are coming.
• Mom is trying to teach you counting and where your nose is :-) But, most of the time you ignore me. I'm sure you will get it soon.
• You still love bath time. Even more now that the bath has lots more fun toys to play with.
• You have your two top teeth and two bottom ones.
• You are are wearing size 3 diapers and 12-18 month clothes. 
• You are the best thing that ever happened to us!

At 11 months:

And our BIG 1 Year Old:

Florida Vacation

We had an amazing vacation in Florida.. it was so hard to come back to cold weather.

I'm taking the lazy way out and copying Nikki's blog for a recap of the trip. Thanks Nikki! Check out the below links for more pics of each day of our trip.

The recap of vaca:

http://thewixofamilyblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/departure-day.html

http://thewixofamilyblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/saturday.html

http://thewixofamilyblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/sunday.html

http://thewixofamilyblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/monday.html

http://thewixofamilyblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/tuesday.html

http://thewixofamilyblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/wednesday.html

http://thewixofamilyblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/thursday-and-home-again.html

She's a walker...

Well the day after we got home from vacation Leah decided crawling was no more. I think coming home after a week full of stroller rides where ever she wanted to go - she just decided mom and dad's laziness when she got home was enough and she needed to take matters in her own hands.

Her waddle walk is precious, hasn't really figured out that bending her knees helps. But she gets where she needs to go :-)

December Favorites

Wheeee... love my roller coaster

Playing in my new tent

 Go Cowboys!

 Beer anyone?

Bath time fun... I think we need a bigger tub.

 Best buds snuggling

 Walking at Sea World

11 Months Old

What? You are going to take my picture??

Only 1 more of these posts left after this one. It is hard to believe how fast the time is flying by.. you are going to be 1 year old before we know it.

You continue to learn so many new things. Here ya go:

• You love eating with your fingers. We haven't really found a food that you refuse to eat. Your favorites are meats, crab and noodles.
• Your two front teeth have popped through. It is still hard to see them and you HATE when I try to look in your mouth but they should be all the way in soon.
• You love to copy sounds and actions now. Again, we must be careful what we say because you try to repeat things.
• You giggle more now. You love playing with daddy whether he is throwing you in the air or you are climbing on him on the floor. He makes you giggle more than anyone else.
• You continue to have a temper. You want things your way. If we say no - you scream. If we take something away - you scream. I hope you learn that you don't always get what you want soon :-)
• We are constantly fighting over the stairs. You want to go up, we tell you 'no', you scream and go up anyway and we go over and take you down off the stairs and tell you 'no' again. We can do this 10+ times in a row. You are persistent.
• You found the kitchen cupboards and you always want to open them up and see what's inside!
• You are getting better at standing, you can pull yourself up on anything and especially like pull yourself up on people's legs. You can make it for 15+ seconds standing by yourself. You took your first steps and I'm sure more walking is soon to come.
• You are a mommy's girl. Daddy makes you giggle but you come to mommy most of the time and of course especially when you are crabby. You try to push yourself off daddy's chest when you don't want him to hold you and you are getting pretty strong.
• You love to listen to yourself talk, jabber and scream. Daycare told me the other day that they always can tell when Leah is awake, that's probably not a good thing.
• Your favorite toys are pens and old school (like when I was a kid) little people. You will carry them all over the place and won't let go.
• You started to dance more this month. It is precious. You hear a song and you move your head back and forth or bounce up and down or head bang. So cute.
• I know all parents probably think this at some point but I truly think you are just a LOUD child. I guess from the above comment, daycare thinks so too :-)
• You like to pay fetch with Ziggy but he gets frustrated with you because you don't throw the toys very far. But, you are getting good at playing catch and throwing balls.
• Yo Gabba Gabba gets your attention on tv now. But still only for a few minutes.
• You are in 12-18 month clothes and size 3 diapers.
• You still love to clap and many times during the day a good applause is heard.
• We made it 3 days in a row sleeping through the night and that was awesome!! Now off and on you will go a day or 2 days sleeping all the way through but 3 days is still our record. It's not hard to get up with you and it is only once on the nights you don't sleep through.
• You celebrated your first Christmas and were completely spoiled.
• You have made this the best year ever for us!! What a great 2012 this has been! We love you so much!

A look back at 10 months:

And here you are at 11 months:

 

And the Aftermath...

I'm a little embarrassed to post this picture but I am humbled by all the love for this little girl. Everyone's generosity was overwhelming and we want to thank you for making Leah's first Christmas so special.

I'm hoping this will be the highest present count ever as everyone was just excited for her first Christmas, and this will probably be my last compile of gifts (it's not fun getting them all together after they are all over the house already). If you notice that small little toy tablet thing in the middle... that was mom and dad's only purchase and the rest was from some very generous relatives.

Daddy says our basement looks like a kids toyland.

 

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

We have one special and incredibly lucky little girl on our hands!