A One Year Old

I officially have a one year old; as of four minutes ago, Lilybelle became a one year old.  As I look back over the past year, I can't believe all that has happened. I can't believe that she has gone from a small infant to a talking standing baby.

To celebrate this happy occasion, we had a joint birthday party with her cousin (who also turned one) last Saturday. It was a circus themed party. It was a lot a work and some stress, but it was really fun. We had lawn games, bubbles, a cotton candy machine, and dinner. Lilybelle was funny with her cake. She was trying to be super dainty about eating the frosting, but I helped her out by putting both of her hands in the cake. She then licked the frosting off her hands and grimaced. I don't think she cared for how sweet frosting is. Definitely not her mother's child.  She liked opening her presents though. She enjoyed getting to pull things out of bags without me telling her no.

I bought a super cute dress for her birthday when we were in Solvang, CA in April. She wore it for about a half hour until she dumped that water bottle all over herself and Nana.

 So after the water accident, she was put in a boring onesie. But She got some cool sunglasses out of it, and cheerios.

For her actual birthday we took her 12 month photo (the last one), gave her some cake, and let her play with all her new toys. Basically just a low key night. She didn't grimace at her cake tonight though, she laughed when she got it. Her aunts and grandparents all wished her happy birthday and then she took a bath and went to bed.

 

11 months

Sorry, I know it's been a month since I posted anything to my blog, but I'll make up for it by posting lots of pictures today.

Last month Tim and I went on a hike. I've gotten on this kick lately about wanting to hike and so we decided to hike up to a waterfall with Lilybelle in a stroller. Yes a stroller, not a backpack which would have been much smarter. You see, I figured her stroller was rugged enough (which it was) and I was feeling too cheap to go buy a backpack. She. Hated. It. The stroller ride was a little too bumpy for her and so we carried her and pushed an empty stroller. Luckily we were with Tim's mom, brother, his wife, and their baby (who was in a backpack) and so everyone helped carry her. She loved it after that. The hike to the waterfall was a nice two mile walk, and the view was worth it. On the way home we put Lilybelle in the backpack and her cousin in her stroller which he didn't mind at all. Even though she was unhappy for the first little bit we enjoyed the hike and I learned two things, one buy a backpack and two I really miss hiking.

This weekend Lilybelle and I went for a walk and went to my new favorite kid's store and bought her a new tutu. She needed a new one. The old one was too small, and I figured every little girl needs a tutu in every size. The only downsize to our little outing was the stroller got a flat tire. So until Tim can fix it we can't go on any more walks. Sad.

Last night we took her 11 month photo. Boy was it hard. She really doesn't like things on her head anymore and so she will tear them off pretty fast. So this means no more hats, bows, or headbands. We put the headband in and was NOT and I repeat NOT happy about the fact that Tim wanted her to keep it on her head. This the best picture we got. The rest of them are of her crying. Even after we took the headband off she didn't want to cooperate for her picture, no sir. She didn't even have it on her head that long, but she wanted to make sure that we knew that it was unacceptable to do that.

10 Months

Lilybelle is ten months, only two more months until she is one. My how time flies. Her cousin made his appearance today, so she has a cousin that is exactly ten months younger than her; how cool is that!? I was on vacation this week, and so I got to spend the whole week with Lilybelle. It was amazing. We went to the store, went for a walk, and played every day. She is so interactive right now, it's great to play with her. She loves to read her books. She will sit on the floor and turn the pages of her books, and talk. We also introduced new foods this week with great success. She tried beets (loved them), split peas (also loved), and lamb (so, so). I was especially impressed with her liking beets. She just gobbles them up. They make a mess, but hey I guess there are worst things.

Taking her photo this month was a pain. She is so squirmy. She kept trying to take off her headband, grab Tim's phone, or play with Sophie. After what felt like thousands of pictures, Tim finally got one that kinda works. It's not my favorite, but you take what you can get.

Last weekend Lilybelle and I went to my parents' house while Tim baby proofed our home. So now my cabinets all have latches and my electric outlets are covered. While at my parents' Lilybelle showed them her favorite game. I never get tired of seeing her play peek a boo.

4th of July

For the 4th of July Lilybelle was the only one in our family to sport the patriotic red, white, and blue all at once. And oh boy did she look cute doing it. Her Nana made sure that she would look fashionable and cool for the 4th of July. 

Since we've been experiencing a heat wave, it was 105 degrees earlier in the week, we opted to spend part of the day inside. Tim had never been to the National Automobile Museum so we decided to go check it out. We had a blast! There are so many cool cars to see, and there are a lot. We enjoyed looking at cars from the 1800s all the way up to the 1980s. It was funny to see that some early American cars had the steering wheel on the right side of the car, which was a carryover from the days of the horse and buggy. The history person in me LOVED reading all the plagues in front of the cars, and if I could have spent all day there I would have read each and every one of them. They even let you climb into one of the cars and take pictures. They also have props for you to wear for the picture taking. So I guess what I'm saying is that hat on my head is not really mine.

After the museum, we went out to the outlet stores, ate lunch, and did some shopping and walking around. This was the first time that we actually fed Lilybelle her food at a restaurant and she did great. She really enjoys her food. Banana is especially her favorite, which is what is on her face in this picture.

We then headed home where we spent the evening. No fireworks for us this year, they went off way past her bedtime.

Long Overdue

It has taken me a while to post her nine month photo (only three months left to plan her birthday, eek), sorry. But I have a good reason for it. Last Sunday I was walking to church for a special stake fireside, when I fell and fractured both my elbows. You heard  right, both elbows from a simple fall on a simple walk. Nothing exciting like skateboarding or  new exercise routine. It's taken me a while to get back into the groove of things. I'm doing better, and am able to do more things. I'd show everyone a picture of my double splints I had for a few hours on Monday, but it's a really unflattering photo.

Lilybelle is getting so much fun. I can actually play with her now. She interacts with me. We like to stack things up, and she likes to tear it down. She plays with Sophie, and enjoys swinging. We went down to my parents' house for Memorial weekend and put her in the swing. She really liked it. She's also started to feed herself. She loves to hold the cereal in both hands and then eat from her right hand and leave a piece in her left hand for later.

She's also getting more independent. Because of this independence I've been able to resume doing some crafty stuff. I made a wreath for our front door that I thought turned out great. Thanks Pinterest!

Taking her nine month photo was a hoot. She was such a ham for the camera. As I looked through the many photos Tim took I realized that she had almost every facial expression possible in these photos. Happy, sad, tired, angry, etc. I kinda miss the one month old that couldn't move when we took her photo.

On Friday we went to the pediatrician for her nine month check up. She's 27.5 inches long and 15.10 pounds. Tall and skinny. She's in the fifty percentile for height and five for weight. My mom and dad came up  to help me get her to the pediatrician and so afterwards we went to lunch and did some shopping.

Finally a video that has been months in the making. We got her jenny jump up as a gift and tried it out when she was younger, but all she did was chew on it. Now she has finally gotten the hang of it.

8 months

Over the weekend Lilybelle turned eight months! So of course we had to take a new photo to track her progress. We didn't lay her down for this photo because the minute you put her down she rolls over to her stomach and surveys her surroundings. If she finds something she wants, she army crawls over to it. So taking pictures has gotten harder.

 

Nana and Grandpa came up on Saturday and Minden came over, and we all went out to lunch where Lilybelle gave rice a try (not too sure about it). Before my parents came up, Lilybelle gave her new toy a try. The photo below is one of my new favorites and I just can't get over the look she gave Tim as he was taking the photo. She smiled later, but the first look is my favorite.

After lunch we all hit the mall and did a little shopping. My mom and I went straight to the baby department and supplemented Lilybelle's summer wardrobe. With the warm weather we've had lately I became aware that Lilybelle didn't have too many summer outfits. Minden had her try out sunglasses and I had her try on shoes while she was sleeping.

Vacation

This past Thursday we all drove down to Buellton, CA for Matthew and Kit's wedding reception. Between the baby and my pumping it took us 10 hours to drive down there. But all things considered, Lilybelle (LB) did amazing in the car. We started out by leaving at four in the morning figuring that if we left early little LB would sleep longer. We stopped at Stockton where we fed the baby and I pumped in the parking lot of Raleys. We got gas and then got back in the car, and headed on. We had planned to stop in Paso Robles, but my bladder didn't make it that far. We stopped at a rest stop, went to the bathroom, fed the baby, and while I pumped in the parking lot Tim and LB played on the grass. We then continued on our way. We settled into our hotel, took a nap, had a nice dinner, and went to bed.

The next day we spend the day in Santa Barbara where we went to the Santa Barbara Zoo, saw the Pacific Ocean, and did some shopping. At the zoo we saw the standard zoo animals, but the highlight was seeing the baby giraffe. So super cute! Lilybelle wasn't impressed as we were, but she enjoyed being pushed around in her stroller.

After we were done with the zoo we went to Stearns Wharf which is the oldest working wharf in California. We had lunch and enjoyed breathtaking views of the ocean.  We then moved onto downtown Santa Barbara and did a little shopping. Like her mother, LB enjoyed looking at the clothes. Our day didn't end there though. We made quick stop at a beach to look for tide pools (no such luck) and to dip our feet in the ocean. LB was taken by surprise by the coldness of the water, but did good. We then met family for a nice dinner. LB enjoyed hanging out with family.

The next day we went to Solvang and spent the day looking at shops with Minden and my parents. After some shopping, we went to Mission Santa Ines. It was an impressive sight to see. The history person in me enjoyed looking at it and trying to construct how people who built the mission would have lived there. The day ended with the wedding reception at a Peruvian horse ranch. The views were amazing, and Matthew and Kit put on a beautiful wedding reception.

We drove home that night, and didn't have to make any feeding stops or pumping stops. A nice change from the rest of the trip.

This trip taught me that my daughter does very well traveling, but change in routine is never easy for a baby. I also learned that you can pump anywhere. I pumped in many many parking lots, and even a horse ranch.