Happy Weekend!

We are enjoying some beyond mild temperatures here in Dallas. The high today was 72 degrees. It definitely doesn't feel like December or the Christmas season. While I am ready for the cold winter weather to kick-in you can't deny what God is giving you so we hit up the park during my lunch break.

If you give this kid some open space she takes off and there is no looking back. I can easily catch her for now but I think I am going to have my work cut out for me as she gets older.

















What a smile!

We are in full holiday decorating mode this weekend. Can't wait to get our tree and put out all of our Christmas decor.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Molly: 12 Months (aka ONE YEAR)

As many of you know by my sappy tweets, FB posts and earlier blogs Molly turned one. In the back of my mind I thought it just might not happen but alas it did. We had an amazing party which you can read about here and here.

I am going to wrap up my monthly updates and progress on Molly with this 12 month post. I will still post updates but no more official month posts.

Its hard to believe it all started way back when in December 2011 with her One Month old post. I almost can't remember her that tiny. Seems like forever ago and yesterday at the same time.

The past month has been a pretty big one around these parts. Our baby officially started walking and she hasn't looked back. I can't remember the last time I saw her crawl. And she has more of a run than a walk. She roams around the house all day carrying toys and stuffed animals. She loves to run around in the front yard. And the park is loads more fun now.

I am in awe of how much development has happened in one short year. Its amazing. She was a teeny tiny helpless baby who could barely open her eyes for more than 5 minutes at a time and now she is a goofy, smart, sassy walking little baby toddler. Wow!

This past month I feel like things have gotten a lot easier/simpler. I feel fully equipped to handle almost any situation. When we go out it feels like we are just two girls out having fun together. I no longer feel stressed, overwhelmed or anxious about anything we do. She is my little partner in crime. And we have so much fun.

To Molly, this past year has been unbelievable in every way and everyday we fall even more in love with you. I can't believe you can love someone so much but its true, its truly overwhelming. Time is flying by so fast and its all I can do to hold on to every little moment. We love you.



Stats:
 Weight- 19lbs 1oz (20%)
 Height- 28" (25%)
 Head- no more head measurements (they stop at 1)

Wearing 9-12mo clothing and some 12-18mo. Still in size 3 diapers but about to move up to 4.

Likes:
Walking (more like running!) everywhere
Picking up her stuffed animals and walking them around the house
Playing with the spoons in the dishwasher
Chatting with herself
Going to the park (and general being outdoors)
Bringing book after book to Mom to read to her

Dislikes:
Going down for naps
Getting Dressed and Diaper Changes
Not getting food when she is hungry
Not being able to reach something she wants

Firsts:
Saying Dada
Tooth! 2 little front bottoms poking through (finally)

Words: Dada was her first word. She talks all the time but not catching any real words yet.

Eating: Going strong. This kid can put the food away! It amazes me how much she eats for such a tiny little thing. We are starting to transition to milk and off of formula and also drinking out of sippy/straw cups during the day and not bottles. An entire post on this to come.

Sleeping: Naps are a little off. I think we are trying to move to 1 nap but she isn't sure what she wants yet. Night time is solid - goes down at 8 wakes up at 7:45.

Turning ONE: The Party (part 2)

Time for Part 2 of the First Birthday Party. I shared all the decorations and "theme" that went into the party in Part 1, now its time to see some party pics of the birthday girl!

We kicked off her birthday with last minute decorating the morning of the party. This meant we woke up the birthday girl to lots and lots of balloons in her playroom. She also saw one of her birthday presents for the first time, her new tent! She loves it.





Party pic in her Tiara with Mom and GG. We couldn't believe how long she left that tiara on.





After some hanging out and eating the party food it was time for cake! I made a very simple boxed (gasp!) strawberry cake. She loves strawberries so I knew it would be a hit.





She was a little confused by the singing and all the attention. But then she warmed up to it.





And started celebrating each bite...





After cake it was time for presents! She wasn't into the unwrapping all that much but she did get excited when things came out of the bags!





Then it was time to play with all her new stuff.





The party was an absolute blast and it was so much fun celebrating our little girl on her big day! We love her so much and we really wanted to have the perfect First Birthday party. It probably wasn't perfect but it was just right for her.



Happy Birthday beautiful girl!

Daddy Daughter Friday: Birthday Moment

We snapped this picture during the smash cake portion of Molly's birthday party. This perfectly captures the relationship between these two. Goofy and playful. I love this.



Hope everybody has a wonderful weekend!

p.s. Check out Part 1 of the Birthday Party.

Turning ONE: The Party (part 1)

This past Saturday, on her actual birthday, we hosted Molly's big 1st Birthday party. It ended up being perfect! But it was quite the work to get it all together and ready before the first guest arrived. And I have sworn off anything elaborate in the next few birthdays.

As I mentioned in a previous post (Birthday Party Planning) I have been planning this in my head since those first early months of her life. And by planning I really mean pinning. Pinterest is ideal for these types of things but it can't lead to a little craziness as well.

The non-theme theme I was going for was lots of bright and fun colors and 1's. 

With the help of my fantastic and overly crafty friend Laura we were able to re-create most of my pins. And it turned out to be one heck of a party!

In this Part 1 post I will share all of the fun decorations!

Welcome! We ushered in guests with the help of the balloon wreath. We plan on using this for many many years to come by simply switching out the 1.

Balloon ceiling! Molly really loved this and it was fairly easy. Its still hanging in our living room.

We used lots of tissue poms and lanterns around the house. And I LOVE the picture collage 1. It was an easy way to share lots of pictures over the past year.

My Mom made an awesome tablecloth full of colorful dots but left it in OKC so this was our last second back-up. Turned out pretty cute (its a small grey chevron pattern). For the food we kept it simple and kid friendly.

The menu:
-Pigs in a blanket
-Burger sliders
-Mini muffin pizzas
-Fruit kabobs
-Chips
-Cheese cubes
-Jello cupcakes


One of my favorite decorations was the monthly photo banner. It was so neat to see how much she changed month-by-month. Really shows how much time flies!


We don't have a mantle in our house (gasp!) so we covered the TV in DIY chevron paper and used the entertainment center as our mantle.


This hat is so adorable. Molly left it on for about 1.5 seconds.


The high-chair we kept pretty simple. A DIY chevron paper for the floor, a ONE banner and a single balloon. Too cute.

The decorations were a hit and Molly really loved all the balloons and pictures of the cute baby (herself) that were everywhere.

We had a great time celebrating our little girl. I will share more of the fun in post 2.

Stay tuned...

Molly is ONE

It happened. Despite my best efforts to make it stop, time continued on and our little baby girl turned ONE on Saturday. I still can't believe we have a one year old. It just doesn't seem possible.

We had a great weekend celebrating and her party was amazing! I will do a post dedicated to her party later this week. Turned out I bit off more than I should have but it ended up being great.

In the meantime, just a simple Happy Birthday Molly! We love you more than you will ever know and this past year has been an incredible journey.

Coming soon! Birthday party, First year of motherhood, and a first year video!

One more day...

This time last year Chase and I were blissfully enjoying our last days (we didn't know it was our very last) of being a family of two three (the dog).

We had finished the nursery, organized everything, packed our hospital bags, made my labor playlist, etc. etc. We were ready. All we needed was a baby.

I worked all day (it was a Wed) and went about my day as usual. I had some Braxton Hicks the night before and my due date was a couple days away so I knew I was close. I had been to the doctor the day before and was 3 cm dilated and the baby was low. Any day now.

I stopped off at my prenatal chiropractor for my adjustment. We had been working to get my body aligned and my hips and pelvis in the perfect place to aid in a smooth and natural delivery. She asked me if I wanted "the adjustment." The one that opens my hips and pelvis all the way and is known to get that baby out. We were ready. I said yes.

I went home, had dinner, went on a walk with our neighbors and settled into bed as usual.

This was our last day and night as two. At 3:30am Molly kicked and woke me up and our journey to a family of 3 began.

364 days ago...

Munchkin Meals: Challenges

Been awhile since I have written about Munchkin Meals but its mostly because I think we are pretty boring when it comes to meals. So, that fits this months theme...challenges! Big thanks to Brittany at A Healthy Slice of Life for hosting this linkup. And hopefully getting this Mom out of a rut.



I will admit, I am going to piggy back off of Madeline at Food, Fitness, & Family and talk about snacks.

Molly is now up to 3 meals a day and 2-3 snacks depending on how well she is napping (aka not well lately!). And I struggle so much to find good snacks for her.

She is a carb fiend! Unfortunately I know where she got that from. (shamefully pointing at myself) She loves puffs, graham crackers, mum-mums, cheerios, vanilla wafers etc. etc. etc. I like those options because they are quick and easy, portable, and she can eat them w/out making a huge mess. She is also a big fan of blueberries (woah, baby crack!) and grapes. I try to save the blueberries for her dessert with meals so those are out for snacks.

So, I need something a little less carb heavy and more nutritious. We are about to give peanut butter a try so hopefully she has no allergies and we can weave that into snacks.

In the meantime...CARB LOAD!



So help me out Moms and link up to Brittany's Munchkin Meals with snack ideas!

Trick-or-Treat

Halloween came and went last week and it was a blast! It was Molly's last first holiday (did you follow that?) and we wanted to go all out. Halloween also happens to be one of my favorite holidays and I am going to thoroughly enjoy using my child as an excuse to celebrate for years to come.



We decided to go trick-or-treating this year even though Molly wouldn't really know what was going on. Start the traditions early right! And with her new skill of walking it made it all that more fun.

We headed to a friends neighborhood that immediately took me back to my childhood. Streets were full of kids and all the neighbors were participating in handing out candy. And some houses really took it to another level with the decorations.









Check out this house!





A family of ladybugs. Featuring Super Gentleman bug!







Molly got a kick out of walking up to the big bowls of candy and picking something out. And she really liked going through her loot when we got home. We let her eat one piece of candy, a mini Twizzler. The rest is ours!



Hope everyone had a great Halloween.

Next up: Saturday is somebody's first birthday!