One Year Old!

It's so hard for me to believe that my little girl is already a year old (ok, now a year and 3 weeks!)...but I absolutely love going back and looking at pictures from the past year.  I'm always amazed at how much she has grown and changed and learned in just this short amount of time.

On Cynthia's actual birthday, Josh was out of town for work, so me and her celebrated with a muffin and a candle!  My family also came over for the afternoon and dinner, it was fun to have them around!  Then, the next weekend we had a little birthday part with family and friends from church, it was pretty low key.  Cynthia made her way outside, and into the planter.  Yes, I'm the mom that let my one year old play in the dirt at her birthday party in her pretty dress.  But hey, she was happy and having a good time, and clothes are washable!  She got some great toys, but was a bit overwhelmed by all the activity going on!

On another note, she has transitioned amazingly to whole milk and solids, while getting off the bottle!  I was so worried about how that would go, and how she would be able to go to bed since she always took a bottle right before bed, but it didn't faze her one bit!  I think it was harder on me because I loved that snuggly time at the end of the day.  She does love to eat, and does quite a bit of it throughout the day too!  She loves to eat so much that anytime one of us goes into the kitchen, she comes in after us thinking that she's going to get fed!

She did have her first two teeth FINALLY come in the week of her birthday.  She handled her one year shots like a champ, and is in the 97th %ile for weight and height.

She's definitely turned into a walker now, and also likes to climb on the ottomans in the living room.  She's always so pleased with herself when she makes it up!

We have decided that the two words that we would use to describe Cynthia would be SWEET and ADVENTUROUS!  She's not afraid of a challenge, picks up new things quickly, but loves to snuggle and cuddle!

I'm so excited about what the next year has in store for us, and we cherish everyday for the blessing that it is!

Josh's grandfather passed away, and this is from the funeral in Crockett.  She was so happy to be outside and out of her carseat!

At the ship channel loving on daddy!

Trying to walk in the lumpy grass.

A family picture from the funeral in Crockett.

We made a trip to the zoo while we were in Houston.  She held onto her ticket for so long!

Love this face!

Family picture at the zoo

Cynthia and her cousins, Macy, Logan, and Taylor...this is the only one where they're not running off...

Cynthia was not afraid of looking at this chimp

We paid to feed the giraffes, and she did not want to let go of that piece of lettuce, it was HERS!

Saturday morning waffles

Yet again, happy with food in our mouth/hands!

Cynthia and her cousins at the zoo again!

LOVE THIS FACE!

Yep, she hoisted herself up onto the ottoman, and then the chair

This is the girl that I know and love!

"I'm ONE!"

Mom of the Year award, playing in the dirt on her first birthday!

First birthday muffin

Playing in the dirt

"...so when do I get to eat?"

Yummy cupcake!

We love it when crazy Aunt Cat comes to visit!

She's learned the stairs at Grandpapa's house

Lovin' on mom at the ship channel

9 month old funny girl

It's still so hard for me to believe that I'm actually a mommy, much less that I have a 9 1/2 month old girl! It has been a total joy though to see her grow and change and learn new things. She's still so observant and always wants to be a part of what's going on and appears to often be trying to figure out how things work. At he last appointment she weighed in in the 91st percentile for weight and height, and she's doing great!! She loves to feed herself and has seemed to like just about everything that we give her and has gotten really good at getting it all in her mouth. We recently had some laughs at Thanksgiving because she stole a roll out of my hand and wanted to eat the whole thing! She doesn't have any teeth yet, but there should be one just about any day now!

As she's gotten older there are definitely some funny moments that just crack us up:

1. She has learned how to open the cabinets (we've got the locks on them now) and opened the cabinet with the cat food in it. She had pulled out one of the cans before we caught her, and as we watched her quietly she was happily opening and closing the cabinet. Then she saw us and had this 'busted' moment where she moved herself out of the way and closed the cabinet, but then looked down and saw the evidence she left behind...the can of cat food! The next day she found the cabinet with her old bottles in them and proceeded to play with the bottles, the lids and scatter them all around her.

2. Cynthia loves the cats and loves to chase after the cats and tries to coerce them to come to her by shrieking. As one of the cats would hide safely under our bed, Cynthia would crawl up to the bed and just try to reach under it. One day I walked into our room, knowing that Cynthia was in there, and saw her little legs under the bed...yes she ducked and crawled under the bed to chase after the cat, and she was able to crawl her way out before we were able to snap a picture. But you can bet that we were just cracking up. She's also gotten good at trying to crawl under the kitchen table!

3. There have been a few things that we just didn't think about when it comes to baby proofing...like leaving our suitcase out as we were packing for thanksgiving....yes, she crawled herself on top of out suitcase. And then yesterday, when I had one of the tubs of Christmas decorations out Josh and I turned around to find her sitting on top of the tub...

4. She has learned to clap which is super cute! And she has learned to shake her head, but she can only shake it no...but it's so cute because she has to think about it!

5. And yesterday...we pulled a rookie parenting mistake. I had laid her down for a nap, and a few minutes later all was quiet so we went to check on her. And as josh opened the door we find a girl that is standing up staring back at us. We just turned around and shut the door hoping that would work...but no! We just laughed that she was standing there being so quiet!


Some of our other favorite of recent are when she wakes up in the morning and is just babbling to herself. She also loves to join in on bed and crawl over all the pillows and blanket! It is such a blessing to be parents to this wonderful little girl knowing that God has crafted her just so!!

Is it already November?

Where oh where has the time gone?  I'm a little saddened that it's been since August that I've blogged, but I guess it's safe to say that I've been a little busy!  I will also say that it's hard being a working mom!  Cynthia is at a great day care and we absolutely love it, but so often I look at my computer only to see her smiley face and wish that I was around her to make her smile.  And not to mention that we're all tired by the time that we get home, so the house has taken a bit of a back seat!

I do look at her sweet little face and still realize what a little miracle she is!  And there are times that I am still shocked that I'm a mommy!  When Randi says that Cynthia's mommy is here to pick her up, it just sounds so weird sometimes!  But, I LOVE BEING A MOMMY!  Josh is being a great daddy and Cynthia just LOVES him!

It's amazing how fast they grow and learn.  Cynthia is crawling, quite quickly, and of course pulling herself up on everything!  She's also totally into chowing down and loves feeding herself just about everything that we give her!  She still hasn't broken her first tooth, but that doesn't slow her down at all.

Well, here are some of the newest pics...

Our 8 month old Angel!

With Grandmama and Grandpapa

Ready to watch our first Aggie game!

Going for a walk on a Saturday morning!

Loving the swings at the park!

Chowing down on some bananas

We survived our first stomach bug and ear infection within in day of each other.  This was my snuggly, sleepy, not feeling well girl.

Someone really loves her daddy! 

Doesn't that face just say, "I'm up to no good!"

Dressed up as a strawberry for Halloween

Passing out candy for Halloween 

6 months old and back to work!

Well, we've hit the six month mark...and it's happened way too fast! Cynthia is doing so good, and I'm daily still amazed with our little blessing.  She's still on the "bigger" end, 95th percentile for length and 92nd percentile for weight!  Her coordination has gotten so much better, she is able to immediately bring just about anything she wants directly to her mouth!  Cynthia is sitting up on her own and squirms around a bit.  She's still sleeping through the night, which I appreciate as I've headed back to work!  Yep, inservice is well under way and students come back soon.  We've found a great day care for Cynthia and she's doing great and loving it so far, and actually the day care is out of a house just a block away!  I will say that Cynthia just loves being a part of everything and is so observant.  I really think that she just loves watching and learning as the other kids are playing!  So here are some pics...

Everyone always says that she's so sweet and she really is happy all the time, here's proof that she does cry...but it totally makes me laugh sometimes!

Teething???  I think so!

Being a ham for our 6 month photos!

Yummm!

Cynthia totally smiles like this everytime she sees her daddy come into the room...even if she's tired and cranky and fighting with mommy!

Happy baby!

4th of July...almost 4 months old

A favorite past-time...finding those toes and sucking!

Cynthia gets so excited when Princess is anywhere near...and Princess actually lets Cynthia pet, er, pull on her for just a second!

One of my favorites!

In our big girl high chair getting ready for some yummy pears, or sweet potatoes, or green beans...

A visit from some dear friends...  The kid in the middle is now 17 and I so remember when he was born!

Cynthia playing in her high chair at Chuy's

Playing and spending time with Uncle Michael!