My Baby Is ONE!!

Say it isn't so!  We are completely in love with our little Summer but OH boy, what a year.  From those very first moments we should have known we didn't get one of those perfect babies!

Almost EVERY picture we have of Summer in the hospital, she has her eyes open.  She didn't sleep a lot- even at just a couple days old.  There was one of our signs.

Another sign?  Crying hard enough and holding her breath long enough to turn purple.  Even the nurses weren't too fond of that!  Once we left the hospital, she continued to be awake and cry for very long periods of time.  I couldn't believe how much she didn't sleep.  I thought newborns slept!  But not this one.

Oh it wasn't all bad.  She did have plenty of sweet moments.  Awake of course.  Cause remember?  She didn't sleep very good.  But she was pretty fun to snuggle with, and most of the crying would usually not start until about six in the evening.  And then last until about ten at night.

Always right about the time we would want to start our evening plans.  Like meeting a new cousin and going out for supper.  We loved her dearly but those were some rough days.

Three months later she was STILL crying!

BUT then things started getting better slowly but surely.  The evening crying turned to three hours, then two, then eventually just when she got tired.  What a relief!  And she started doing really good just playing by herself for pretty long periods of time.

Around seven months we really started noticing that she was a clear different baby than who we brought home from the hospital.  She was getting so fun!

Oh, she still had her moments.  Especially when trying something new.  A new food, a new person, a new place to splash in the water...

But in the last couple months she has just turned into one of the most smiley,

 sweet,

and goofy babies.

We just love being her parents.  It's so fun to watch her grow and develop and learn new things.  So happy birthday dear Summer!  We can't wait to see what the next year with you brings!

Oh, and she finally sleeps.

(for the most part)

Birthday Party Round 1

This past weekend we were out in IL for Mother's Day, to see a long lost aunt and uncle from CO, and to celebrate Summer's first birthday!  Her birthday isn't actually until May 23 but I really wanted to see my aunt and uncle!  So we decided to just go this weekend and have a party a little early out there.  We'll still do a little something on her birthday here but not the big bash.

We went with a little bit of a bumblebee theme.  Cause, you know, it's her first B day.

Her throne.

The goods.  Nice and simple:)  We had pizza with just my family and then a few extras joined us later for dessert.

Her special sign made by daddy!

A little tentative at first- I didn't have very high expectations.  She eats about as dainty as she looks.  One little bite at a time.  So I figured she wouldn't dig in too much.

But she surprised me and did a pretty good job!  Once she had that first taste of frosting it was a done deal.  I was kind of excited:)

Sunday night we had a big family Mother's Day gathering with my dad's side of the family and we were able to go!  It's pretty depressing to leave when EVERYBODY is getting together just an hour later.  Danny had a few extra days he could use so he graciously said we could stay Sunday night still and not come back until Monday.  I was so happy about that!  We had a great weekend!

A Weekend In The Southland

This past weekend, Danny and I along with his sister and her hubby loaded up our babies, their gear, all our luggage, and ourselves and headed down for a spectacular weekend in Alabama!

Summer got to play in the good ole preschool once before it closes.  I'm sure it will mean nothing to her once she's older!

One of the must do's in Athens is getting some good eats that we don't normally get.  Recently, a Jamaican restaurant opened right in town and I was so excited to go!  If you know me at all, you know that I love Jamaica dearly and it was my first love as far as mission trips and such go.  Since then, my love has also spread to Mexico but that's beside the point.  For about 10 years though, my life pretty much revolved around that annual trip to Jamaica.  So when I heard this place opened, going to try it out was not an option.  It was mandatory.  And it did not disappoint!  The food was amazing and the owners were great.  And even though they've been in the states for a good 15 years, that accent that I love is holding on strong!  Danny made the comment that he's pretty sure that won't be our last visit if I have any say in the matter and he's right:)

It was also wonderful to catch up with our friends down there.  Saturday night there was a big group gathering and Sunday night just a few of us were together for the evening.

Monday morning before we left we went to the preschool for a little while to see the kids.  We got to watch graduation practice which was so fun and sure brought back lots of memories.

Then it was time to head home:(  So we loaded up our fussy babies and hit the road.  Oh wait- only one baby was really fussy.  And she was mine.  Sigh....  

Around Louisville, we realized we may have cut things a liiiiiiitle bit close when it came to filling up with gas.  But we made it!

It was a great weekend but I sure slept good in my own bed when we got home!  Thanks to everyone in Athens who made it special to be there again!

In Case You Haven't Heard....

We Are Expecting!

I thought my due date was going to be October 15.  But the ultrasound showed later:(  So we're going with October 23 now.  Not as far as I thought but oh well I guess!

I haven't been feeling too bad.  Not great, but it could be a lot worse.  I was definitely more sick with Summer.  Maybe it's a boy?  Or maybe I'm just not as sick this time.

Danny's sister is due about two months before me and my brother's wife is due about two weeks before me!  That part is super fun because for so long it seemed like there wouldn't be any cousins on my side of the family that would be the same age.  So we're pretty excited about that:)

Summer and the new baby will be 17 months apart.  Doable but busy!  Actually I probably have NO IDEA how busy it will be.  But we will survive!

A Journey To My Homeland

Every so often I start getting that antsy feeling where I know that it's TIME for me to go home for awhile.  The time had come.  It started off with a "let's meet halfway" lunch with some of my nearest and dearest friends.  I rode back to IL with them and had a few extra days to be there than I had originally planned which was great!  Danny came out after work on Friday to join the fun:)

We met at The Homestead and just had the best time talking and laughing and catching up.  It's possible we were the loudest ones in the restaurant.

The next few days were spent having some quality time with my family and helping my brother and his family move into their new house!  My nephew took his job of digging in the dirt very very seriously.  It's important work, you know!!

This girl.  Squeezed into the van filled with things to move.  She looks so grown up!  Oh wait- she is grown up.

I loved every minute of my time out there.  It was just what I needed.  I do love my family!

Happy Anny To Us!!

March 2 marked a whopping two years for us!  It was a Wednesday night though, so we celebrated by having a tasty supper at home and going to church:)  But Friday we went out on the town!  Kind of.  I mean, we were almost at the restaurant early enough to get the early bird menu and when we got home is when people who truly "go out on the town" were most likely just leaving.  But it worked for us!

We ate at Black Canyon for supper which might just be my new favorite!  We both really liked it.

Then it was off to the ice rink!  We've been talking about going ice skating since we got engaged and it finally happened.  Danny grew up skating on the family pond and he's pretty good.  Me?  Well, we'll just say I'm not the worst one on the rink and leave it at that.

I love you, honey and I love the two years we've had together.  Can't wait to see what year number three brings!

Aaaaaannnnd...... We're Back. 9 Months!!!

Well after a three month hiatus, I decided to jump back in to posting.  And by jump back in, I mean we'll see if it actually lasts:)  But I've posted about Summer at three months and six months so I figured nine months was a good time to start up again.  Plus we have some fun things coming up in March so it's a good motivator for me to just do it!  So without further ado...

Hi.  It's me.  I'm 9 months old today!

Woo Hoo!  Pretty exciting stuff!!

I am scooting everywhere, but not officially crawling, and I can go from laying down to sitting up now.  I'm not a huge fan of big people food.  I'd much prefer to just stick with a liquid diet.  But I do eat a few bites of food here and there just to make my parents happy.  And speaking of my liquid diet, I'm on formula now.  The doctor told my mommy I was losing weight and needed more nutrition.  I'm just a little pipsqueak to start with (somewhere in the 3-5% range) so I didn't have much to lose.  It took me a little while to get used to it, but now I gobble it down because I am a hungry girl!  Hungry enough that I started waking up again at night demanding food.  The doctor also told mommy that since I'm trying to catch up on my weight gain, she should get up and feed me.  I love it!  Mommy doesn't love it, but she does say that it's easier than just letting me cry it out!

A lot of times I'm a pretty happy go lucky baby.  But I definitely still have my fussy side where I like to whine just for the sake of whining.  I'm starting to learn the word "no".  Cause mommy always tells me that when I get into her computer cord.  But I usually just smile at her and get it anyway.  She'll move me away from it but I usually head back again in just a few minutes.  I wave, clap my hands, and sometimes give high fives.  But only when I'm in the mood of course.

Oh, and my mommy bought me this hat that's much too big.  It will fit a lot better next winter but I wear it sometimes just to humor her.  She thinks it's cute.

Well, that's all for now.  I'll report back again sometime- probably in a few months when I turn ONE!!

P.S.  I didn't have mommy proofread this, so there might be a few typos.  Don't blame her!!