She is One!

Hard to believe that this is the last time I will post a picture of a baby with her blocks. That ONE year went by so quickly. And I will forever be grateful for the way that she has filled our hearts and completed our family. This sweet girl just makes me smile!

On the 24th she had her one year well child check-up with Dr. Branham and I was excited to see how much she had grown. Her weight was 22 lbs 9 oz and her length was 30 and one-eights of an inch. She was in the 75th percentile across the board so pretty similar to Kiersten in size. Right now she is still pretty quiet. The Doctor wants us to work on getting her to verbalize more. She said to remind big sisters to be quiet so Hattie can get a word in edgewise, ha! But really, she is doing fantastic with her sign language. She will sign milk, eat and all done with ease. And most of the time I think she is so quiet because she is busy sucking her thumb! This is my first thumb sucker so breaking her of that habit will be fun, I'm sure.

She is a speed crawler. And is slowly edging her way towards walking. She will be the latest of my three to walk. Leah was walking at 11 months and Kiersten was at 10 months. Dr. Branham noticed that she still has the babinski reflex in her feet and that her toes curl so when that is gone, she will take off. Which has already started to happen. She is being brave and standing much more on her own and in the last few days she has started letting us hold her hands and help her walk. She's come along way in just a day or two.

Her appetite is amazing. There is nothing this kid won't eat. She loves sweet peppers, carrots and butternut squash. She even eats asparagus and green beans too. So far she loves her daddy's chicken on the grill just like mommy and is a big fan of black olives too! About two weeks ago I started weaning her off the bottle, and she didn't struggle at all, so then I just decided to get rid of it all together and she could have cared less. My sweet girl loves her sippy cup and isn't looking back. What a joy she is! And her sisters love her so much too. On to the next chapter...Toddlerhood!

Hattie's One Year Pictures

This is another picture heavy post. Back in mid-June I took Hattie to April Mateer Photography over by Taylorville to get her one year pictures done. And they turned out so stinking adorable I almost can't stand it. April was amazing. She let me do multiple wardrobe changes and we did inside and outside. I would recommend her to anyone in the area wanting to get pictures done. Love my sweet girl, and she is so pretty in pink!

Swimming Hattie

 

Yesterday was my sweet Hattie's first birthday. Fortunately Mitch had arrived home from Montreal late the night before and was ready to spend the day at home with the girls and I. So we decided to go to Charleston and take the girls swimming at the pool. Gigi joined us with Macy and Colby. I knew that the big sisters were going to have a great time...they always do. But this would be Hattie's first time in the water other than the five minutes she spent in the water at the Dell's for Christmas. I wasn't sure how she was going to react, but she did great. She loved it. She easily sat in the water for almost two hours. I reapplied sun screen and kept her hat on her to ensure she wouldn't get a sunburn. She did so well, I can't wait for us to do it again!

Party Guest

I wish I could have captured pictures of all of the guest with Hattie on her special day, but with 50 people there that just wasn't going to happen. We feel so blessed to have made such good friends here in Decatur. In addition Aunt Laura and Uncle Jeff came from Arizona. Aunt Carol and Uncle Randy came from Hillsboro and my cousins Tara, Tiffany and Melissa all traveled to Mt. Zion with their kids. It was fantastic to see everyone and I hope they all had as much fun as we did!

Look WHO's Turning One!

This past weekend we celebrated Hattie's first birthday with all our friends and family. The owl themed celebration was held at Spittler Woods and there were 50 people there to sing to our sweet girls. I was a little nervous that the weather wasn't going to hold out, but thankfully the party was scheduled from 10-noon and it held off until at least 11:30. It was a perfect morning. The temperature was just right and it was party cloudy so everyone was able to enjoy themselves without sweltering in the summer heat.

This post is definitely picture heavy. I had a photographer, Ashley the owner of Peace Hill at the party and she gave me 188 amazing pictures from the day. It was so hard to narrow it down to just these. She did an amazing job, and I really felt like I got to enjoy the day instead of running around snapping pictures of all the goings on.

Mitch and I worked very hard on making this party exceptional. Since the trees fell in our yard, I was able to have him craft my perfect "log" looking cupcake stands. He cracked them out in about an hour. He is totally amazing.  I ordered the cupcakes from Wal-Mart, and the Owl cookies were from Kathy's cookies in Charleston. She makes the cutest stuff! We both worked on the owl treat bags and my friends helped me out along the way too. Tisha and Denise came and helped me decorate. Mandi cut out all the cupcake topper and treat bag tags. I made the tutu, and Mandi instructed me on how to make tissue paper pom poms. It all came together and looked amazing!

The kids had so much fun playing on the playground equipment. And we brought a t-ball and golf set. Really I think they just enjoyed being able to chase on another and running and screaming outside. It's been much too rainy this summer.

Around 10:40 we decided to do cake. Hattie was unsure of it at first but it only took her a minute to get going. She was digging in like a pro. She had icing up to her elbows and her hands and face were certainly covered. We didn't let her play in it too long. Aunt Laura and I cleaned her up good and then she was off crawling around in search of dropped goldfish to snack on. She put on a good show for everyone too, playing "So Big" and blowing kisses. Such a little cutie! It was a great day and I hope someday she enjoys looking back at the pictures as much as I do!