dinner date with daddy

Matt is working in the Emergency Department and has been working a lot of strange hours lately. Kate has also been a little under the weather for about a week now and last Monday was a particularly bad day.  She started to perk up a little bit later in the afternoon, so she and I packed up and headed to the children's hospital for a dinner date with Matt.  Kate was more than excited to see her daddy, and it was a great way to see him on a day that she otherwise wouldn't have.

such a pretty place (and a pretty girl)

lots of hugs for daddy

Kate's First Birthday Party

The theme was butterflies...not because Kate really likes them or has any attachment to them, but because I think they're cute and they were a fun first birthday party theme.  We decorated the house with lots of handmade butterfly cut-outs and had a butterfly shaped cake, the plates and napkins had butterflies on them, you get the idea.

I made Kate a fun birthday banner with fabrics from her monthly photos, hopefully this thing lasts for a while:)

The birthday girl making a grand entrance, complete with *1* onesie and her pink tutu pants (thanks, Aunt Barb!)

Kate had her own cupcake, but didn't really care much for it.  She just played with it, picked it apart, and licked it off her fingers a little bit once everyone stopped looking at her.

butterflies on the window

butterflies on the lamp

lots of balloons and a photo from each month:)

We had a very fun day and are so thankful for our families who came and celebrated our fabulous first birthday girl.  Thank you!

Kate's 1st Birthday!

Last week my baby turned one.  I absolutely cannot believe how fast the last year has gone.  I remember bringing her home from the hospital, those first few sleepless nights, struggles with breastfeeding, the joys of her first smiles, learning to enjoy my days at a different pace, watching her become more aware of her surroundings, leaving my job at the American Cancer Society, struggles with napping, learning to roll over, then to sit up, then to crawl.  I remember so many things, big and small with her.

Most of all I remember God's faithfulness.  He has walked alongside us, teaching us and growing us this whole time.  Even when Matt was working crazy hours and I felt like I had no idea what I was doing, God has been faithful.  Kate has been an extremely healthy baby and is, for the most part, and extremely happy baby.  She is still a little peanut, but she's growing and developing, and that is really something we are thankful for.  We have learned SO much and have SO many amazing, fun memories of this first year together.

To celebrate this little one's big day, we had lunch with Aunt Tessa at home.  Then, after her nap, Grandma came over and we went to dinner with she and Grandpa.

opening her first birthday gift

After dinner, Kate's little friends (ok, so really they are our friends and they happen to also have little ones) came over for butterfly cookies and ice cream.

Aunt Tessa helping her eat a cookie...most of it ended up on the floor:)

Kate loves her little friend, Eli, and his momma too! 

birthday kisses

All in all, it was a really fun day.  Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate Kate and the wonderful blessing she is.

12 Months!

Wow, where does the time go? Our baby is one! There is a lot more to come, but we'll start out with a few of her 12 month photos from yesterday...

I hate lying down, why do you guys make me do this?

standing up is much better!

birthday beginnings

Matt works with some pretty great people at the hospital and we got to have dinner with some of them last week.  Andy and Julie have been friends to Matt ever since he started residency, and it wasn't until about this time last year that we finally had them over for dinner.  Then it took another whole year to coordinate three crazy doctors schedules to get them back:) They not only brought really yummy thai chicken and naan, but also an early birthday gift for our little peanut.

Andy is really into haiku poems and Julie has picked up on it too.  This was the cute, personalized gift tag:)

Kate wasn't quite sure what to do with it, but got the hang of unwrapping eventually:)

Yay for sports stuff! Thank you SO much, Andy and Julie

We've had a lot of fun playing with the new balls so far, and Kate seems to favor the soccer ball.  We'll see what her future brings:)

fun in the fall leaves

I've been wanting to take pictures of Kate in the leaves for a while now, but we don't have many in our yard and I kept forgetting my camera when we went on walks.  The other day, we were coming home from the grocery store and I spotted a really good spot in our neighborhood for the pictures...lots of leaves...good background...good lighting...etc.  So, I quickly unloaded the groceries and loaded Kate up in the stroller.  By the time we got there, the landscaping guys had already sucked up half of the leaves and the sun was getting dangerously low.  But, we gave it the old college try and ended up with some pretty cute pictures.  For your viewing enjoyment....

pretty in pink

...because how can these pictures not bring a smile to your face?

Happy Saturday!