We went to our local zoo a few days ago and it was a blast! She's at such a fun age now and we enjoyed seeing everything through her eyes. She LOVED riding the train and the merry-go-round and loved exploring.
Here are some pictures from our day... Enjoy!
She is such a blessing and I can't believe that this awesome little girl is all mine.
Life is flying by so quickly. My stresses and worries today will seem silly 5 months from now. I need to just breathe and realize that my little girl won't be little forever. I want to remember every little thing about life, RIGHT NOW. My life with a 14 month old.
Miss Eisley Bean,
As cliche as it sounds, you are the light of my life. Every little smile you give me and every time I kiss your face I realize why God put me on this earth. You are such a spunky little girl. I love watching you just be you. You carry on conversations with yourself. If you hear music you stop what you're doing and "dance". You have become quite the little parrot, with every noise I make you try to copy. You know who strangers are and cling tight to me when you feel nervous or unsure of someone. You are attached to my hip and I wouldn't have it any other way. I wish those moments you lay on my shoulder, like you did when you were a newborn, would last forever. You love holding my hand. Whenever and wherever is convenient for you, I'm there... even if I have to drive one-handed. I love how your little hand fits perfectly around my finger. Don't ever stop. I always want you to have that comfort of having mommy by your side.
I love watching you around other kids. You know they are just like you. In your music class, you love giving hugs and kisses to any baby that's in your field of view. You are such a happy baby. Don't ever change. Whether it be a picture or an actual child, your face lights up when you see another little you. You squeal "Baaaay-beee!" and wave. It's the sweetest thing ever.
With this age comes quite a bit of attitude. Some days I let it stress me out too much. I know, you are just a baby. You're trying to communicate with me in the only way you know how. I'm trying to be more patient. I'm thankful you won't really remember everything about this time in your life, because there are days when I look at you and say "I don't know what you want, Eisley!" while you continue to grunt. You are teaching me patience. I'm trying to push my stubbornness and control issues aside and realize I'm not perfect and you aren't here to drive me crazy. This is life with a toddler.
Have I mentioned how smart you are? I may be biased, but I think you are just a genius ;) You understand so much. I'll ask you to get something and most of the time, you'll get it. I'll ask you if you're ready to go bye-bye and you nod your head yes. It's precious. You love hanging out with your Daddy. As soon as I hear the garage door open I say, "Daddy's home!" and your face lights up and you run to the kitchen to wait for him. I love the relationship you two have. It's grown so much since you've got older. I can't wait to see it blossom even more.
You are getting older everyday. I feel like you are becoming such a big girl. You are getting better at using utensils now, all though still quite messy. You don't want me to hold your hand in the car anymore, which I used to find difficult I now miss. You would rather walk sometimes than be held. You are just growing up too fast. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy every minute with you but I can't help to be sad just thinking of how little you used to be. That tiny helpless newborn is now an outgoing loving toddler. It's sick how fast life has goes. But I am so thankful to be your mom. I could go on for days how much I love you, but I'll stop here.
Love you stinky face!
Our sweet little baby girl is officially 1 YEAR OLD!
I can't believe it's all ready been one whole year since we met her. I know every parent says that, but it's so true. Sometimes it's so hard for me to remember her as a newborn. It feels like an eternity ago. She is such a toddler now. She walks all over the place. She eats table food. She understands words, phrases and sentences. She drinks cow's milk... Goodness. She's such a big girl!
For her birthday we just had a small little get together. We all celebrated Eisley's first year with food, presents and ladybugs. It was a ladybug themed party. I didn't go overboard and cover my entire house in red and black. It was quaint and cute. I made the decorations so it gave me and excuse to be crafty!
The day itself was kind of stressful and all I have to blame is myself. I didn't prep as much as I wanted the day before. I was still doing last minute decorations and I felt like I wasn't focusing 100% on Eisley. Ugh. Always the guilt with me. She also woke up in a bad mood. We tried telling her it was her birthday, but she didn't seem to care lol. All in all it really was an amazing day. She actually loved her cake. I made a healthy cake, sweetened only with organic bananas and apples. I got the recipe here! Like every momentous occasion, it went by super quick.
I am looking forward to what the next year will bring. What new skills she will learn. The little person she will continue to grow into. This is the most fun part of being a parent... watching your child develop into a tiny person. I love watching her see things for the first time. She says "Ooooo!" when she sees something new. It's adorable. When she hears a dog barking, she mimics it in her own little way. I am absolutely in love with this little girl.
Watching Daddy make pancakes :)[/caption]
We tried taking her 1 Year pictures but she wanted nothing to do with them... Especially sitting still. (One of the few decent ones)[/caption]Most of the pics looked like this...
Happier now that she has a balloon :)[/caption]
Opening presents![/caption]
Daddy, Eisley and her new rocking horse![/caption]
I have felt like breaking down and crying at many different points over the last week.
I'm sorry to start this off so negatively. It's just how I have felt. I feel like it's just naturally something that happens when your child is about to turn 1. We have hit the 11 month mark and to my surprise, I was overwhelmed with a wave of emotions the day she turned 11 months. It felt like fall, which reminded me of her newborn days in St. Louis... carrying around this tiny little girl, just trying to figure out who she was. I remember looking out our front window and watching the leaves change colors and thinking about how fun her first Thanksgiving would be. Fall is my favorite time of year and I was so excited to share it with our daughter.
Now,almost one year later the weather feels exactly the same. However we are in a different city and my daughter is almost a toddler. She took her first steps yesterday (eek!!), she can feed herself, she understands phrases and words and she knows who mama and dada are. Where did my baby go?! I say that often now. Seriously why is time going so fast?
Being in the last month of her first year is so bittersweet. It's so exciting to see how she changes everyday and what a "big girl" she's becoming, yet it's sad because she's slowly becoming less and less dependent on me. And soon I won't be able to say "This time last year I was pregnant..." Has it really almost been an ENTIRE year since I first looked into her little eyes? It just doesn't seem possible.
Ugh. I will stop being a Debbie Downer. This is also a really exciting time for many reasons. I love the little person she is. She is at a really fun age of exploring and learning new things. She is such a friendly, social baby and smiles at everyone she sees (even strangers at the grocery store) It's also pretty fun to plan her birthday. It's going to be a ladybug theme so I'm obsessed with finding all things ladybug or red and black polka dots. This is the fun part about having kids, right? Growing up, changing, evolving, becoming their own person? I just need to breathe and soak in every last baby moment. I'm secretly praying she never grows taller and keeps her chubby little hands forever. Hey, I can dream!
Happy September!
I honestly can't believe it's all ready nearing the end of summer. I also can't believe that I can officially say that my daughter is turning 1 NEXT MONTH! I really need to start on her birthday decorations and experiment with a practice "smash cake" before the big day. So much to do this month.
Since summer is coming to an end soon, I thought I would share some of our experiences from the past 4 1/2 months! It was so fun to enjoy Eisley's first summer (outside of the womb)! Granted a lot of it was HOT HOT HOT. There were many days back in June and July that the temperature was well over 100 degrees. But, we still enjoyed little family outings and letting her experience new things!
So here was our summer in pictures. Enjoy :)
Went swimming for the first time![/caption]
Got to play with a good friend![/caption]
Sweet babies! [Only 9 days apart][/caption]
We celebrated father's day![/caption]
Started sleeping on her tummy [don't worry, she's breathing][/caption]
She turned 8 months old![/caption]
We went to the zoo![/caption]
Looking at the dolphins[/caption]
She turned 9 months old![/caption]
She started eating solid food! [that's a puff in her mouth][/caption]
She started crawling!![/caption]
We went to the State Fair![/caption]
Eisley and Daddy started playing the piano together![/caption]
She turned 10 months old![/caption]It's definitely been a fun summer.
Eisley makes life so much happier. We couldn't be more blessed. I can't wait for fall and all the fun and holidays that come with it. It's my favorite time of year, and now we have a sweet little bean to share it with!
It was a very rare week for us here. Craig had the entire week off of work! That NEVER happens! It was beautiful. Eisley and I were spoiled having him here everyday. She loved having someone else to hang out with other than me. I think she gets bored when it's just me. Daddy is the fun cool one.
Since moving back home we have definitely been taking advantage of all our city has to offer. We are literally a 15-20 minute drive to everything! We are only about a 10 minute drive from this cute little town that has tons of cute shops, park, and restaurants. We go there often usually just to walk around and take it all in. I am so thankful to be where we are. I feel like we have come full circle and we get to raise our daughter near where Craig and I grew up. It's pretty special.
We decided to take some pictures of Eisley at the park today. I was slacking taking her official 10 month pictures so I decided to make today's pictures her "10 Month" pictures. That turned out amazing. I may be a little bias but goodness gracious is my daughter freaking beautiful or what?! I still have to pinch myself sometimes that this gorgeous little firecracker is ours. How blessed are we...?
