1 Year Portraits: Attempt #1

This past weekend we were planning on taking pictures of Loralye to mark her 1st birthday out at Red Rock, but things did not work out for us. The last time we were out there, they were having a free admission deal and it was next to empty. This weekend was a different story though. It had just snowed there, so everyone and their mother showed up. We never even got out of the car. So we went back home, ate lunch, and headed outside to try to get some good pictures regardless of the non-snowy background. Thanks to my funny hubby, I got plenty of happy baby shots! We'll try Red Rock again after the snow hype dies down :)

Before going outside...

Aaron was snapping his fingers above the camera to get her attention and she was trying to snap back!

Chubbiest face ever!

LOVE this!

Super baby!!

Be Not Troubled

Every generation, I suppose, sees the time in which they live as being exceptional. The truth of the matter is, you do live in a most exceptional time in the history of mankind. You ... will see events transpire which were prophesied from the beginning of the world. Prophets of old have seen your days and rejoiced in them. And yet, you will face challenges and circumstances, the severity of which has been unparalleled in generations past. For this you must be prepared. We know not the day nor the hour of His coming, but of this you may feel assured:

You stand close to the great day of the Lord!

In His words of modern revelation, we say to you, “Seek the face of the Lord, always” (D&C 101:38). You will live in the midst of economic, political and spiritual instability. When you see these signs—unmistakable evidences that His coming is nigh—be not troubled, but,

“stand … in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come” (D&C 87:8).

President Ezra Taft Benson
New Era, May 1982

Big Girl

Loralye has changed so much in the last year, as all babies do. It's amazing how much a child can learn in the space of just a few minutes, let alone a whole year! Here is what she's up to these days:

• Crawls everywhere and can pull herself up to stand but refuses to stand alone or walk
• Eats tons of baby food and bits of anything Aaron and I eat especially string cheese, bananas, potato soup, and bread
• Has 8 front teeth and a molar in each corner of her mouth and still manages to choke on food that she doesn't chew properly
• Only nurses once a day and loves the whole milk she's been drinking out of a sippy cup for the last couple weeks - I am determined to have her weaned by next week
• Wears 18-24 month clothes, 6-12 month socks, and can only wear soft shoes because her feet are way too thick to fit into normal baby shoes
• Says Mama, Dada, Papa, Baby, Yay, Hi, and tries to mimic everything we say - she started saying down (touchdown!) this week too
• Sleeps through the night as long as the house isn't too warm and she has her binkie
• Loves books, dolls, pictures of happy faces, watching herself in the mirror, and the Gerber baby on the side of her baby food jars
• Waves bye-bye, dances to music, claps her hands, blows raspberries, plays peek-a-boo, and snuggles her head into your chest when asked for loves
• Giggles when she's outside in the rain and when Aaron and I sing, dance, or do anything silly

This is what she does most evenings now. She loves her chair! And the fuzzy white kitten in her touch and feel color book :)

Happy 1st Birthday Loralye!

I have just two words for you: PICTURE OVERLOAD.

I'm sorry to do this to you all twice in one month, but I'm a mom. I can't help it. Loralye turned 1 year old on Saturday!! Where has the time gone? We had a small party at our apartment that afternoon and had a blast! Loralye was awake for 7 hours straight and so happy! It was a miracle! We ate lunch, played games, opened gifts, had cake and ice cream, and spent lots of time talking and just enjoying the company of family!

For those who care (Grams...), she also had her one year check up at the doctor's this morning. She is now weighs 24lbs 2oz and is 33.5 inches tall! At her last check up at 9 months she was in the 90th percentile for both height and weight. While she is still in the 90th for her weight, she is off the charts (above 100th) for height! I double checked to see if the nurse goofed up and I don't think she did. I'll have Aaron help me check again when I get home tonight. The height a 12 month old girl would have to be to be at the 100th percentile is 31.5 inches and Loralye supposedly has that beat by 2 inches! Geez, I need to get this girl enrolled in volleyball as soon as possible. Or maybe the nurse and I goofed up. I'll find out tonight I guess. ***UPDATE*** Aaron and I measured Loralye. Twice. Stupid nurse... She is 31.5 inches. So right at the 100th percintile! Still a tall girl, just not 2 inches off the charts :)

On to the pictures!!

For those of you who don't know Loralye too well... 1. Loralye likes to crawl. 2. Loralye likes to do things on her own. 1. + 2. = When anyone tries to get her to stand and walk, she has a meltdown. But apparently Uncle Jason isn't just anyone. And Aunties Cynthia and Krista are good helpers too! Now if we can just get Jason and Cynthia to move here I think Loralye MIGHT learn to walk on her own :)

Ready for lunch! Her first gift is, of course, from Mommy and Daddy.

I cannot even begin to describe how much she loves this chair.

I even had to convince her to sit in it to open the rest of her gifts because she just wanted to point at it and smile at it and try to hug the Pooh Bear and Tigger right off of it. She gave in eventually though and was very happy she did. The next several pictures are blurry, but I love them!

The paper is off!

The box is open!

A new friend appears!

So happy and excited that she can't stay still!

Elmo is now her new best friend!

He also has plastic eyes that are fun to pull at and bite. We'll need to teach her that is not the way to make friends before she starts nursery in 6 months.

She learned very quickly how to pull the paper out of the bags and off of the boxes!

There's an animal with a happy face on this shirt! OH HAPPY DAY!!! She also gave a ladybug dress a hug when she pulled it out of its box, but I didn't get a picture of it!

Studying her new farm puzzle.

She loved the attention she got from everyone in the room just as much as she loved all of her gifts!

Can you guess what she's smiling at?? ... No. ... Nope! ... Good guess!

They're socks! Socks with happy little frogs on them :)

Hooray for a fuzzy polka dot sweatshirt!!

Helping mommy open a little card.

Playing her new xylophone tiger.

We also played a couple of games that afternoon.

Game 1. Guess how many Puff Treats are in the jar (1,289... Yes I counted them all).

Game 2. Pass around the baby and guess how much she weights (25.8 is what our scale said and was off by over a pound according to the scale at the doctor's office).

Game 3. Guess Loralye's future career! Everyone picked one of the objects I had out that represented a certain profession (ie. tutu=ballerina, book=author, band-aids=doctor, ruler=teacher, etc.) and Loralye crawled from one end of the room to the objects and picked her job. She chose a spool of thread... SEAMSTRESS! She won't be learning that skill from me, that's for sure!

Loralye loves to hear people singing, but apparently "Happy Birthday To You" is not a favorite.

So mom had to point out the pretty candle to distract her from the singing people.

Oooooo! Pretty light!

Hm... This stuff isn't too bad.Okay, this stuff is pretty good.

Maybe it's the best stuff ever!

Yep! Cake wins!!

It's hard to be neat when you're learning to eat!

Well, learning to feed yourself, but that doesn't rhyme.

The whole party!! Aaron's family's on the left: Dad, Mom, Krista, Jason, Cynthia, and Amber. My family's on the right: Philip, Mom, Hannah, Dad, and Aunt Leanne.

I think the only thing that could have made this party better would have been having Shane, Nikki, and Jesse there (and the rest of our extended family if we lived in a giant house!). But life doesn't always make room for birthdays! We know they love Loralye and we will be seeing all 3 of them in the next couple of months :)

Well, happy 1st birthday to my sweet little darling daughter! She is such a blessing!! Aaron and I have had such a wonderful time raising her this first year and can't wait to see what the rest of forever brings!! Love you Bunny!!!

Thought for the day...

"I know it is hard for you young mothers to believe that almost before you can turn around the children will be gone and you will be alone with your husband. You had better be sure you are developing the kind of love and friendship that will be delightful and enduring. Let the children learn from your attitude that he is important. Encourage him. Be kind. It is a rough world, and he, like everyone else, is fighting to survive. Be CHEERFUL. Don't be a whiner."

~Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Happy New Year!

We had a very tame weekend... Fell asleep before midnight on New Year's. Did some necessary shopping on Friday. Spent Saturday doing chores and grocery shopping. I definitely did not get to make the most of having two Saturdays. There just isn't much to do in Vegas when you're poor. I guess it's time to start making lemonade with all my lemons!! The one piece of silver lining in my cloudy weekend: Aaron's little sister Krista turned 11 on New Year's Day and we celebrated with her on Sunday :) I also managed to snap a few pictures over the last week or so, so here you go:

My parents got Loralye this toy for Christmas. She loves it and so do I! It is helping her learn to stand and walk! Woo!!

Aaron said "Touchdown!" to her while she was standing with her Cozy Coupe. She usually puts both hands up when she hears that, but she didn't want to let go :) Trying to eat her toes through her tights.

She loves the puppets on Baby Einstein! She also loves my Blackberry and steals it every chance she gets.

My mother-in-law and her girls came to the office last week and I took a couple of pictures of Loralye with her Aunties. She loves them!