Happy Birthday, Meg!

Happy Birthday, sweet cousin Meg! We love you so much!

Laurie's First Birthday Party

After church on Sunday, we hosted the whole family for Laurie's birthday party. It was a whirl of fun activity and we all had a blast. Laurie loves to see all her cousins and wishes she could keep up. What a fun, fun day, it really made up for the heartache of my baby turning one.

How cute is her cake?

Visiting with Meg, Mei Mei and Aunt Fair.

Lots of cousins.

Not a fan of her birthday hat.

Laurie wasn't so sure of her cake at first. She stared, wide eyed at the crowd gathered round, singing happy birthday. She gingerly fingered the cake, it was too sticky. But when she tasted and realized it was good stuff, she changed her tune and quickly shoveled it in her mouth, mushing and smashing to be sure to get every bit in her mouth. Once she came down from the sugar high and crashed, it was not a pretty picture. Whew, we sure were glad when she was down for the night!

Our little family. This was after the cake eating. You can still see how slicked back her hair was from all the icing.

Laurie got so many sweet presents from her family.

Bebe and Latta couldn't wait to put up her princess castle. They played and played while Will and I worked on cleaning up. Laurie is in heaven. She stayed in it all by herself for an hour last night. She likes to just lie down and and bang on the sides to see the whole thing shake.

Birthday Cake

She wasn't so sure about the cake at first, but after her first nibble, Laurie fell in love.

I got one word...Disgusting.

Visit from the Ratcliffes

Bebe, Latta, and Grand-Betty came for a visit today. Bebe was off work and Dada was in Arkansas, so we were really happy to have some company. Laurie wowed them with all her tricks. Laurie loves her grandparents, she thinks they are hysterical. They played so hard, Laurie slept like a rock after they left. Thanks, Bebe and Latta!

Latest Doings

We have obviously had another growth spurt. Tables that used to be safe from tiny, prying fingers are now in danger. She's getting better at standing on her tip toes too, look at them! Looks like it's time to pack more breakables away.


Laurie's very first hair bow! She is precious in it, but I don't think it's really doing its job.
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Happy Birthday, Laurie!

Today, our precious daughter turns one year old. It has been an amazing year. We have learned so much about ourselves and what parenting really means. As I watch her, I am so often reminded of how our relationship reflects that with our Holy Father. He has been so generous to us. Our first year has been full, of laughter, firsts, a few tears, and I can't wait to see what the next year brings. Hopefully, walking and a few more words.

We wore our birthday pajamas to bed last night.

And woke up to put our birthday romper on.

Dada stayed home from work to enjoy the big day with us.


Happy Birthday, Angel!

More Feats of Genius

We have played with Laurie's block sorter many times before, well, I play with the block sorter. She generally only shows interest in chewing on the blocks before hurling them across the room. But yesterday, as if it were no big deal, she decided to help to put them in the slots. She is such a natural, I see a future engineer. Genius.

Eat

We have been trying to teach Laurie a few signs to help her communicate her needs with us. After months and MONTHS of working with her, she is finally signing "eat." Just in time that she probably will soon be able to speak that she is ready to eat.

Walker

Laurie's latest she is working to accomplish is walking. She will often pull up to standing, let go, sway as if she were wearing a hula hoop, before plopping back down again. Each day she is getting steadier and steadier. I am anxiously waiting each day for her to take those first steps.

Playdate with Meg and Charlie

Meg and Charlie and Laura all came over this morning for a little playtime. We had such fun watching them all play together, we pulled out every toy at our disposal.



Though we were not without our times of ill humor.

I am not so sure Laurie wanted Meg playing with her blocks. (on an aside, see how short our sleeves are getting? And I loved this dress!!)


Meg had her moments. Please don't cry, Meg!


Misery does love company and we were not to be outdone.


And Laurie had her moments. Poor Charlie, he just wanted to love on Laurie and she only handles love in small doses.

I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham

I can't believe how dinner time is changing and yet is exactly the same. Her appetite is definitely bigger, tonight, we ate 3 jars of baby food in addition to cheese, bread, cookie and some of our veggie soup. Laurie is beginning to sign "eat" for us. Always helpful to know. To cute, I hope to post a pic soon.

And we are continuously adding to the list of things she will not eat. In addition to previously despised foods (formula, oatmeal, any baby veggies and prunes), you may now add banana to the list. Any form of banana, banana chips, whole banana, with peaches, with strawberries... The things I do to get Laurie to eat healthy foods. For breakfast, to her oatmeal, I add brownsugar, real oatmeal, formula, and blueberries to make it an acceptable dish. I don't work that hard on Will's food!

And This One Makes Three

It's official, Laurie now has three teeth. I have suspected she has another coming in, she is rolling her tongue and sucking on her fingers a lot. If you know my girl, this is highly unusual and strictly violates the Keep Mouth Shut rule.


So, today we are heading to Yazoo City in William's truck with Laurie sitting between us. I am feeding her apple chips (apple chips are #1 on my thankful list today) when Will says he thinks he has seen a tooth. After some wrangling (to get around the Keep Mouth Shut rule), Laurie finally gives us a good look and we see a little white porcelain head, with a neighbor coming on close behind him! How exciting! It is no wonder Laurie was in such a stinky mood today. She even treated Grandmother Dicey to a full on tantrum. Whew!


Here's a shot of bath time tonight. It's come a long way from the early days. Please excuse the steamy shots. We like to talk about our bath toys and are always obsessed with the drain.

Our Tops

Top Things Laurie and I Love

• Peekaboo. This never gets old. (We are also cleaning out Laurie's things to put in the attic, she has rediscovered the mobile behind her and loves it once again).
  

• Laughter
• Laurie's quiet little voice. After I said "toes" about 20 times in the bathtub tonight, I could hear her tiny reply, "Teh...zzzzz," precious.

My Least Favorite Things

• Bebe and Latta gave Laurie this learn to read toy for Christmas, when she's a little older, I know she will love it. Right now, it drives Will and I crazy. She only knows how to turn it off and on, and the light on the button flashes so temptingly. So, Laurie does this over and over and over and over.
  
• Are we really still having middle of the night feedings?
• Rounding the corner to find she's made a big mess. Surrounded by toys and yet she has my purse. I'm just glad the money was intact.
  

Laurie's Least Favorite Things

• Diaper Changes
• Clothes Changes
• Bed Time
• Entering her room, we only enter to change her diaper, her clothes, or put her to bed. So, there is no good reason to go in there.