Outfit designed by Cassie, of Lily Shine Boutique. Visit  her on FaceBook!

My husband, Pat waited patiently for Wee Baby to wake up on her special day so he could give her big hugs and kisses for her first birthday!  Wee Baby is typically up at 6 am on the dot, but not today!  She wanted to snooze and be lazy on her special day.  :-)  She finally woke up about 6:45am and Pat was thrilled to sing and wish her a Happy Birthday.  They snuggled for a while on the couch and I snapped a picture of them raising a #1 finger to mark the occasion. After a few tries, you can visit flickr for the other photos.

After some snuggle time with Daddy, it was time for him to head to work.  We all went for a ride this morning!  The difference was the ride back….   I drove and Wee Baby rode in the back by herself!    She is a big girl after all now..  a big one year old already!   We decided to have our first full Mommy and Daughter day to celebrate her birthday!

Wee Baby and I decided to visit Santa Claus and get her picture taken on her birthday!  First birthday and first picture with Santa Claus.  To be honest, I was partly thinking that Wee Baby would freak out a bit and be afraid of the bearded man, but to my delight she proceeded to pet the fuzzy white cuffs on his sleeve while I told her “look fuzzy awwwww so sweet, love the fuzzy!”  and as she loved the fuzzy, I sorta placed her on Santa’s lap and backed up slowly as I smiled and waved “heyyyyyyy Wee Baby!”

The photographer shook some jingle bells to grab her attention and  Mariella gave us a cheesy but adorable little smile.  :-)  That was all I wanted.  She stayed for several seconds looking at Santa, he gave her a book and she smiled again as I took her into my arms.   We waved “byeeeeeeeee Santa!” It was sweet.  Santa said see you next year with your new baby!  I was like OMG I am totally starting to show I guess!  heheheee I told Santa, I’ll be back with three.  Wee Baby and the Wee Twins!  He smiled really jolly like.  Just like what you would expect from a jolly old St Nick.   I don’t think I am  showing that much… I think he just knows…  lol   We Believe! 

Oh and after she got her picture taken, we had to “please wait here to view your photos.” There was a little gate with a printed sign and she stood there waiting patiently…   such a sweetie! :-)    We did go to Claire’s to try and find her a little bow for her pretty hair, but the ones I found wouldn’t stay put!  Guess she does not have enough hair yet.   :-)  That is totally ok, she is totally adorable with the little bit she has!

We were at the mall for a while, we decided to have lunch at Subway.  I ordered a turkey on wheat with out any mayo. ??? What???  I know, I love my mayo!  lol But I love Mariella even more and no need for her to taste the fatty goodness yet.  lol  We shared a turkey on wheat, bag of apple slices and a water.   There were no high chair seats for Wee Baby, but there was a small table and chairs for the little ones.   I sat on the floor and sat sweet Mariella on the chair and stayed close with my hand on the back of her dress so she wouldn’t slip off.

Well I did take my hand off for a second to grab this picture of her being a big girl!

Mommy and Wee Baby enjoying lunch from Subway.  I did notice that every single kid in my vicinity was eating french fries… either from McDonald’s or Chic fi la.   I thought…  hummm I will definitely try to maintain a healthy way of eating for Wee Baby and stick to fast food on certain occasions.

PRESENTS 

Mariella received a couple special presents in the mail today!  Her Nanny and Parran sent her a toddler bible and one of her birthday buddies, Brianna, sent her an electronic book!  She loves them both and had a fun time opening the presents.  I feel a a little bad that I didn’t give her a present to open for today, or a cupcake, but we did many other special things together.  We will have some sweets and presents on her party day on the 18th.

PRESENTS 

PRESENTS 

PRESENTS 

There are a couple more pics of Mariella opening her presents over in the flickr gallery.

Our day was pretty jammed packed with fun and excitement!  But some of the best news came during dinner time.   Paw Paw Huey called to wish her a very happy 1st birthday!  I tell you, she was thrilled to be talking to her PawPaw.  Her eyes lit up and she was smiling and laughing and poinging and trying to eat the phone!  lol  My dad sang her Happy Birthday and told her all sorts of beautiful and wonderful things.   I have some it on  video tape!  So sweet.

Dinner time is over and we are winding down.  After all the excitement through out the day, we get the icing on the cake!  MeMaw called Mariella to wish her a very happy 1st birthday!  Mariella was thrilled again to be talking on the phone, she was walking circles around the ottoman as MeMaw sang her Happy Birthday and told her many sweet and beautiful things for her special day.  I have some of that conversation on video too.  :-)   Sweetness all over the place for Wee Baby’s birthday!

We had a beautiful and fun filled day!  Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes.  Everyone here, FB and BBC, thank you so much for thinking of Wee Baby and giving a personal shout out!  It means a lot to me and it will to her too one day! 

Happy Birthday to you!  Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuu!  Happy Birthday sweet Wee Baby Mariella…..    Happy Birthday to youuuu!!  :-)  Hugs and all my love to you sweet sweet precious Wee Baby.  Love, Mommy

Yesterday, December 2, 2010, we took her One year pictures.  I did these by myself and let me tell you, this was no easy task!  lol  You try telling Wee Baby to sit here real pretty while I take a photo. lol yeah right!  She does not crawl any longer, crawling is for babies apparently! hehheeee  any who, I got a few nice pictures I think..  I uploaded 20 on the flickr gallery and there is a slide show below. 

Thanks for looking and being a part of Wee Baby’s first birthday!  Hugs and love to everyone who wants it!

Mariella has corn on the cob or the first time!  Well technically the second time, but the very first time she saw it she wouldn’t even bring it to her lips.  She kept throwing it off her tray.  But this time around she loved it so much!  Even after lunch was over, she carried it around with her for a good hour taking wee nibbles here and there.

In the video below, Mariella stands up from a seated position.  That is the first time she has done that!  :-)  and I captured it on camera! How cool?  Go Wee Baby!

slide show below and you can find the pictures on flickr too.

Wee Baby loves apples!  And there is a lovely Pick Your Own (PYO) farm 20 miles from here.   It was another georgous day.  My only complaint was that I forgot my darn sunscreen again!  arghhhh.   Lucky there was lots of shade by the apple trees and we stayed mostly protected.  It was mega windy and the wind felt incredible and kept us walking briskly!  lol

Wee Baby wore an adorable hat that Candice gave her.  And adorable may not be the best word because look how freaking cute Wee Baby is!

A video below shows how enthusiastic Mariella was to pick an apple!  Well she wanted to pick the leaves, that is for sure.  I think it was because she was in her stroller.  The apple was hanging in the perfect spot for the stroller to roll up to,  and she had perfect access.  :-)  After that failed attempt.  We took her out and walked around and she helped me pick some apples.  :-)  She had more fun playing on the ground though.  There was so many apples on the ground.  I couldn’t believe it.  You would think someone would come around and pick up all the good apples and put them in the market. hummm  guess not, there were hundreds and hundreds of apples on the ground!

Here is a slide show of some pictures… you can also find them on flickr

I gave Wee Baby an apple today.  Giving her a whole apple to hold onto worked much better than giving her slices.  With the slices, she wold chunk too much off at once.  With the whole apple, she used her two bottom teeth to scrape pieces off and it was much more manageable for her.  She ate off it for a good hour!   She loves apples and apple sauce.  :-)  We are taking her to an apple orchard this weekend so we can pick our own apples!  :-)  How much fun will that be!

I don’t think you can get any happier….   She was soooo happy and such a big girl with her apple! 

Show off ~ lol

I think we found a winner with the apple.  She really enjoyed it!

Mariella and I are having banana and waffles for breakfast.  She loves to give me bites of her food!  Several days ago, she started doing “sweetness.”  When I say “sweetness” she tilts her head to the side and looks totally adorable and totally sweet!

During breakfast, we shared and did sweetness for a long time.  I also decided today that I want to get a flipping waffle machine.  Won’t that be fun??  

P.S. I am using youtube for the videos for a while, it is so much easier to upload and convert..

Want a bite of my organic waffle?  It has some pumpkin butter on it!

and if seeing that wasn’t cute enough…  later for lunch we had applesauce for dessert.  Usually Wee Baby feeds herself, but this time I was priming the spoon for her and when I gave her the first bite, she bit down and wouldn’t let the spoon go.  She thought it was the funniest thing..  and so did I.  We laughed and it was so cute.  :-)  this Wee Baby loves her apples!
Such a cutie pie laugh!

Lets go pick a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch! Gordon, Pat, Wee Baby and I went to a pumpkin patch today! It was a beautiful day, sunny and breezy. Perfect pumpkin weather! We had a lovely time at the patch… the only bummer is that I forgot to bring sunscreen for us and baby. We kept her in the shade as much as possible, but once I started feeling the sun on my arms, we had to cut our visit short.

We enjoyed a hayride, a stroll in the pumpkin patch, kettle corn popcorn and scenery. I would definitely go again, it was good family fun for sure!

little video of the hayride.

slideshow below and you can find the pictures at flickr too

August 23, 2010

It is Pat’s Birthday today!  :-)  Wee Baby is so excited and ready to celebrate this special day!  We decided to take a picture with some balloons for her Daddy, but golly jeez man, it is nearly impossible by myself!  lol  All Wee Baby did was squeal in excitement and wanted to crawl across the bricks!  lol it was so cute and annoying at the same time.  I was pleading with her to sit still for 7 seconds so I can step back and take a picture! I tried jumping jacks, clapping, whistling, squeezing her squeaky toy, shouting WEEEEEEEEEEEEE baby!  hahahaaa and she barely noticed me.

All she noticed was the open area for her to explore! 

Pat got a few presents!

Faith and Eban sent over a season of True Blood, I gave him a Slap Chop because we find it hysterical and laugh our butts off every time we see this video.  We saw the commercial on TV before it was remixed. Then one day I saw it on TV all mixed up with the random dancing bunny.  OMG I was floored and laughed so hard…    Pat and I laugh every time we watch it.    You are going to love his nuts!

Pat also received in the mail today an iced tea maker! He had been wanting one so bad for a couple years now. I think it is worthless devise.. why not just put some water in a pot, heat it, add tea bags, pour in picture and add ice. lol Anywho, back to Wee Baby!

photos on flickr too, and below is a slide show of the same pics.

We are going to try some avocado today! Last time Wee Baby had some, her gag reflex was still too high and when she went to swallow she gagged a bit and threw up. That was about 6 weeks ago, and now that she is 8 months old we are going to give it another go!

She did so well! She made some crazy faces and had a blast squishing up the avocado in her little hands and smashing them into her mouth. She ate some of it, it was hard for her to hold since it was so slippery.

The best part is that she didn’t throw up!

…….. 

pictures on flickr too

If you are curious about Baby Led Solids, visit this blog Adventures in Solid Food.  Great blog!

Mariella is 8 months old today! She woke up all smiles and giggles.  She knew it was a special day, a day to celebrate for sure!  The last week or so, she has been crawling, then pulling herself up to rest on her knees and finally pulling herself up to her feet!  She is standing!  awwww sweet sweet Wee Baby Girl, you make mommy proud!

The first time she stood up, she was in her crib.   I was picking up her folded laundry and Pat was changing her diaper pail bag.  Pat turned around to be face to face with Mariella and Pat shouted “Angel Angel LOOK LOOK! Wee Baby is STANDING!”  I ran to grab the video camera and Pat and I ohhed and ahhhed at her accomplishment.  We just couldn’t believe it.  She is growing up so strong right before our very eyes.

Wee Baby:
smiles so hard her eyes are nearly closed.
crawls around with wonderment and curiosity.
patiently waits for her bottle when I fix it.
I let her hold the nipple and she hands it back when I say “hand it to mommy”
says  baa baa, ma ma, da da.
whispertalks…. and sounds like a snake.  sweetest thing.
blows raspberries on my cheek and arm.
gives me Eskimo kisses.
gives her Daddy sweet eyes.