Briella's First Birthday Party

Briella's birthday party was on March 9th and we had so much fun! All of Ryan's family was here and most of mine. What a houseful we had...29 of us all total! I am so thankful to have such wonderful family on both sides and that we could all celebrate my sweet baby's first birthday together.

Enjoy all the pictures!

The only picture with the bow still in her hair (very early in the party. Ha.)

 

 Asleep in Grandpa's arms not too far into the party. Resting up for the rest of the fun. :)

Opening Presents!

Cake!

 

Happy First Birthday, Briella!

One YEAR Old!

I cannot believe that I am writing Briella's one year post (and a few weeks late, as usual)! This past year was perhaps the quickest year of my life!

Briella, my dear sweet baby girl, you are now one year old! Wow, you are growing so quickly and it is such a joy for us to watch you grow and learn and to see more and more of your personality! We love you!

Life in General
When this month started you were still half army crawling and half hands and knees crawling. Well, within just a few days you left the army crawling behind and haven't looked back! You are so quick, getting wherever you want. It's so much harder to keep up with you now!

As quickly as things changed with crawling, they also changed with pulling yourself up. Mostly pulling up to your knees and some to your feet at the beginning, quickly progressed to pulling yourself to your feet all the time. This includes standing in your crib once you wake up, waiting for momma or daddy to come get you.

Opening and shutting (not all the way) doors is something that you really like doing and you can actually sit there for quite a while closing the door then crawling over to it and opening it back up then crawling back to shut it and on and on. I find it quite entertaining to watch you. :)

You pretty much eat whatever now, which means you have tried a lot of different things. We still don't feed you what we eat a lot of the time simply because it lacks the nutrition we want you to get. (I know, a double standard, huh? Ha ha) Some people even made fun of me because I made you a "healthy" first birthday cake. Oh well. I tasted it and it was pretty yummy actually, just simply sweetened with bananas and apple juice. Mmmmm.

You've started to kind of give kisses and hugs. You will lean in (sometimes, you know, if you feel like it) for me to give you a kiss or a hug. So much fun!

We (momma and you) took a trip to California on an airplane just the two of us. I, admittedly, was quite nervous to make the trip, but it was great! And you did pretty good. I'm just glad the flights weren't any longer because 2 hours was about the longest you wanted to sit still. :) It was a great help that daddy was flying out that same time to go to Alaska, so he helped getting through security and on the way back the Long Beach Airport is so small that it was quite simple to get through and those working security were very helpful as well. And I am so glad we went because we had so much fun with the Taylors!

After our California trip where you got to ride in a sit up carseat for the first time, we bought you a new carseat so you can sit up instead of lay down. And even though you still have to be facing backwards, you really, really enjoy being able to see out the windows better!

At your 12 month check up, which was a week after your birthday, you weighed 18 lbs 6 oz and length was 27.5 in. Still in the 10th percentile. :)

Firsts

• Valentine's Day - We made heart-shaped cauliflower crust pizzas. Yum!
• Trip on an airplane with just momma.
• Time swinging. You LOVED it!
• Time going down a slide. You were a bit indifferent about it.
• Riding in a sit up carseat. First in California and then once we got home we bought you your own.

Pictures from Month 12

Happy Valentine's Day! (in her dress from Grandma Karla)

At the airport waiting for our flight to California (Daddy was on his way to Alaska and his gate was only a short distance away, so it worked out wonderfully to hang out together in the airport (and for his help through security.))

The beach!

Just chillin' in the sand.

Having a blast playing in the sand!

Swinging for the first time!

Playing in the laundry basket.

Big girl standing up in her crib waiting for momma to come get her.

"Oooooo, look what I found! All sorts of fun stuff." :)

And playing with it all on the floor.

Sleeping beauty.

Relaxing in her high chair. Ha ha.

Petting the kitty. She loves the kitty!

Not the best picture, but one of Briella's favorite things is to crawl to the big window and look outside.

Helping daddy fill the tub.

Walking with the push toy!

"I am one!"

P.S. A separate birthday party post coming soon. :)

11 Months Old!

Sweet Briella turned 11 months old on February 12th. Wow! Time flies!

Life in General

My beautiful Briella, you have started doing some of the cutest things! One of my favorites is how you play peek-a-boo. This is something that you picked up mostly on your own. Of course we played boo with you hiding behind walls and items, etc. But, mostly on your own, you started putting your hands over your eyes and then you take them off really quicky and expect us to say boo. So cute! Sometimes you also just turn your head so you can't see us and then quickly turn it back waiting for our "boo."

Grandma Karla taught you to show your muscles. When we ask (and you are in the mood to play along) "where are your muscles?" you make fists and flex and grunt showing us your muscles. Ha ha ha! I love it!

You are learning to give kisses. This is another favorite. Sometimes you just let me kiss you over and over and other times you lean forward when I ask for a kiss. Sweet baby kisses! (even if some of them are slobbery and open mouthed...ha ha)

You have started making this funny scrunchy face and it totally cracks me up! Not sure where it came from or why you do it, but it makes me smile.

Food and eating has become a whole new adventure. Last month when we started trying finger foods, you weren't really into it at all. You would let me feed you a puff or two, but that is about all. That has completely changed. You love feeding yourself "real" food and not just being fed purees. Your absolute favorite food is CHEESE...you LOVE cheese. That was the food that motivated you to start feeding yourself and you haven't looked back. In fact, you will shove fistfuls of cheese in your mouth. I have to watch you carefully. Needless to say you have tried many new foods this past month. Aside from cheese you have eaten cottage cheese, avocado, eggs, little homemade "pancakes," bananas (you like banana chunks, but despise mashed bananas), and now you will eat plain Greek yogurt and you actually like it.

Pulling yourself up to your knees happened for the first time this month. And then you learned to pull to your feet still with your hands lowered so you were in a downward dog position (so, not standing just learning to get to your feet). Then on the day you turned 11 months old, you pulled yourself up to standing for the first time! Yippee!

Your crawling is a mix between the army crawling you have been doing and a real on your hands and knees crawl. You still favor the army crawl because you are quicker that way. So, you will take a few real crawls and then plop back down and army crawl. I'm sure in no time you will be crawling full time.

We (momma and you) took our first trip to Salt Lake just the two of us. You did great in the car and we didn't have to stop the whole way. Momma was happy about that. Visiting friends and family was a fun way to spend the week while daddy was out of town working. Along with family, we were able to spend an afternoon with Dana and Jason and another afternoon with Missy and Zeke, two of momma's closest friends. It was good for momma's soul. :)

Firsts (I think I mentioned most above, but I'm putting them here, too)

• Crawling
• Pulling to your knees
• Pulling to your feet, standing
• Trip to Salt Lake, just you and momma
• Feeding yourself
• Time momma accidentally hurt you. :( I was buckling you in your changing pad and your hand got in the way and I clipped your little palm in the buckle. You cried so hard and it made me cry. I felt so bad!

Pictures from Month 11

 

Happy in her high chair.

She loves digging through and pulling out all her toys.

I know it's kind of  a shadowy picture, but I liked the close up shot anyway.

I know, I know she's crying, but some people don't believe me that she cries or gets fussy, so here's the proof. :)

Eating a cracker.

Look, no hands!

 

Standing!

The following are from my phone and aren't the greatest quality, but oh well.

It's Pebbles. :)

Surrounded by toys.

Her scrunchy face.

Avocado facial!

Happy New Year!

Yes, I realize that it is January 25th. So, once again, I'm just slow at posting, but I wanted to anyway. :)

This year for Christmas, we decided rather than giving gifts to the adults in the family we would make memories together instead. Afterall, who even really remembers what they get each year and since we all have more than we need, for our families it made sense to do something together rather than give gifts.

For our memory making with Ryan's family we spent the New Year with ALL of Ryan's family at a cabin in Altamont for two fun-filled days and nights. What fun! And, actually, it was sunnier and warmer up there (which really only means that it made it above 0 degrees... But the sun makes it feel much warmer, right?) than in town!

Each family was in charge of making one meal for everyone and that worked out great. Lots (and lots!) of yummy food was eaten by all!

The days were filled with lounging around, playing video games, watching football, playing outside, playing board games and just hanging out with each other. I really should have taken more pictures!

The only downside was that Briella did not sleep well at all, which means Ryan and I didn't either, but that's ok. We had lots of help during the day, so at least I got to take a nap at one point. :)

All the pictures were taken while playing an XBox Kinect Disney Dance game with the nieces. :)

Ryan on his knees "dancing" with Briella.

Ryan, Briella, Jennalee and Aryka dancing.

Yeah, fun!

Ryan taking a break..it's hard work. :)

Ambrie, Aryka, Jennalee, Ahlyvia and Jayla dancing.

Ha ha ha, her expression just cracks me up!

What a great way to start 2013!

Later in the spring, we will be doing the same thing with my side of the family. I'm not sure where or what yet, but I am looking forward to it!

And I, for one, am hoping to make this an annual tradition, because I found it a much better gift than presents!

Happy 2013 to all!