Like father, like daughter

As I was putting away groceries, Carlee was getting into the fridge. The one thing she grabbed and walked away with was this:Need I say more?

My social butterfly

This past weekend, Carlee had a couple different events. Saturday was Aiden's first birthday party. The party was during her naptime but she was a trooper. She was glad to see Aiden and she liked the balloons. But she loooooved the cooler with the ice in it.

Here she is saying happy birthday to her buddy.

Gotta look stylish for these events!

*********

Next was a get together with other moms and a gazillion kids. It was a little hectic chasing after my toddler but there was a little mingling and eating that happened. It was good times!

Here is Carlee talking to Miss Ashley!

...and Maya!

This is what she would have done all day if I let her.

Logan was so well behaved...playing quietly and sharing with Carlee! I can only hope Carlee will be like that when she's older!

When there's food, there's Carlee. She spotted cherrios!

Carlee had fun with N's glasses and all her toys. Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Spykitty for hosting a great party!

Its December!!!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is over. Where did the time go? I seem to be saying that a lot this year. It was a nice day full of tons of food and family. What can be better?

Here's Carlee in her Thanksgiving outfit. Its a little big but it is oh so cute!

She was a little unsure of her unfamiliar cousins. So she just stood there as everyone gawked at her.

The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying the time off. We went to Grandma's house where Carlee was acting silly and smiling a huge cheeseball grin everytime I'd put the camera up to take a picture.

We got our Christmas lights hung outside too!

And since today is December 1st, we got to put the first magnet on our advent calendar!

I've had this calendar since I was 7 years old and I bring it out every year. I was excited to start this tradition with Carlee. This morning I gave her the first magnet and she placed it on the tree. That's why its in the middle (I usually start in on the bottom and work my way to the top.) But Carlee can put it wherever she wants!

Only 24 days until Christmas!!!

cookie monster

Carlee had a rough afternoon nap today. It was Mommy's fault b/c we were running around. Carlee didn't sleep too long so she was a little unhappy. What better way to cheer her up than with a cookie! I gave her half an Oreo cookie for the first time ever. You can imagine her excitement. Just check out these pictures:

I was tagged!!

1. Where is your cell phone? on my desk
2. Where is your significant other? at home
3. Your hair color? Dark brown
4. Your mother's name? Candice
5. Your father's name? David
6. Your favorite thing, not person?
7. Your dream last night? didn't sleep long enough to dream
8. Your dream goal? to be able to provide for my child(ren)
9. The room you're in? office
10. Your hobby? taking pictures (an't call it photography b/c I'm not good and I need a better camera)
11. Your fear? Anything I see on the news. (Ditto Eydie)
12. Where do you want to be in six years? with one more kid and that's it!
13. Where were you last night? dinner, mom's house, then home
14. What you’re not? Loud
15. One of your wish list items? necklace
16. Where you grew up? La Habra
17. The last thing you did? finished thank you cards from the birthday party...finally!
18. What are you wearing? jeans, shirt, sweater
19. Your TV? a Sony?
20. Your pet? ahh Cali
21. Your computer? my connection to the world
22. Your mood? tired
23. Missing someone? always
24. Your car? clean!
25. Something you’re not wearing? socks
27. Your summer? no river trips! That will be different next summer
28. Love someone? without a doubt
29. Your favorite color? orange
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today at Dien...its a daily thing
31. Last time you cried? probably recently...I'm so emotional these days

my little peanut

This was at yesterday's doctor's appt for her 12 month well check up. Carlee is a whopping 20 pounds even and 28.5" tall. (30th percentile for both) Everything else looked good!

How could I forget to AW this?

AW= another message board acronym for Attention Whore (It simply means you want to share something you're proud/ excited of or just want to show off).

Well, Saturday night as I was dropping Carlee off at Grandma's house for the night, Carlee took her first steps!! She has been standing alone for awhile and all day Saturday she was a standing fool. But her feet always seemed to be cemented into the ground. Saturday night she decided to move those feet! She hasn't take more than 3 steps at a time but she's done that a few times since then.

Casey and I were so anxious for her to start walking. Now I'm not sure I'm ready for it! She's already into everything. Welcome to toddlerhood I guess!

Had to add this

I got this picture message on my phone last night. It was my brother's Halloween costume from the weekend. I was laughing so hard I had to add this to my Halloween posts.

Halloween 2008

I was excited for Halloween this year. Last year Carlee was just a day old and we were stuck in the hospital. Although she made a cute pumpkin, she was quite the Tinkerbell.

We went trick or treating to a few houses. Carlee stayed in the stroller but her cousins made sure she got candy as well. At each house they would ask if they could "have some for baby Carlee."

We were back home early for a change. So we turned off the lights to avoid the late trick or treaters.

****************

Halloween didn't end that night though. The next night we had an adult only costume party. It was the parents turn to play! The party was fun...a lot of drinking, eating, just having fun. I'm glad its over though!

Here are some pictures of the costumes (that was the best part!)

ONE

One year ago today my life changed forever.

I no longer got to sleep late. Easy tasks were no longer easy. I was lucky if I had time to apply make up. My daily conversations include poop and feeding schedules. I often had spit up on my shirt. I no longer cared about me.

One year ago today my life changed forever.

I now wake up to a smiling face every morning. I experience every milestone with my child. I get kisses for no reason. I get to teach her new things. I created a life and now I get to watch her grow.

As I type this, I realize that a year ago exactly I was just about to have Carlee. She was born at 8:09pm. It seems like only yesterday. I can't believe its been a whole year. I get weekly emails that say "My Baby This Week, Your 11 month old: Week 4" or "Your 4 month old: week 1" etc. Today's email said "My Toddler This Week, Your 1 year old." My what? My toddler? When did that happen?

My baby is growing up so fast that I had to take the day off from work to just spend her birthday with her. Even if we stayed home all day, I just wanted to be with her.

The day got off to a good start...Carlee slept in (which was more of a birthday present for mommy).

This is how Carlee watched TV this morning. She didn't want to change clothes. Its her birthday...I let her roam naked for awhile.

Then we went to the mall to go shopping! (teaching her young) We bought some Pedipeds and clothes from Gymboree! Then we went to lunch with Uncle Dien. At lunch, Carlee learned to drink from a straw for the first time. She was quite proud of herself and she got the hang of it pretty quickly. After lunch, she had a good nap. When Daddy got home, the 3 of us went to Toys R Us. They gave Carlee a balloon and a crown and announced her biorthday over the intercom. It was quite comical especially since she was oblivious.

At Red Robin, pointing to the balloon.

Got it!

This was from later in the evening when Grandma Candi and Grandma Susie came to visit the birthday girl.

Side note: Carlee got a pumpkin! She went to the pumpkin patch last night with Grandma Candi and Great Aunt Lisa. 4th time's a charm but we got one. Now Daddy has to carve it!

Birthday party of the year!

We had been planning Carlee's party for a few months now. Although I refused to go over the top and spend a ton of money, I wanted it to be a nice party (and we were expecting close to 100 guests)! I didn't stress about the small details...I got to enjoy the party. The most stressful part was trying to control the chaos of the kids "helping" open Carlee's gifts. Overall, the party was a huge success. Carlee was a trooper for missing her afternoon nap. A lot of people saw our house for the first time so it was also a housewarming (sorta). Carlee got a ton of generous gifts. The last of the guests didn't leave until after 9pm (and the party started at noon!) I'd say that Carlee had a pretty good birthday party!

The backyard all set up.

Birthday girl!!! She loved crawling in the jumper!

that's one giant pinata

Carlee didn't dig into the cake like I thought she would. She put her fingers in the frosting then put her hand over to the side to get the frosting off. She tasted a little but wasn't really into it. maybe she won't like sweets! (I can't only hope.)

She played with this one toy while Mommy and everyone else opened up the other gifts.

I think its a sign you had too much candy/ toys in the pinata when the kids can pose, take a picture, fill up multiple bags, and walk away and come back and there's still candy on the ground.

The happy birthday girl. She may have been oblivious that all the commotion was for her, but she had fun. We are fortunate to have such great family and friends to share our daughter's birthday with!!

early birthday present

This birthday bash is in full swing. I have everything ready to go, everything's confirmed. Now if only Sunday could get here. Well, for the party we were going to buy a ball pit for the little kiddos. I decided to wrap it up so Carlee could upwrap it. It is a birthday present after all! Of course she was more intrigued by the wrapping paper...trying to eat it or put it back on the box that she just ripped it off of. She finally got all the wrapping paper off, we opened the box, I gave her a few balls, and then that was it....we starred at a deflated ball pit. (Carlee didn't know it was supposed to be inflated, she crawled all over it anyway).