Just popping in to announce that we survived Lilly's first birthday party! It was a lot of work - I don't know why I always put so much stress on myself! - but it was worth it, and we had a wonderful day. I will devote a whole separate post to that, and I know I still need to write about our doctor's visit and L's 12-month stats, too! Steph was nice enough to bring her camera (and photography skills) so that I'd have one less thing to worry about, so head on over to the Stephanie Aldridge Photography Facebook Page and holler at her "Little Ones" album if you're dying for a sneak peek. :-) Anyway, remember when I blogged about the slideshow I was putting together for Lilly's birthday? Wellllll I finished it. I wanted to get it done to show at her party, but there was a slight problem. My original plan, since I think I mentioned that I knew better than to commit to one photo/day, was to use one photo from each week, and insert a "monthly photo" (see previous monthly posts) at the end of each month. However, once I started putting everything together, it turned into me just using a few of my favorites from the year. And by "a few" I mean 700. Literally. I know that sounds like a lot, but if you even knew how many thousands of photos we have from Lilly's first year, you'd be amazed that I was able to narrow it down to 700. Dan made helped me narrow it down even further to 300 something, but even so, the slideshow still ended up being 12 minutes long! Long story short, we did not have a group viewing, but rather just let it play throughout the party for anyone who wanted to watch. I'm pretty proud of it, and need to go on record and state that Saturday was the first day I was able to work on/watch it without crying. Such a sap! Without further ado, go and watch The Year of Lilly. It's long, but hopefully worth it - I worked really hard on it! Back soon to play catch-up...lots to blog! Hope everyone had a great weekend! Sarah
Dear Lilly: Today is your first birthday. Can you believe it? Mommy sure can't. I have been an emotional wreck all day long! I am not sad, sweet girl - I just can't believe you've been with us for a whole year already. Time is flying by way too quickly, and sometimes I wish I could just press "pause." I will never forget this day last year. Your Daddy and I were so nervous about your birth day, but so excited to meet you (Layla was too - don't let her tell you otherwise!).
Luckily you didn't keep us waiting too long...I don't think we could have handled the anticipation!
In the past year, we have done so much together, and you have taught Daddy and me so much. I hope that we have taught you a few things, too. I never knew I could love anybody else as much as I love you and Daddy. You are such a blessing, Lilly bean. You are so smart - you learn something new every day, and I love watching you absorb the world around you like a little sponge. You are a beautiful little girl, and you are developing the most amazing personality. You are serious sometimes, a total ham most of the time, and SO expressive - I think you get that from Mommy. I love how excited you are to see Daddy and me every morning when you wake up, and there isn't much I love more than your sleepy bed time snuggles while I sing to you. You are such a sweet little thing, and I love that you are so free with your kisses (Please scale that back before your teenage years so Daddy won't have a heart attack!). My favorite sound in the whole wide world is your laugh, and your little smile lights up the whole room. The best giggles happen when Daddy is being goofy, and I love how you have him wrapped around your little finger already.
I love you so much, Lillian Grace, and we have been so blessed this past year. I hope you had a wonderful first birthday, and I can't wait to celebrate many, more with you (but not so fast, please!). I thank God every day for choosing me to be your Mommy. Happy First Birthday, Lilly. I love you to the moon and back, times infinity. Love, Mommy
It is a big week in the Baum household: birthday week for Miss Lillian Grace! Her actual birthday is Thursday, and her party is on Saturday, so this week has been a busy one to say the least. I did not want this party to be a big deal since she of course is not old enough to care, but somehow when it comes to me and planning "events," things always escalate into a bigger deal than I intended! In my defense, I come by it honest - thanks, Mom (if only I could be as laid-back about things as she is, though!)!
It is such a bittersweet week, too, for so many reasons. On Monday of this week we cut out yet another feeding (read: nursing), so we are down to once/day - at night, before bed time. Lilly is taking the whole thing in stride and doesn't seem to be bothered in the least. I, on the other hand, am having a pretty hard time doing away with the single most rewarding experience I've had to date. I am so proud that we made it this long, and very excited about the prospect of having my body back after a year, but I am also devastated that my baby is no longer a baby, and I'm trying to figure out where the past year of my life has gone. I know the point is to raise our babies to be strong and independent, but I would really love for time to slow down a little!
I have spent the past few weeks reflecting on this past year. For any of you who have been following Steph's blog for a while, you may remember when she blogged about the 365 days of photos. Essentially, she took one photo of Hadley every day for her first year, and then at the end of the year she and Jon put together a 365 Days of Hadley slideshow of all of the photos they had taken and showed it at Hadley's first birthday party (they even added some videos, too!). The slideshow was SO good - you should def take a few minutes to watch. Anyway, when I read the original post, I thought it was such a cute idea. I knew there was no way I'd take a photo/day - I know myself - but I thought I could easily commit to at least once/week. And I've been proud of myself for doing a good job of keeping up with monthly photos! Long story short, I stole borrowed their idea have been working on a slideshow of Lilly's first year, and it has made me feel even more grateful and blessed (and tearful - I swear I can't work on it without crying every single time!). It has been such a wonderful year, and our beautiful baby girl has grown and changed so much. It's hard to believe that it's been a whole year since we were heading to the hospital. Gosh, this post is all over the place. Can you tell I am an emotional wreck?!
I will be really surprised if I can get to the Christmas post I've been promising between now and Thursday, but I will try my hardest. Between all of the crafting, cooking, cleaning, etc. happening at home in addition to a pretty full work week, I'll be surprised if I can find time to sleep between now and then! I mainly just wanted to drop in and say that we're still alive, and I am still trying to find time to keep up with the blog! More on my big girl's first birthday and festivities in the next week or four.
Because no post is complete without a picture, here's one of my favorites from a weekend trip to Pullen Park (thanks Katy for taking it!):
Until...next time/sometime in the near future! :-)
Lordy, y'all, I have been too busy for words. I hate neglecting the blog - I would love to get in a "Christmas" post with a few of my favorite photos before L's birthday next week (so much to do!). Anyway, I thought I'd do a quick catch-up post in photos.
Below are some cute (but random) photos of L testing out some of her new Christmas gifts last week. First, a wagon from Mommy and Daddy (canopy coming for her birthday using her birthday coupon, woot!):
I should mention that I kind of hate that gift. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful and L LOVES it, but seriously all I do is chase those d@mn balls around the house. Thanks, Mom! :-)
Soooooo in other news, Lilly started walking over Christmas break. I know, right? So crazy. And bittersweet. I am so proud of my independent girl, but am a little sad when I wonder where my baby girl (and the past [almost] year!) went. She had taken a step or two here and there, but the below video captured her first sequence of steps. Two things to note: 1. It's an iPhone video, sorry about the poor quality. 2. Ignore my laugh, it's so weird, I know.
Also, I can't take credit for the my video skillz (hehe). Jon taught me everything I know, and I copied the slowdown from Hadley's walking video. Thanks, friends!
Now that L knows how to walk, she wants to walk EVERYWHERE. Well, except when she wants to run, which is pretty much all of the time. She's pretty good at stopping to try to balance herself, but Lord it scares me to death. A few days after she started walking, she got her first walking battle wound when she lunged straight into the coffee table and it left a line on the right side (left side if you're looking at her) of her little face:
:-( SO sad, right? I mean we have corner covers on the table, but I never imagined that she'd fall straight into the side!
This past weekend, my parents came to town to help out with Lilly because we were SUPER busy attending events for the governor's inauguration. All in a day's work for Prince Danny! On Thursday night we attended Rock the Ball, which was hosted by the Junior League of Raleigh. Here is the only photo I am not embarrassed to able to show you ("Moms Gone Wild" was a phrase to describe this night, oy):
Friday night was the more formal event - the Gala Presentation and Inaugural Ball:
The MOST important thing that happened on this night was that I MET STEDMAN GRAHAM. If you do not know who he is, you obviously do not know me.
That's right, Oprah's boyfriend and I are besties. Which basically means Oprah and I are besties. Be jealous. I've had pretty good luck meeting celebs at the Inaugural Balls if I do say so myself - Stedman on Friday and Eric Church four years ago. The night would have REALLY been great if (a) Oprah herself had attended OR (b) I'd been able to stalk track down the Avett Brothers for a photo. Oh well, I guess!
Saturday night was actually my favorite of all of the events, I think. Maybe because I wore sequins - who doesn't love those? Anyway, it was a fundraiser:
We were both beyond exhausted on Sunday. Luckily the weather was beautiful, and we did not have one thing planned, so we got to relax. Since the weather was so nice (read: almost 80 degrees in January!!!), my Dad and Dan installed the swing that Dan got Lilly for Christmas:
The following 10 million photos will prove to you that Lilly LOVES it. I was able to get a ton of cute pictures because she was giggling and squealing, and I couldn't narrow them down, sorry bout it:
Getting ready to go test out the new swing!
Look at those teeth! My little snaggletooth.
I think that catches us up from last week. I promise to TRY to blog about Christmas this week in between crafting and general birthday party planning. I still cannot believe that my baby girl turns ONE next week! Happy Monday! Sarah
