Hannah Turns One!

My baby girl turned One on Saturday, October 24th. We celebrated with a black and pink polka dot party. She had a ton of fun with good friends and family all around her. She is the only child I know who would not dig into her cake but, instead, required a fork and spoon in order to eat it. She has entered the phase of learning to feed herself with utensils and wants every opportunity to do so.

Spoon Please!!!

SEE! Much Better!

She got some cute gifts including a Foofa doll (She loves Yo Gabba Gabba), a baby doll and stroller of her own, lots of clothes, a piggy bank, a talking dog toy and more!

She also went today for her one year well visit. She got 4 shots (3 regular vaccines and one flu shot) which she was not very happy about. Her stats:

Weight ~ 18 lbs 8 oz. (10th percentile)

Height ~ 29 1/4 inches (55th percentile)
Head ~ 18 1/2 inches (90th percentile)

She is a peanut with a big brain!

Also at 12 months she has started sleeping through the night! It is glorious. She did it for the 1st time the week before her birthday. I realized it when my alarm went off for work that I had not woken up all night! Since then she has done it every night but 2. She is easy to calm though and get back to sleep if she does wake up (big difference from before!!)

She takes 2-3 hour naps everyday, in her crib, by herself! We can just put her down awake and leave the room. Again, big difference from just a few months ago.

She has taken a few steps starting at 11 months and now will walk about 1/2 the time. She needs to work on her balance but does great lowering herself down and standing back up.

Hannah loves to dance, loves dolls, sitting in chairs, doing things by herself, and putting things inside of something and then removing them.. over and over again.

She says a few words here and there, mostly mama and sometimes dada and we think we got her to say "Elmo" today. She has pointing downpat, along with clapping, blowing kisses, waving hi and waving bye.

Hannah is loved by everyone, even Fiona, who misses her when she is not with her little sister. I am so happy to have her in my life!

Edited to show off Hannah's super awesome invitation

Want one? Go to http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5540045

It's a party...

My big 3-0 is Wednesday, September 2nd. Tom threw me a (total) Surprise Birthday party on Saturday 8/29. It was a complete shock. I had a great time.... Let me start at the beginning....

My best friend Lora turned 30 in April. Her husband, meaning well, planned a family trip to the zoo. Not quite the most exciting celebration. We joked that my 30th would have similar plan.. maybe I would get to go to the Aquarium. Lora mentioned that she would have to check in on Tom to make sure he did not plan a trip the Zoo or the like.

Back in June-ish my sister was home for a visit. She said she was planning on one more visit to PA before the end of summer and said it was the last weekend in August. I filed that in my memory since I miss her and like when she visists.

August is approaching and I begin to wonder what I will do to mark the end of my 20's. I mention it to Tom and he kind of blows me off. I make a few suggestions with no real response (typical).

Come mid August, I ask again and Tom tells me that on the evening of August 29th, we will be going to dinner to celebrate. I start asking questions..."Do we need a babysitter?", "Where are we going?", "What time are we leaving?".. all of which are answered quickly with no real detail. This drives me NUTS. I love to plan, I love to have control, I need to know things.. not knowing what my plans were was seriously making me mental.

What did I do? I had to let it go. I could not nag and/or keep asking questions. I figured either
A) He was trying to plan a nice dinner with a few people there to surprise me and I would ruin the surprise by nagging
B) He had nothing really planned and I would find out and get all up in arms, starting a fight and ruin any potential good time.
So I let it go. But told everyone and anyone that would listen about my plight and my inability to truly let go.

Here comes Saturday 8/29....my sister is in PA and we have plans to go to lunch and get manicures and pedicures. We did this last year too so it did not seem out of the ordinary. She came over at 11 and we were gone by 11:15 ish. We went out for a late breakfast, went to CVS followed by a mani/pedi. Kara was texting a few times during out outing but that is normal.. people text all the time.

We start to go home and she plans to stay awhile and hang out with the girls. We are driving in my Dad's truck that she borrowed and I am looking at the pictures he has of Fiona, not at all paying attention to my surroundings. We get back to my house and walk to my front door. I hear people talking and laughing but assume it is coming from the neighbor's house.. truly not thinking anything of it.

I open my front door and the 1st two people I see are Jackie, my good friend from work and my best friend Lora who lives in Arizona. Jackie yells "Surprise!", followed by several other shouts and faces appearing from my dining/living room. I get choked up a little and just laugh. I was SHOCKED.

As I moved in closer I see all my friend's from work, their husbands, their kids, my grandmothers, parents, neighbors, etc. There is a HUGE spread of food and tons of beer and drinks. I am amazed. Truly amazed. People even kept arriving after me!

Tom had texted Lora (my best friend from AZ) back in MAY to ask her to try and make it. My sister had planned this back in the start of summer. Tom coordinated the food with my parents so that I would not be tipped off by the stockpile of stuff in my house. He also had the guests bring a dish or an appetizer and some drinks. He ordered and picked up a cake for me, just the way I liked it... BIG icing flowers all over it!

He did this all for me. The man who HATES making plans, made them back in May.... the man who HATES large crowds of people had 30 plus people in his house... the man who is not a big fan of parties in general,... planned and threw one for me. The man who I thought may not make a big deal of my birthday made a HUGE deal of my birthday.

I kind of cry thinking about it. I felt very loved that day... by both my friends, family and Tom too. I am lucky to have such an amazing group of friends who are generous and fun. I am lucky to have a great family who help out with every turn in life. I am very lucky to have such a caring husband who will exit his comfort zone to make me feel this special and happy. I will always remember my 30th birthday as a happy time!!

Thank you to all who helped me celebrate!