Time Flies!

Our baby turned ONE today! I don't know how a whole year has come and gone. Today we celebrated by having a Winter ONEderland party and everything turned out great. Unfortunately she did not take her morning nap, making her very tired as you'll see in the photos. We had a fun time with Grandma and Papa, Aunt Jill, Uncle Dave and cousins Hayden and Talan, Aunt Jessica, Aunt Lynne, our good friends Jen and Joel and their little ones, Anna and Simon. Aunt Kris, Uncle Will, Isabelle and Stephen unfortunately couldn't join us and we really missed them!
Rainah was spoiled with lots of great gifts, then dug into her own snowflake cake. She pretty much immediately went into a sugar coma, and took a nice nap after that. Anna and Hayden had fun playing together and everyone enjoyed a Hot Cocoa bar with lots of toppings including sprinkles, chocolate, mints, marshmallows, whipped cream, and flavored syrups. There was a snowman cake and snowman pretzels as well as cupcakes. Everyone got to leave a wish for Rainah and take one that she left for them. The kids also received goodie bags with lots of fun stuff and the adults received hot cocoa cones. It was so much fun and we are so blessed to have such a beautiful little girl to celebrate. Happy Birthday Rainah!
On another note, my AMAZING and very generous husband presented ME with a gift from Rainah... a new 100mm Macro lens! I am so excited to start using it. I am such a blessed mom and wife.


The invitation








The Birthday Girl!


Hot Cocoa Bar


Snowman Cake


Wish Jars


More Yummies!


Snowman Pretzels handmade by yours truely!


Cakes and other goodies


Goody bags and hot cocoa cones


Hot cocoa bar


Opening presents






Awww puppy


The girl loves her cell phone!


Cake time












Digging in


The sugar coma begins

Thoughts on the eve of my daughter's first birthday

Has it really been a year since I gave birth to this amazing little girl?? Thinking back to this day a year ago, I had no idea what was in store for me. I was still waddling around, nauseous, uncomfortable, barely able to sleep, counting down the days to my due date (January 13). 2:30 am I woke up with contractions and I laid there for an hour trying to figure out if it was real or not. A few hours later we were at the hospital being admitted! Just in time for a tax deduction, making Don oh so happy! I was still throwing up in the labor and delivery room... still in pain from the pregnancy induced carpal tunnel... still very uncomfortable (although the epidural did wonders!), but I had no idea how fast all of that would be gone at 2:32pm that day. When the doctor put her on my stomach, it was all worth it. My sister was the one who had to ask, "what is it?" Laughter broke out when the words, "It's a girl" were heard... I had known it all along. Not because an ultrasound told me. I just knew. The first thing I noticed as they carried her to the table was her dark curly hair. It was beautiful!
And now it is a year later. We have been through a few weeks of major baby blues, months of colic and even more months of her not wanting to nap. Waking up 3 and 4 times a night. It all seems so long ago now. It is amazing all of the changes and development that happen in 12 short months. She is almost walking, climbing stairs, exploring and learning new things every day. I wish she could stay my "baby" forever, but I am so thankful for the beautiful, healthy, smart little girl God has given us and I know it will continue to be an adventure.
Here's a little look back:


2 Days Old (January 1, 2007)


1 Month (January 30, 2007)


2 Months (March 1, 2007)


3 Months (March 30, 2007)


4 Months (April 29, 2007)


5 Months (May 29, 2007)


6 Months (June 30, 2007)


7 Months (July 29, 2007)


8 Months (August 29, 2007)


9 Months (September 29, 2007)


10 Months (October 29, 2007)


11 Months (November 29, 2007)

Merry Christmas tutu you! (tutu days late!)

This year's Christmas card (click on the photo to enlarge it):







We had a wonderful Christmas with lots to do! It started with us losing power due to the wind on December 23 early in the morning. I called the power company and they estimated it would be back up around 11am. So Don jumped in the shower (only to realize that we have no water when we have no power since we're on a well) and then we decided to run out for breakfast to pass some time. We got home and it still wasn't on so Don decided to go into the office to grade some more exams, and I eventually figured I'd just go over to mom and dad's a day early since it was getting pretty cold pretty fast! When I got there, Don called and said that now the power company was estimating electricity wouldn't be back until 11pm Christmas Eve, so it was a good thing we left! It eventually did come back on around 10pm, and Don joined Rainah and I the next afternoon. We had a great Christmas Eve dinner of lasagna (thanks Jill), salad, and garlic cheese bread. Rainah LOVED the bread! Later mom read the Christmas story to the kids, and we had some yummy Christmas cookies.
Christmas morning was what it should be - lots of little ones having a grand time opening gifts and having tons of fun. It was tiring for Rainah and Talan, but they did great and got lots of sweet things. Mom made a wonderful ham dinner and then came the chocolate fountain, cookies, pies, and other assorted goodies. We all went to bed STUFFED! Here are a few photos:


Grandma reading the Christmas story to the grandkids (photo courtesy of dad)


Kissing cousins - Rainah just loves kisses!!


Christmas morning


Rainah fueling up (photo courtesy of dad)


Rainah scoping out the goods


Looking for more to eat!


Jessica and Justin crashed (photo courtesy of dad)


Cheyenne found someone to snuggle with!