Eden - Thirteen Months

I'm really late on this one!  I want to continue taking a monthly picture of Eden this second year too.  My aunt and uncle got Eden this chair for her birthday, but it hadn't come in yet for her birthday party.  I knew this is what they were giving her though, and I decided I would take her picture each month sitting on her chair.  It still hadn't come in on the 18th so I held off on the picture.  It came a few days ago, but I wanted to take the picture outside, and it's been so windy here the past few days that I was pretty sure both the chair and Eden would blow away if I tried.  So here we are, ten days late, finally getting her thirteen month picture.

My step-mom's sister made the dress that she is wearing.  It's the most precious thing I've ever seen.  I'm not even sure how it's possible to be that talented.

It's been a rough week.  Up until Monday, Eden was still taking naps in her swing everyday.  I know, I know... thirteen months old and still sleeping in her swing.  But she's still SUCH a bad sleeper, she STILL doesn't sleep through the night, and the ONLY way to get her to take a GOOD nap was in her swing.  I kept telling myself that I really should try to wean her off of the swing, but it was just so EASY.  Twice a day, I would stick her in her swing, turn on music, push the button, and she would fall asleep on her own and I would have an hour each time to get caught up on other things.  But alas, on Monday morning the swing finally gave out.  After months of groaning under the weight of a baby who was way too big to be in it, it just wouldn't swing anymore.  I, for real, panicked.  What was I going to do?  How was Eden going to take a nap?  Sure enough, I tried getting her to sleep that morning but was met with screams and cries.  She completely refused to go to sleep, and after an hour or so I gave up.  "That's okay," I told myself.  "She'll just be really tired for her afternoon nap and will sleep then."  Ha!  No.  I managed to get her to sleep in my arms, but when I tried to transfer her to her crib, those eyes popped open and that was the end of that.  She wouldn't close her eyes and fall for that again!  On Tuesday we managed a whopping twenty-seven minute nap in the afternoon.  Now, I'm a really bad sleeper.  My mom talks about how young I was when I just flat-out started refusing naps.  So if Eden doesn't want to take a nap... fine.  However, Eden never wants to be more than five feet away from me, so when she doesn't take a nap... I can't do anything.  At all.  And when she's tired (which she was, she just wouldn't give in to a nap), she wants to be held.  Constantly.  Dustin came home on Monday and Tuesday to find me still in my pajamas, dishes piled in the sink, food still on the ground from Eden's meals, toys scattered in every single room of the house, piles of laundry that needed to be put away on counters, etc.  To make matters worse, the damn swing broke while Eden is getting her back teeth in.  On Tuesday night, I had one overtired and teething baby on my hands.  Not a good combo.  She cried or screamed eighty percent of the night.  I held her, and if I even took a step toward the crib, she would FREAK OUT.  She would jerk her little body and cling to me as if her life depended on it.  I think she slept a total of two hours that night.  By the time the sun came up, I was a zombie.  Finally, yesterday afternoon, she took an hour long nap in her crib and only woke up once in the night last night when one of our stupid dogs started barking at absolutely nothing.  I went to go get her and she said, "dog".  Yep.  That damn dog.  But once she was snuggled between me and Dustin, she went right back to sleep and slept until morning.  Praise God.  I thought the worst was behind us.  I thought she was catching on.  Nope!  This afternoon Eden took a ten minute nap.  I called Dustin and told him I really thought I was going to lose my mind.  He brought me wine and Reese's Easter eggs.  Fantastic husband right there.

But seriously... look at her... I can't get upset with her.

Eden's favorite toy is a ball.  Any ball.  Any size.  When I take her to The Children's Museum, there are hundreds of toys everywhere in all kinds, shapes, sizes.  Eden will find a ball to play with.  Every time.  When we're here at home, I can say, "Eden, where's a ball?", and she takes off, searching, getting down to look under furniture until she spots one and brings it to me excitedly.  Yesterday afternoon, we took a trip to the grocery store.  When we walked in, there was a lime on the ground in the produce section.  Eden perked up and pointed to it.  "Ball!" she said.  I figured, sure, why not?  I picked it up and handed it to her, and she was thrilled, playing with her "ball" for the rest of the shopping trip.  Every once in a while she would hold it up and show it to me.  "Ball", she would tell me.  It was the best trip to the grocery store we've had since the days when she would just sleep in her car seat in the cart.  She didn't try to pull things off of the shelf when I stupidly got to close.  She never pulled her shoe off and threw it on the ground.  She didn't try to twist around and pull things out of the cart.  Halfway through, she didn't wriggle out of the seat belt and stand up only to refuse to sit back down, locking her knees when I would try to force her to, thus causing me to hold her in one arm while shopping and pushing the cart with the other.  I told Dustin that all grocery trips from now on will be started by handing her a lime.  I've tried handing her other toys in the past during grocery shopping excursions, and she just throws them on the ground.  It's gotta be a lime, I guess.  Geez, she's the cutest thing in the whole world. 

Putting away groceries is so much fun for her too.  She grins when I start piling the bags around her and very happily pulls everything out for me.  I wish I enjoyed putting away groceries so much!  She managed to get into the strawberries though when I was putting things into the refrigerator.  It was so cute, and she was so proud of herself, I had to take pictures.

Sometimes when I think about how she is already thirteen months old, I literally can't breathe for a moment.  It scares me.  I don't want to forget anything.  EVERYTHING is memorable.  I want to always remember how happy she was with her lime in the grocery store and how cute and proud she was eating her strawberry that she got all by herself.

So when we struggle over naps and we're up all night, I tell myself that's it's okay.  That this will pass.  She has to sleep eventually, right?  One day she won't be thirteen months old, so I need to soak up every single ounce of thirteen month oldness - the good and the bad.

February So Far

February, like October, is another month that I just love everything about.  Super Bowl, Valentine's Day, the first signs of spring (in Texas at least)...  There are so many things to be happy about this month.  The other day, on a walk with Eden, I spied the first bluebonnet of the season.  I became ecstatic - a sign of wonderful things to come... more wildflowers, dewberry pickin', swimming, Easter dresses and Eden's first egg hunt, vegetables fresh from the garden, evenings spent outside while Dustin grills... I got down on my knees to show Eden the flower.  She tried to eat it.

Since the beginning of February, Eden has taken off with walking.  I think it's safe to say that our crawling days are behind us, which is both wonderful and heart-breaking at the same time.  I have yet to tire of watching her wobble around.  She is SO proud of herself.

We hosted our annual Super Bowl party.  Since it was in New Orleans this year, Dustin made shrimp etouffee and crawfish.  The weather was gorgeous, and it was a perfect day relaxing outside, all of us girls watching the guys shoot skeet and then play THEIR annual football game.  Unfortunately, Dustin sprained his wrist during the game.  We thought it was broken, but a trip to Urgent Care the next day confirmed it's just a bad sprain, and he has to wear a brace.

Early last week, my cousin and her husband came to visit from California with their twins.  I was so excited to see them.  Their twins turned two in September, and I hadn't seen them since they were nine months old, and this was their first time meeting Eden.  It was really special seeing Eden, Bailey and Chase all playing together.  We all (me, Eden, my cousin, her husband, the twins, my mom, my aunt and my grandma) spent the day at The Children's Museum.

 Eden's favorite thing that day was, by far, this truck.  She was so happy turning the wheel and honking the horn.  Every once in a while another kid would hop in, and Eden would become even happier to have a little passenger.

I LOVE Valentine's Day.  Oh I do, I really, really do.  It's just so HAPPY.  I am a complete sucker for overpriced roses and chocolates.

Eden's Valentine was her daddy.  It better stay like that for a REALLY long time too! ;)

Dustin came home from work on Valentine's Day bearing flowers.  He had a giant bouquet and a little bouquet.  I said, "Look Eden, Daddy brought me big flowers and you little flowers."  Dustin's response?  "What makes you think the big one is for you?"

Dustin and I managed a Valentine's Day dinner date while Eden stayed with my grandma and grandpa.

Baby Girl is becoming Little Miss Independent.  She likes to do things on her own these days and will push my hand away if I try to help her.  In this picture, she insisted on getting into her seat all by herself but couldn't quite manage to get one of her legs in.

I'm also starting to feed her whatever Dustin and I are eating, which makes dinnertime so much easier.  It also makes me try to cook much healthier.  So she had her first spaghetti experience and LOVED IT (ya, okay, not so healthy).

Other than that, Eden and I have just been staying home, playing and working on learning our animals.  I have flashcards for cat, dog, bird, sheep and cow, and we're working on learning how to say them.  She has "cat" and "dog" down for sure, but she calls the bird, sheep and cow "dog" as well.

I hope everyone else is having a wonderful February as well!

Eden's 1st Birthday Party

So I used to think that birthday parties for a one year old were, like, the dumbest. thing. ever.  But then I had a baby... and she turned one... and well, you know...

We threw her a party!

It was such a lovely little day.  I have literally been singing "You Are My Sunshine" to Eden since the day she was born, so naturally that was the theme for her party.

I know Eden has no idea what the day was about, but this has been the best year EVER, and I'm so happy that we were able to mark it with our family and friends.  Eden has so many people who love her, and I'm so grateful to everyone who came to the party and celebrated her with us!  It meant the world to me.  My heart was so full all day.

We got her a little play slide set for her birthday, and though she was a little hesitant at first, she now loves it!  (though she prefers climbing up it to sliding down it)

Eden hated her cake though.  I mean, HATED IT!  When Dustin pushed one of her little hands into the cake to get her started, she LOST IT.  She completely freaked over having icing and cake on her hands, and you would have thought we were beating her the way she was carrying on over it.  She could not get out of that high chair fast enough, and we spent a good chunk of time trying to console her afterwards.  I'm not gonna lie... I was pretty bummed about it at first.  I was really looking forward to the classic "baby smashing cake all over their face" moment and getting pictures of it.  Everyone kept telling me that one day I would think it was funny, and now I do.  I really do, and it makes me laugh now when I remember her being SO upset over us trying to feed her cake.  You would've thought it was poison!  And the pictures of her crying and reaching for me are just adorable.

All in all, it was a wonderful, special, fantastic, fun day!  Oh, and the weather was absolutely perfect!  Warm and sunny - perfect for a sunshine party!

her first American Girl baby doll from her Bubba and Aunt Audrey - I was so excited about this gift!

she looks so sleepy in this pic - I'm sure that was part of the problem!

I'm not sure how it's possible for January to already be over, but I'm ready to embrace February and the spring.  This warm weather has me ready to take Eden to the beach and to the zoo and swimming over at my dad's house...  Bring it on.

Valentine's Day, we are ready for you!