Our week in iPhotos

 Just chillin & chewin

 a savannah sized chair

 watching the golden girls is a morning ritual

 this morning at the park

 on the move!

 she's fast!

 if it was up to her she would pick up every leaf she finds

 just hanging out in the laundry basket

sweet girl

12 Months of Savannah

Well, I did it.  Savannah's first year of monthly pictures is complete.  Im so glad that I did this and have these to look back on.  Even though I have a gazillion pictures of her throughout her first year it's kinda neat to have a picture of her each month in the same spot and same position so you can really see the changes.  Here we go!

Her 1st month.  Wow, it really seems so long ago.  At this point life was pretty hard, we were still trying to figure out why she was so fussy; praying it wasn't colic! Eventually realizing it was her formula and after trying every kind on the shelf we finally found one that worked.  

I like this one better than the 2 month picture in her chair.  2 months old, and smiling! We were finally getting past the constant crying and we're getting to really enjoy her.  Seeing her smile for the first time was amazing!

3 months old! This was right before we left to get her 3 month pictures taken.  She was such a good girl.  We also started to realize between 2-3 months that she had a reflux problem. She spit up so much, it was constant.  We talked to the doctor about it and they put her on reflux medicine.  It may have helped a little but it wasn't until maybe 2 months ago that it cleared up completely.

4 months old! This is still one of my favorite pictures, I just love it.  There were a lot of changes at 4 months old, she was rolling all over the place, able to hold her toys and she smiled all the time.  This is also when we started solid foods. This was the month that she had her 1st trip to the ER.  She had a temp of 103, so we rushed her there and found out she had a UTI.  Who ever would have thought?  It cleared up and she's been fine since.  4 months old, such a sweet baby age.

5 months old! This is when she started sitting up, looking at us when we said her name and at 5 1/2 months she started crawling! Yeah, we were pretty amazed.  Out little girl was way ahead of the game! She hasn't stopped since.

6 months old! Oh yes, she was crawling all over, which meant she was into everything.  It was so fun to watch her investigate everything in the house.  It was all new to her.  She also met aunt brina and cousin maddie for the 1st time this month.  Her spit up was at it's peak and we were losing our minds.  We went back and forth to the doctors and tried different medicines.  It wasn't until months later that I realized this is very normal in babies and that it will be a distant memory soon.  Mommy also went back to work this month.

7 months old! This month we found her standing in her crib for the 1st time and also heard her say

 ma-ma. She started pulling herself up on everything and had her 1st over night stay with mema and papa, that actually was her 1st and last to date.  Around this time we were constantly on the look out for her 1st tooth but that wouldn't happen for a few more months.

8 months old! And sweet as can be! She was really developing her own little personality at this age.  This was around Christmas.  Her 1st year calendar is pretty blank for this month.  I know it was extremely busy at work and my grandparents were down for a few weeks visiting.  I did note that she said da-da for the 1st time in walmart!

9 months old! I love this picture.  She has always been such a smiley little girl.  This month we took her off the hypoallergenic formula and switched her soy,  no problems at all.  She also had her 1st cold this month.  That was tough, it lasted a full 7 days and she felt awful.  Poor thing, we tried everything to help soothe her but it really just took time for her to get better.

10 months old! This month she started standing without support and also started walking with her walkers.  It was so funny, all the sudden she just pulled herself up on the walker and took off. She would always watch us as she was walking to make sure we were watching her! She has always known when she was doing something BIG. Then at 10 1/2 mths she took her 1st "real" steps!  She also finally had her first tooth coming in, on the bottom.

11 months old! She was really working on her walking this month.  We also got her ears pierced! She went to her 1st fair and to the beach a couple of times.  This month she started to become very clingy with mommy. That hasn't changed much.....

And Finally.....

 YAY!! "I'm One"

 She's one happy little munchkin.

 She's such a sweet girl who makes us happy every single day. 

 Our job is to do the same for her.

ok, she's over it.


Hope you've enjoyed Savannah's 1st year!!

She's a BIG girl now!

I couldn't wait to get her out of the rear facing car seat and into the forward one.  I believe you can switch them at either 23 lbs or 1 year old, which ever comes first.  For her it was 1 year old.  You know we have a petite little munchkin on our hands.  So after doing a little research and of course finding one that I thought was nice looking we went to babies r us and picked it up.  The box was huge and most likely wouldn't fit in the car, so Savannah and I copped a squat under a tree (in the parking lot) while Shane put it in the car.

This is what she does now when I say "Immm gonna geeet youuuu"  and go in to tickle her.
She pulls her hands in and laughs hysterically.  It's the sweetest thing ever

daddy's always working hard

Is this really my baby girl?

Birthday Pictures at the Beach

We took Savannah to the beach early Saturday morning to get some birthday pictures.  I was thrilled with the way they turned out.  I'm really getting into this photography thing; trying to get the setting and lighting just right can be difficult but I think we nailed it here... Toot-Toot! (that's me tooting my own horn)  We took the pictures of her in the dress last and that was right when the sun was coming out so those turned out the best, the lighting is absolutely perfect. Im definitely learning as I go.  But I must say the quality of these pictures are pretty darn good.....and they didn't cost a dime! Mommy and daddy made a great photography team :)

This free picture slideshow customized with Smilebox

The Party

Happy Birthday our Sweet Savannah! 

Today is her actual birthday and yesterday was her birthday party.  Wow, you just don't realize how much work, thought and stress goes into your child's 1st birthday party.  I started searching the internet about 2 months ago for ideas for her party.  And I found so many! Too many! I wanted a "theme" but not a cartoon theme because she doesn't have a favorite yet and I wanted to wait till she did so it would be extra fun for her.  So I came across this "Pretty in Pink" theme and I simply fell in love....

          imsure you can see how I fell in love with this.   I knew I wouldn't be able to do everything to this level. I mean let's be honest; this mama is on a budget.  But I still thought that I could recreate a lot of this within my budget.  And now that the party is said and done, I think I did just that.  So I had my theme, then it was onto food.  I knew I wanted a dessert bar and I wanted to make everything myself.  No ordered in pizza, or subs and no hamburgers and hot dogs. We have plenty of years ahead of us for all of that.  I wanted to make the menu special and something adults could enjoy. So my mom and I started looking through cookbooks and came up with a pretty tasty menu.

Go Mom GO!

Now, my plan was to take a bunch of pictures of all the deliciously looking food we made, once it was on the platters and table.  But I waited until the last minute (so everything was fresh) to set it out and with everyone arriving I forgot to take the pictures.  I was so bummed.  It looked beautiful, we bought all these white platters and cake stands to set the food on, so it really turned out just the way I wanted it to.  I can't believe I forgot to take the pictures.  I really wanted to share it with everyone who wasn't there.  BUT I did get a few that I recreated afterwards.  So here we go,  enjoy! 

Welcome!

(yes this picture is here twice, Im having computer issues 

and can't delete it without messing every thing up)

This was a test shot, but ended up being the only picture of her

smash cake in the cake holder that my grandmother bought.  My mom and I made the cake, a two layer cake with homemade vanilla frosting tinted pink. Then I topped it with sprinkles.  I really wanted to try to do the design in the above picture (with the baby) but I didn't have the time (or patience).  I was very happy with it though.

The favors.
Filled with jelly beans, lollipops and a homemade heart shaped sugar cookie decorated with S's or 1's.  I loved these.  However, I intended on putting a #1 cookie along with an S cookie. That didn't happen because the S's didn't turn out and the 1's looked like something else that would only be appropriate for a bachelorette party. So heart shaped it was that I decorated myself.


My favorite part!  Instead of having cake for everyone we made chocolate and yellow cupcakes that I hand piped with vanilla and strawberry frosting. I piped the frosting using a ziplock baggy and cut one of corners.  It worked perfectly.  A few sprinkles and some topped with a cherry.  I ordered the toppers from Etsy; 15 bucks for 12 of them, not too bad. They were absolutely worth it.

Almond Sandwich cookie, my mom found this recipe in a magazine.  They were super easy and with the pink frosting, they were a perfect fit!
No pics of the "food" food. But that turned out great too.  Im so glad that my mom and I made everything ourselves and put our personal touch on it all.  It was stressful but so much fun, I would do it all over again.

Now, it was cake time!

After gifts we went outside and let Savannah and Anthony play on her new swing set for a little while.  Everyone started to leave so my mom and sister stayed and helped clean up.  We finished the lovely champagne punch and talked for a while.  Savannah was absolutely wonderful! She's not used to being around so many people and she did great, no crying no fussing she was just good.  She was completely content and happy until she went to bed.  We couldn't ask for anything more.

So overall, the party was a hit! My ONLY regret was not getting pictures of my food and desserts before they were eaten.  Live and learn.  I think I was able to recreate a lot from the "pretty in pink" party that inspired me above.  

I still can't believe our little girl is ONE!