Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Twelve Months!


Tessa, I can't believe you are one year old. You are the most incredible little girl, and your dad and I are so proud to be your parents! You have changed our lives in the most spectacular way. I look forward to getting to know you even better this second year, as you continue to grow and blossom as a beautiful little girl! Happy birthday my sweet love!

I had to add this picture, too. It is just too cute!
At twelve months:
• You weigh 19 pounds and are 28 inches tall. You wear 9 and 12 month clothes (although you still fit some of your 6 month clothes!)
• You added the word “dog” to your vocabulary! I’m not surprised. You have always loved dogs!
• New foods you tried this month include salmon and tuna. You loved both!

• You aren’t walking on your own still, but you push objects around, walking behind them. You also run and skip while holding onto my fingers! You took two steps from Grammie to me, and your doctor said once you take 3 steps on your own, we’ll count it as walking!

• You smile, wave, clap, and laugh all the time! You have the most delightful personality!
• You LOVE music and dancing! Anytime you hear a little tune, you stop what you’re doing to start dancing!

• You started blowing kisses! I love this!
• You love Cali, Grammie and Baba’s dog. You follow her around the house, trying to pat her. She usually tries to avoid you, though!

• We go to the park all the time now. As soon as you see the jungle gym and swing set, you squeal with excitement!

• You love other kids. You like to hold hands and rub friends on the back.
• You went to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time. You had so much fun, but didn’t like Chuck E. very much!

• You went to Sunday School for the first time. You were kind of shy, but didn’t cry until the end, when Daddy came to pick you up and you thought he was going to leave again.
• You had your first professional modeling shoot this month. Daddy and I were so proud of you, sitting with the photographer and crew, charming them all!

• This has been the most amazing year of my life, Tessa. You grow and learn so much every single day. Daddy and I are so blessed to be with you as you grow!

Look how much you have grown! I am so glad we took your monthly pictures. I love looking back to see how much you've changed!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

One Year Old!

Today is Tessa's birthday! I am blown away that I am the mother of a one year old! This year has truly been magnificent! I love you more than the world, Baby Girl!!


* Tomorrow is Tessa's one year check up, so I'm going to post her 12 month post after that. I also hope to find time this week to post about her birthday party in Ventura this weekend. Let me just say, it was a great day!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

First Birthday Party ~ San Diego Edition


We are celebrating Tessa’s first birthday three times this year! Her first party was in San Diego last weekend. One of the moms groups we spent most of her first year with (and a good portion of my pregnancy!) had a March babies’ birthday party on Saturday! It was so fun to see everyone and spend some time together! Of course, the stage where Tessa is right now is very busy, so I spent most of the day walking with her around the park, swinging, climbing, etc!

One of the girls made healthy cupcakes for all the babies out of banana, applesauce, and tofu frosting! We lined them all up for a picture, which is never easy! Tessa just licked her cupcake for the first 20 minutes before she finally took a bite! Then, she carried it around for about an hour and only took two bites! I finally threw it away, amongst tears from the birthday girl, but it was starting to get slimy and all over her party dress!

I made Tessa this adorable hat, and one of the moms made a few hats for the other babies. They all looked so cute, but if you know 1 year olds, you probably already could guess, none of the hats stayed on for long!

After cupcakes, we sat the babies together on the grass for another “fun” group picture. This was disastrous! Once we sat the babies down and ran out of the way for the picture, all the babies started crying! My sister, Bethany, came to the party and was taking pictures for me. She said it was the funniest scene to see all these moms running away from their screaming babies!

One of Tessa’s friends is Juliette. I think she is one of Tessa’s favorites. She always has been. When they were really little, Tessa liked to sit near Juliette at the gym. At the party on Saturday, she wanted to hang out with Juliette and follow her around the park! I am very happy with Tessa’s choice of friends so early on. Juliette has a calm, sweet spirit and has great parents. I definitely approve of this friendship!

This was a really fun day to celebrate our babies and catch up with each others’ lives. Tessa crashed as soon as she was in her car seat, she was so worn out!

Next up, Ventura birthday party with Dad’s family!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

City of Angels


I'm such a tourist and had to get a picture of the Hollywood sign!

I had some business to take care of in LA today, and my mom lovingly (and bravely) chauffeured Tessa and me around, which is not an easy task in Los Angeles! We had a great time, other than when we were stuck on the freeways.

I love and hate LA. I love the history, the old buildings, the way you will casually be driving down the street and pass a major movie studio, fun things like that. I don't think people watching could be beat anywhere else in the world! I hate the traffic, the honking people, and the way I seem to get a parking ticket every time I go (hence, my mom driving!).

Today, we were pretty busy, and wanted to try to get everything done so Tessa's naps would coincide with the long stretches of freeway driving. We were able to take a lunch stop at the world renowned Pink's Hot Dogs! It was delicious, and quite the eating experience all in one! We sat next to a model doing some sort of shoot. She was wearing a black trench coat, but nothing underneath. I was unfortunate enough to see proof that she was not wearing anything other than that trench coat!
Tessa had fun people watching and eating her mangoes and puffs!

My mom had a classic chili cheese dog

My delicious "Lord of the Rings" dog ~ Super healthy!

Friday, March 4, 2011

Why Sacramento was worth it!


We were only in Sacramento for 5 weeks, but it was so worth it for this little girl to spend some good, quality time with her Daddy!