This has been one of the most requested posts and I have been dreading writing it, because I am just not sure what to say.
I mean I WAS NOT sure.
I am writing it now because after a whole year, we are finally starting to find our place together, our new relationship. That’s right – it took us a year to get into an equilibrium!
So I will finally put a complete mess of my thoughts into a post in an attempt to make some semblance of it.
I am starting a series of posts about Alexis’ First Birthday celebration.
I was going back and forth between doing a party and celebrating small with just family and then finally things started falling in place for a party, so I decided to go for it.
We both felt like the first year needs to be celebrated. It was a trying and a joyful year for us an one of the most important years for Alexis and that needed to be acknowledged.
Slowly I came up with a theme I wanted to have: French. I didn’t have a clear idea on whether it was going to be Paris or Poodle (ok, definitely not poodle) or countryside or shabby chic. It was kind of a mix of everything…but that’s for a later post.
The morning of January 31st, we woke up bright and early with Alexis while it was still sort of dark. Her grandma USA was visiting and my mom is staying with us, so they promptly came out to congratulate their adorable granddaughter and watch her open presents. For the gift opening, she wore her new dress, a birthday gift from Nosilla Organics and a matching diaper ( so cool that we had a teal BG to go with it)
We had beautiful plans for Valentine’s Day/Our Anniversary. Picture a dreamy picnic on the beach, wearing all white with red 5 inch heels, wind blowing, sun warming up the sand, Lexi running around with her white dress, red bow and red shoes, trying to run into water and squealing from delight…
I don’t know where to start. Again.
Again. You’ve blown our minds.
Yes, we are first time parents so our minds are pretty easy to blow. But you’re still a rockstar, regardless of anything.
At 10 months 6 days exactly you took your first independent steps. The next day you ran from mommy to grandma, and back. Then to daddy and back. By midmonth you were taking 10 steps on your own. They were wobbly and were more like running than walking- you were in the process of falling and catching yourself over and over again, which is what walking is, essentially. You spent this last month doing nothing but walking holding onto one of our hands. You don’t like holding two hands. Oh no, you push the second hand away and walk with pride holding onto only 1 finger. Crawling is long abandoned.
I have a soft spot for Tiny Love. It’s the first company that I discovered that is conscious of toxic chemicals in children’s products. It’s the first company that I started obsessing over when I saw all their products. It’s also one of the first companies that was added to my baby registry.
For the first few months we used ( and destroyed) our favorite Princess Gym that was a gift from American grandma. It was probably THE most used accessory in the house. By the time Lexi “grew out of it” developmentally, we had nothing but the mat left. All the toys had been carried around and taken with us so much that the gym no longer served as that. Then it was time to buy a bigger mat for Lexi to play on before she started crawling.
Two years ago I was lucky enough to have a ton of time on my hands, a passion for photography and countless fun times. So when I participated in Ashley’s Memories, Dreams, Reflections, there was a lot to reminisce about. The next year that followed was all about my pregnancy and, honestly, I couldn’t even think about anything but the upcoming birth, so I skipped MDR.
This year, however, is perfect! It was simple, different, somewhat uneventful, but at the same time HUGE when it comes to our roles as parents and our baby girl. So here is a look back at what 2012 had in store for us, based on the prompts provided by MDR 2012.
This Christmas things were a bit different than normal. For one, we were ALL sick with a wicked flu/cold/bronchitis/whatevertheheckitwas, except for Lexi who only got some runny noise. Needless to say it was hard staying in the holiday spirit when phrases like “I really think I am dying” were being uttered multiple times by both of us. Luckily, my mom was there to help us and we’ve survived our first sickness with a baby. Caring for a baby when you feel like death really sucks. I’ve heard it before but it really rings true when you feel it yourself.
Despite the not-so-holiday sickness, we thoroughly enjoyed Christmas. Not as much as we could have, had we been functional, but it was still baby’s first Christmas which meant cute dresses, fragrant trees, lots of light and presents. She was so adorable point at the tree and the lights outside and showing the sign for “light”.
{Edit: video is now uploaded below}
I am not sure if every mother feels the same way, but while the traditional milestones are so much fun and cheered on and anticipated, there are other types of milestones that are so much more special to me.
First meaningful kiss for mommy, first snuggles, first look of adoration, first baby sign, first bouncy dance to music….
This month we have hit one of the most adorable milestones I can think of that I can actually share with the world. Alexis can now sing!
I am honestly in awe of this person growing up in front of me. She is SO much more than anything I ever imagined. It’s truly a miracle watching her grow, and I am not a sentimental person.
She’s always been very expressive from the very beginning (refer to the talking video at 3 weeks), but this is just “too much”!
A quick post about how our Halloween went. We have a love hate relationship with the holiday based on whether we are able to come up with an interesting costume idea or not :)
Those years that we hadn’t or had been too busy, we acted like it wasn’t even Halloween. On other years, we had more fun than one should be allowed to have. You can see our previous years’ costumes in this post.
This year we were invited to a friend’s Halloween party. After some searching I found the perfect family outfit :) I had to search the net for a green mushroom hat and a onesie with the mushroom graphic on it, but our two costumes were super easy.
First of all, I’d like to mention that this trip was made for Alexis. Yes, we were both DYING to go to Disney again, so that played into the decision to take her to Disneyworld, despite the fact that she is too young to take too much out of it. However, the purpose was to go there hoping she’d enjoy it as much as we do, see the sights and have a new experience. We have been Disney passholders for as long as I remember living in Florida, so we had already done our share of rides and Disney fun. This was our turn to introduce the Magical World to our daughter.
