13 Months

Thanks to Sam over at Hooah and Hiccups for giving me this idea. 

For Peanut's first year I had those onesie stickers that I stuck on her shirt and took pictures of her wearing every month.  I missed one month (bad, lazy mommy!) but since I took pictures of her during that time I felt I had plenty to work with. Now I'm not taking specific monthly photos but I try and take pictures of her as much as I can.  So doing one of these every month seems like a great way to document Peanut's growth and milestones as she continues into her second year and beyond. 

It's a bit small due to the shape of my blog so if you need to make it bigger to read it simply click on the photo to enlarge it! After I made this I realized I left a lot of things off that Peanut is now doing at this age, such as:

- Lifting her arms up when you say "arms up" to change her shirt.

- Putting her leg/foot out when you put her pants and socks on to help you. 

- Ripping her socks or hats off just to try putting them right back on again. 

- Pointing to her belly (ok and sometimes her chest) when you say "where's your belly?"

- Waving hi and bye.

- Opening and closing all doors. 

- And my favorite - running away and then dropping to the floor in laughter when we chase you. 

Trendy Tot Tuesday

My husband and I always seem to disagree on what is "cute" or not cute when it comes to dressing Peanut. Honestly my hubby is colorblind so sometimes I wonder if he even realizes whether something is going to match - and in the end, he always asks my opinion on what HE should wear.  But when it comes to dressing our 1 yr old daughter he thinks his way is the best way.  Normally I don't mind - but this year we had a difference on opinion for Peanut's Easter dress. 

I went shopping at Old Navy and found this cute dress (which I only have professional pics of and haven't uploaded yet which is why you get a O.N. stock photo):

I loved the spring colors and the flowers and when paired with a cropped sweater like the one below I thought it would be so cute, especially with her matching pink sandals. 

Well the hubs hated it.  He said it was too plain and wasn't cute enough to be an Easter dress that she would wear to church.  So we ended up at the mall shopping for summer clothes and an Easter dress.  I let him choose the outfit because I didn't want to hear the complaining. Here is what he went with:

Yep - a yellow dress with a matching bonnet hat (the sweater is the same one I originally selected). 

She looked adorable.  You can see more of the dress in her Easter Bunny photo here:

And while I do believe this dress is more Easter and more fitting for church services.  I still like my choice better. :-D On a side note - when looking at back at last year's Easter photos I realized we picked a yellow dress for Peanut then as well.  

Wonder if we'll keep a running theme and have another yellow dress next year!

I am linking up with Trendy Tot Tuesday! 

First Ever Digital Scrapbook Pages

I have so much to blog about - Disney World, Peanut's birthday and birthday party, Easter egg hunts.  But instead I've decided to share my first ever digital scrapbook pages.  About a year ago one of my favorite bloggers posted about a digital scrapbook platform.  I messaged her about it yesterday and she graciously offered me hers (thanks a ton Kelly!)!  So last night I downloaded the software and began playing around with it.  I'm pretty pleased with my first ever digital pages - although I still plan to do 99% of my scrappin the old fashioned way - paper, embellishments and adhesive!

These pictures are from Peanut's birthday photos taken on her actual birthday.  Normally I call my daughter Peanut on my blog but for these layouts I wanted to use her beautiful first name. I love that the paper matches her shirt (in love!) and that the gray bow is similar to the one on her shirt.   

This is a picture from Disney World.  The first characters Peanut met were Chip and Dale and it was HER turn to be love.  She was obsessed with all of these larger than life furry characters.  From their costumes to their big noses and teeth. She wasn't the least bit scared and got upset when our turn was over. I love how sweet this photo is of Peanut trying to hold his hand. 

I downloaded a few free digital scrapbook kits to make these.  I love that there is such a large selection of FREE materials to use. I hope to work on Peanut's birthday photos and Disney World trip one day in the near future but I'm so far behind that I'll just stick with a few, easy, digital pages. :-) 

Trendy Tot Tuesday Link Up

Wow!  That is all I can say for the last month. Wow!  Peanut's birthday has come and gone and I have a ton of photos and updates to go along with it, but for today I'm getting back into the swing of blogging by linking up with one of my favorite blogs over at Mrs In Training for Trendy Tot Tuesday!

Kelly's post today was in regards to her husband dressing her daughter and I thought it would be a great way to kick off my first Trendy Tot link up! 

My husband is actually pretty awesome at dressing Peanut.  One the days when he wants to really dress her up to take her out into the world he doesn't allow me to see her until he has her fully dressed.  These outfits usually include a really cute pair of shoes and headband that normally Peanut never wears. 

This is one of the first times the hubs really went all out into dressing Peanut up before we headed out.  I almost died when I saw how cute she was and I immediately set her up for a photo shoot.

 The hubs has come to terms very well with the fact that our first kid is a girl...but he still dresses her in a ton of sports clothes and outdoor appropriate outfits.  Her zoo outfits consists of her zoo tshirt and khaki cargo pants.  And below is when she is cheering on the Iowa State Cyclones.  That headband also matches her Redskins gear as well!

On of my favorite outfits that he picked out was from last summer.  We had some really cute photos from this winter but I unfortunately didn't grab any pictures. 

Peanut is pretty blessed that she can wear any color but I simply ADORE her in pink and green with her little white shorts.  We went shopping this past weekend for summer clothes that I can't wait to high light in a future link up! All in all I'd give my hubs a 9 out of 10 in the infant/toddler dressing game!

Birthday Sneak Peeks!

I have been working hard getting everything together for Peanut's 1st birthday party.  Her birthday is in 18 days (holy crap!) and her birthday party is in 24 days.  Which normally would seem like plenty of time but we are heading to Disney World next weekend! So I lose a whole week of prep time.  Knowing this - I signed up for an all day crop and spent 10 hours last Saturday being best buddies with my Cricut machine.  We laughed.  We argued. I called it mean names.  But in the end, it came through for me and I got about 90% of the handmade decorations finished! I made three banners: a Minnie Mouse themed birthday banner, a "CELEBRATE" pennant banner, and a 12 month photo banner.  Each square has a photo of each  month of her first year. I just ordered the missing photos today thanks to Snapfish's 50% off everything sale (along with a few other goodies) so I will be able to finish up all of the banners next week. 

My most favorite thing I made were 12x12 Minnie Mouse heads to use around the house as decorations. This was the first time I used my Cricut properly and cut out the layers of my shapes and Oh My Goodness - these are the cutest things I've ever seen.  Here is the first sneak peek:

 I also am working on a birthday wreath using tulle and ribbon.  The good thing about this wreath is that it will be re-usable year after year.  The wreath itself has Peanut's name on it and the word "Is."  Then every year we switch out the number which hangs from the center of the wreath.  This year it will say "Peanut Is 1."  The colors came out amazing but there is one thing I know for sure. I will NEVER buy glitter tulle again.  That stuff was seriously everywhere. I am still sweeping it off of my floor, off of the couch, off of Peanut's play mat. 

It's hard to see in this photo but the hot pink tulle is glitter.  When I unrolled it to measure and cut it my hands and pants were immediately covered with glitter.  When I stood up a wave of glitter fell off my pants and shirt and ended up on the floor, stuck to my feet, and then tracked into the kitchen to grab the broom.  The hubs demanded I take the wreath off the couch when I finished tying the tulle and stick in it a plastic bag to minimize the glitter. 

Here is the sneak peek I shared on Facebook for the wreath:

I still have to add the ribbon accents and paint the letters and number white. Once they are dry I will hot glue them onto the wreath and it will be all finished!  The last project I have that I'm personally making are the flowers and Minnie Mouse centerpieces.  So I have to spray paint my Minnie heads, assemble them, tie and add her bow, arrange the flower bouquets and place into a vase. Once I finish that I have to hot glue all of the cupcake toppers onto toothpicks.  Everything else will be items I purchase (streamers, balloons). I'm really excited for how all of this is coming together.  The banners are amazing and I am so excited to celebrate Peanut's first birthday with all of our family and friends! More sneak peeks are coming soon so stay tuned!

Whoops! Here I am!

Well I kind of fell off the blogging radar - things have been moving quickly this past month.  We are approaching our Disney World vacation and it is all we can talk about in our house. We received our information/travel packets in the mail and I've already started packing Peanut's outfits! Her birthday is in 25 days and she will be a year old. I finalized her invitations and started sending them out. They are super cute. This weekend I am attending an all day scrapbooking crop with my friend Dani over at Creative Spoonful. I have a long list of projects to take care - including all of the decorations for her party. 

Quick run down of all the fun things that have been going on:

Peanut went to her first birthday party and had her very own cupcake.  And then proceeded to wipe her face all over daddy's white jacket. 

We visited Gramma and Pop Pop in Smithfield and took a fun trip to the Children's Museum. Kayleigh was still too small for most of the activities but the hubs appeared to have a great time. 

I posted my third Design Team post for Scrapdoodles which you can read more about here. Below is a couple of photos of my project and layout that I shared. 

This month Peanut celebrates her first Valentine's day, takes a trip to Disney World, and prepares for her birthday party.  Busy, busy month! I can't wait to share all the photos from our trip and her birthday party!

Another one bites the dust

Well...2012 has officially come and gone. And what a year it was! A few eventful highlights:

- Peanut was born in March!
- Peanut took her first airplane trip in June to Illinois at the ripe age of 3 months for her great grandfather's funeral. 

- Peanut took her second airplane trip to Tybee Island for her first beach vacation - an annual trip we all love! This year - Anna Maria!
- We visited Montpelier, a cabin in Luray, the park, the National Zoo (loads of times!), the pumpkin patch, Texas, Santa Clause and Memphis! 
- Peanut celebrated her first St. Patty's Day, Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Now 2013 is upon us and Peanut is 10 months old. In less than two months she will celebrate her first birthday and I can't believe how quickly this year has gone by.  We are heading to Florida at the end of February for a trip to Disney World and I am so excited. I have all of Peanut's clothes selected and practically packed for the trip! We were able to book a special package through the resort and get a dining plan for free so we are going to eat at some of the best Disney restaurants there are! But what is even more exciting is how much Peanut has grown these past 10 months. 

Her highlights
1. No longer needed something to pull herself up on, Peanut can stand up using a wall or your leg. She is cruising all around the house now. 
2. Even better? She can climb up and down the step in our living room AND she can climb up ALL of the steps to her bedroom (one of us is always RIGHT behind her).  Where in the heck did she learn to climb stairs?!
3. She is a sippy cup sipping pro.  I can see the end of bottles in our very near future. 
4. Solid foods - she dominates them! You can hand her a whole chicken nugget and she quickly will devour it, always remember to chew first. 
5. She has 6 teeth with more cutting through.  She thinks its funny to bite so we are quickly teaching her that it hurts mommy and daddy and it isn't allowed!
6. She can say a lot of words. From mama (most used when she is in distress), dada, and her favorite dog, or a dog! Unfortunately, that means EVERYTHING is a dog. She also learned duck on our recent trip to Memphis. We are teaching her up, hi and ball now. 
7. When you say arms up she promptly lifts her arms in the air so you can remove her shirt. 
8. She really is still a Peanut - she weighed in today at 16 lbs even!

9. She is a quick learner - she knows how to open and close things, that to open the window on her toy door she has to pull it up, and she especially knows that she doesn't like when toys are put away in the toy bin.  She is quick to dump it out one by one, only to repeat the process once you put it all away. 
10. She loves to give kisses. When I say "can I have a kiss please?" she opens her mouth, sticks her tongue out and leans forward to give me a wet one.  We'll have to teach her that she can give closed mouth kisses too! haha
11. She can stand up without assistance.  Usually it happens when she isn't even thinking about it. Like after picking up something from her activity table or when you hand her something she wasn't expecting.  She'll stand up all by herself for a good 5 seconds before realizing she isn't holding on to anything! Any day now she'll get her balance fully and just take off. And then the fun REALLY begins!

12. She thinks she is an indian.  She loves bringing her hand up to her mouth and going "ahhh." Really is the cutest thing ever. Except when she does it during our family photo session! 



She truly is the light of my life.  When she isn't with me I miss her. I love going home and playing with her. She is at such a wonderful age.  I am now in the process of planning her 1st birthday party. Luckily I've had a head start.   

I can see 2013 being another great year for us.  We will celebrate our third wedding anniversary in April and we have two big trips to Florida already planned. Maybe even talks of a baby number two in our future. ;-)