Our Little Girl is ONE!

Wow. What a big week for us here in the Barrett household! :) Between babysitting, bunco, date night with Sam, my car breaking down, finishing a chair slipcover, and getting ready for Sophia's big birthday party, it's safe to assume we were all pretty exhausted. Wednesday night I played as a sub at bunco and had a blast. It was great to get out of the house, socialize with other adults, and actually have a reason to shower, do my hair, wear something other than sweats, AND put makeup on. Thursday was an exciting day: Sophia's been babbling for quite some time now, but she is now very, very clearly saying DaDa...a lot! Woohoo! ....Now if she would only say "mama". Friday we ran tons of errands and while we were out and about, my car decided not to start in the Wendy's parking lot. Awesome. NOTTTT! We had someone jump us...and now I need to get my connections cleaned off or possibly replace my battery. I haven't had any issues since then, but I definitely don't want to blow it off and get stuck somewhere. Saturday night Kristin and I finished making the chair slipcover and I prepared most of the food for Sophia's birthday party, which was on Sunday. Sunday morning we all woke up and went to church. Sophia cried like heck in the nursery, so they came and got me. She sat with us through church and was find. I'm not sure why she was so upset. After church we went home and decorated cupcakes and the house. The party was fabulous and we're so blessed that we got to celebrate with everyone! I just still can't believe it's been a while year already. I think back to all the unbelievable milestones: the first time we saw her open her eyes, her first time eating, finally getting out of the nicu, her smiles, sitting up, rolling over, laughing, trying baby food, crawling, etc. They really do grow up much too fast :(

Some new developments over the last week: saying dada tons, VERY lovey dovey with mommy (hugs, kisses, snuggling), discovered her eyelashes and loves feeling them - especially when she's eating, babbling a lot, AND to my surprise, now hates her bath. I have no clue what happened there, but she screams bloody murder and tries to climb out. I'm going to try to get in the tub and play with her to see if that helps....I'll keep you posted. That's all for this week. Enjoy the pictures!

This is how my week started out. I fed Dylan a bottle and he proceeded to throw up more than he even ate...all over my lap, down the couch, onto the floor, and onto my feet. Disgusting!

Date night on Thursday with Sam. We went to Enricos to hear the big band play and enjoy some delicious cuisine.

One of my Thanksgiving cards I made. The body is made from Sophia's feet (crossed - the heels are the head) and the feathers are obviously her hands.

Being really cool while sewing the slipcover for my chair.

Go ahead. Admit it. You want to gobble her up! ...Dang, should have saved that caption for a picture of her on Thanksgiving!

The finished product!

And the front view

Getting her out of her crib on her birthday morning! Little lovebug!

The 61 cupcakes I decorated...Sam's mom helped with the ladybugs.

Sam's decorating job in the living room

Mama with the birthday girl

Getting her into her birthday outfit!

Sam's mom put the hat on her, and she was ticked off. She hated it!

Yummmmm!

Opening some presents!

She likes her dress from Hori, Chels, and Tanner!

Out to dinner with Sam's parents.

Too much partying for this birthday girl.

I just love this picture.

Opening an early Christmas present from Momma Coop!

Adorable!

So tired that she passed out in her bouncer!

I managed to pick her up out of the bouncer and transfer her to the crib, and she barely batted an eye.

Whirlwind Weeks

Yes. That's right, I didn't update the blog last week. Life has been crazy here, and it's kicking my butt. Ok, well it's not, but it's making a valiant effort. Last week when I was supposed to update, I was working on making Sophia's birthday party invitations. Well, then the following night we got hit with a horrible nor'easter. Our power was only out for a few hours, but we didn't really have the internet going for two days. On top of all that, I've been busy with babysitting, party & Thanksgiving planning, cleaning, and oh yeah, LIFE. A few key events/happenings: starting to make a chair slipcover, hung picture shelf in guest bedroom (no, I don't have a picture in this blog. woops.), worked the church nursery for the first time, got our leaky roof (courtesy of the nor'easter) fixed, fixed our water pump that must have died during the nor'easter (our backyard was under about 4" of water), went to a baby shower, dyed my hair (still have yet to decide if I should cut it....it hasn't seen scissors since New Year's Eve last year), made and mailed Sophia's invitations, etc.
Sophia has been trying more table foods over the past two weeks: different kinds of breads/rolls, scrambled eggs, lasagna, homemade pancakes, etc. Some new things Sophia's been doing: smacking her lips...almost like a fish sorta, pulling herself to stand up to everything - crib, table, chairs, etc, crawling like a maniac, spinning around on her butt, very interested in MY eyelashes, bashful/shy around anyone she doesn't really know, and giving me lots and lots of love. She nestles and rubs her face onto me and gives me kisses. It is such a wonderful feeling, almost makes me cry just thinking about how awesome she is. She is such a blessing. I could not have dreamed up a daughter even an ounce of what she is. God is great.
Read on and the pictures will have a little bit more of an explanation this week.

Unwrapping her first birthday present from Mama Coop...chasing after the tissue paper.

Birthday goodies: polka dot dress & headband, birthday girl t-shirt, book, and legwarmers. The first few days we read that book (bedtime kiss for little fish) - I honestly read it like 8 times in a row. She is infatuated with it. Funniest part is - we found out Sam's mom has it at her house too! Lol.

Looking adorable in her striped, button bow and headband.

Testing out the grocery cart walker with Daddy. She can push it all by herself if she has on grippy socks or shoes. If she doesn't have those on her feet - the floor is too slippery for her. We got this as a hand-me-down from Leanne Green at church. Thanks, Leanne!!!!!

Close-up of her cute self

Spending time with her cousins before they go to school in the morning. Kristin's been working a lot more at Little Bay Canvas since the nor'easter hit and damaged boats. Therefore, the boys come over to my house in the morning and hang out for a while before walking to school. Sophia gets SOOOO excited when she sees them. She smiles really big, laughs, claps her hands, and the whole nine yards. Then the boys leave for school and she doesn't want to play with me on the floor. Hmmm....lol.

Sophia crawls over to the console and opens the doors to where her books and toys are. She almost always goes for a book instead of a toy. She loves the Eric Carle books.

Here she is again on another day, getting into "her" cabinet.

Here's my big girl, standing in her crib, waiting for me to get her out. Putting her down for bedtime and naps has been a challenge since she learned to pull herself to standing position. She stands up and just cries, and screams, and cries for a very long time. I wonder if part of it is separation anxiety because when I pick her up, she usually just lays her head down on me and closes her eyes. I will definitely be talking to my pediatrician about this for some suggestions.

Pulling herself up to the coffee table so she can peek at me.

Sleepy girl on a wonderful fall afternoon walk.

Splashing in some water I put on her high chair tray.

On the move in her dress from Mama Coop.

"Who me? No, I didn't do it."

Such a cutie patootie!

I could just eat her up....everyday.

Projects I've been working on:

Making a slipcover pattern, so that I can sew the slipcover for our chair. Kristin is the brains and skill in this project, but I did sew the entire pattern together. We then cut the pieces apart at the seams so we could lay them directly onto the slipcover fabric. All the pieces are cut out. The chair will be finished later this week. Kristin has been too busy with work to help me finish it up, but I am excited! This is only the second thing I've ever sewn...the first was when I was in 6th grade! Lol.

Baby shower card and envelope for Laura Muntzer. The envelope says "new baby" and the card says "she's expecting"

A close up of the cards and envelopes I did for Sophia's party. I made 25 invitations. Whew. It was a lot of work, but I figured the opportunity to do this will become less and less as time goes by.

The first batch of invitations ready to be put in their envelopes and mailed!

A birthday card for Jackson - the son of a college friend. Jackson was born the day after Sophia!

Sophia's birthday card and envelope. I hope she likes it! ...at least when she's older and looks at all the things I saved for her. If she doesn't, I know I at least will cherish it.

...and they say spring time is motivation to get things done

There are TONS of pictures this week. With house projects, fall family pictures, Halloween, and more - it was hard to choose which ones to post. It's been a pretty typical week for the most part - I watched Dylan most of the week days, Sam and I worked on lots of projects throughout the week, and well - Sophia is still just so darn cute. This week I have noticed some big changes in her. She is moving around like crazy...she does not sit still. She scoots, crawls (we're still not very good at this one yet), and rolls anywhere and everywhere. She starts to whine, and sometimes throws a little tantrum, if she can't have what she wants, when she wants it. Some examples are: the cat, to be fed instantly, to be picked up, etc. She also has started to really understand when she's being "reprimanded" so to speak. If I tell her no (like when she is nursing and decides to bite me) she gets a big pout lip while looking at me, and then just starts bawling. Of course I feel badly about her crying, but I have to be serious when I say "no" otherwise she just thinks I'm being funny.

Projects we accomplished this week: painted and rehung all the shutters, painting the railing and light post in the back of the house, painted the mailbox, painted the light post in the front of the house, and put up our master bedroom curtains. I still need to hem the bottom of them, but that won't take long. I also caulked the kitchen (between the countertop and the backsplash). Sam put the outlet covers back on and everything looks marvelous! We also flea bombed the house on Tuesday and mowed the lawn in the front. ...Hopefully this flea bomb was successful because I cannot stand the cats having fleas! We'll have to keep them from going on the screened in porch until it cools down and there isn't such a high risk of them getting fleas from outside. I also want to look into some flea stuff you can put in your grass.

Halloween fun: The day before Halloween, I babysat Dylan and we still managed to get some pumpkins carved before Sam went off to work. He did 1, and I did 4! They look great and I hope you'll think so too. On Halloween we went for a walk on the beach, hung the shutters and painted the mailbox and light post in the front of the house. Before Sam had to leave for work we managed to take some great family pictures on our front steps - because the weather was beautiful outside! After our mini photo shoot, Sophia and I headed to Tyler's baseball game. When the game was over, we came home so we could pass out candy to the trick or treaters. Trick or treating went from 6-8 and by the time it was over - Sophia was definitely ready for bedtime! Sadly, I didn't get to see any family for trick or treating :( Hopefully next year Sam will be home and we'll see either his parents or Kristin & the boys!

Enjoy the pictures!

The back railing and light post before...

And after!

Hanging out at Grandma & Grandpa's for dinner.

Just playin' on the floor with the toys at Grandma's

Sam did the bottom jack o lantern and the spider is one of mine

My other 3 jack o lanterns...

The shutters before...

....And after!

Family picture on Halloween

She loves her daddy...

...and her mommy!

Sharing an apple with Mommy at Tyler's baseball game

Look at the wind blowing her hair lol

Just hanging out with Kristin...literally!

Ready to hand out candy...errrr eat it?

Waiting for the trick or treaters inside...the mosquitos got too bad outside

She loved standing at the door watching for kids. She'd see them and start banging on the door and making noise. She had a blast!

Her first bath in the big pink tub

Good morning Mommy!

The front light post before....

...and after!

The mailbox before....

...and after!

Wearing her new green leggings from Grandma

Finally got the curtains up in our bedroom! Check out the curtain rods - they consist of $1 dowel rods that we spray painted and finials that were on clearance for $3 at Target! Awesome!