One Year Old

I can't believe it.  I am a mother to a ONE YEAR OLD!!  It blows me away how fast time goes by and how much my little baby has grown in just 365 days.  She is no longer a baby but a toddler.  She is so close to walking and as much as I am proud of that, I wish she would slow down.  She is the sweetest little person who loves to say "hi" and wave to any and everyone who passes by and also loves to give hugs and kisses.  She still is very attached to her Scout and then today she opened a gift from the Gottsackers and was so happy to see that she now has the "big girl" version of Scout, or rather, Violet...

Pay no attention to the ghost in the background.  It was 7 AM and makeup was not an option.

We took the most precious video this morning where Trevor and I walked into her bedroom to greet her with the Happy Birthday song when she woke up.  She was bouncing and dancing in her crib and so happy that BOTH mommy and daddy were there to greet her.

After we opened presents Millie put on her birthday outfit and we strolled on over to the coffee shop to have blueberry pancakes in her new pink trike complete with a cell phone.  A precious gift from the Gottsacker family who are great friends and business partners with Trevor.   Thank you Gottsackers!  Millie loves strolling along while talking on her phone.

We then went over to Oma and Opa's house to have lunch and go swimming.  Oma and Opa were so thoughtful and got Millie her first "big girl chair" for her room.

About to go swimming with Daddy

Happy family!

It's been such a blessed day and we are so lucky that God has blessed us with the most precious gift that is Millie Grace.  She is so loved and you can see it in her face. 

Well, as I write this it is 7:47 PM and Millie has been in her crib since 6:30.  Notice I didn't say she was sleeping!  She's been playing in her crib for over an hour so we decided that she must have had an overdose of sugar from her birthday cupcake and needs to play some more so daddy just went and got her out of bed.  Time to play!! 

Charlee Sue Smith is here!

So I feel awful that I haven't posted anything in so long but we have been going non-stop this entire month!  August was loaded with major events in the Bird family including the birth of my precious niece, Charlee Sue Smith! My sister Adriane was so awesome throughout her whole labor and I am still amazed by her.  She allowed our mother and me in the delivery room along with Adam and we got to witness the most amazing miracle!  I had a C-section so I never got to experience a normal birth.  I labored for three hours though so I like to think that I tried my hardest. 

The only time Adriane complained at all was right before she got her epidural.  After that it was smooth sailing.  In between pushes she was making jokes and being her normal self.  I was in shock because my labor was soooo not like that.  She deserved a good labor considering the hell she went through during pregnancy!

For those of you who are not aware, Charlee was born with a double cleft lip and palate.  We knew about it from about 18 weeks along and were able to prepare as much as possible.  She will have to go through a few surgeries to correct the palate and the lip with the first one being at four months old.  There is no doubt in my mind that this precious angel will handle it very well because she is very strong.  Eating was the biggest concern for her right away but she showed us all how strong she is by nursing within minutes of birth!  She gets more milk through a special bottle though and doesn't have to try as hard so Adriane is pumping and feeding her through the bottle.  She is truly a precious gift from God and we are all so thrilled for their little family.  And check out her HAIR!!  There's TONS of it!  We were very shocked to see all that hair because we don't have babies with hair usually.  It was awesome.  She's perfect!

Getting ready to meet their baby girl!

Here she is!!

Adriane overcome with emotion by seeing Charlee for the first time.

Proud Auntie!!

Millie meeting her baby cousin.  She LOVES her Charlee!  She is so sweet and gentle with her.  It's like it's in her nature.

Love the baby.

Millie did NOT love sharing Charlee with mommy!  Or maybe she didn't like sharing mommy with Charlee!

Sweet beautiful girl!

Proud Papa!

11 Months

It's kind of amazing that I am actually posting her 11 month update on her actual 11 month birthday.  BAM!

Millie is at such a fun age right now and I am soaking in every moment; every tear, every tooth- bearing smile, every "HI!", every head on my shoulder moment, and every 100 mph crawling session that I can.  Slowly but surely she is getting over her stranger danger and is allowing more people to hold her which is great but bittersweer at the same time.  I am enjoying the few moments of freedom though!

At 11 months old Millie:

• babbles like she's having a conversation with you
• says "HI" while waving vigorously
• says mama and dada and baba (bottle)
• crawls at 100 + mph
• is now on a two nap a day schedule versus three
• can walk up and down the couch with ease
• can pull up on just about anything
• can balance for a few seconds without help (I know what comes next!)
• still loves her Scout very much.  We have one in the carseat and in the crib.
• is getting her other front tooth which will equal five total teeth
• only likes to feed herself.  Don't even think about eating around her unless you're up for sharing.
• holds her own bottle (she's been doing this since nine months old however I think I forgot to put that in her update)
• Is still in 12 month clothes and wearing size three diapers

So, as you can see Millie is growing like a weed and absolutely loving being a baby/almost toddler.  She is such a joy and mommy and daddy fall in love with her more and more with each passing day.  I can't believe her next update will be her ONE YEAR update.  Oh my, that will be a hard day for me!

Adriane's Olivia Baby Shower

This past Sunday was a special day.  I, along with my BFF Rachel, threw a baby shower for my sister Adriane at 2Tarts Bakery in New Braunfels.  If any of you know my sister, you know that pigs are her favorite animal.  She has always had stuffed pigs and pictures of pigs everywhere in her room growing up.  So, I decided to theme her shower around the adorable children's cartoon character, Olivia the Pig.  Yes, it would have been more fitting if my niece's name was going to be Olivia but still it was a total hit.  Adriane got lots of great items for Charlee including tons and tons of diapers.  Yeah!  Charlee will be all set for her arrival. 

My dear friend and neighbor Tiffany helped me out and designed the invitations, the wish cards and the favor tags for the shower.  She is so creative and did a great job.  If you ever need anything created from wedding invitations to baby announcements, you can find Tiffany's Etsy store here.  Here are some pictures of the day. 

I put an Olivia doll on top of her diaper cake

The party favor was M&Ms with different saying related to Charlee and the wish cards were a definite hit!

I had to include this picture of the room because this bakery is oh so cute!  I made five diaper cakes to use as centerpieces.

The red velvet cake.  YUMMY!

Adraine holding Smitty Baby.  Anytime anyone said the name Smitty or baby, they had to hold the Smitty Baby!

Adriane opening her gifts.

The hostesses with the guest-of-honor.

It was a wonderful shower and now the next big event is another shower in Houston this coming weekend and then baby Charlee will be coming very soon!

Seven random things about me

My girlfriend Alyssa tagged me in her blog like over a month ago and I am just now responding.  Sorry girl!  I'm supposed to write seven random facts about me and then tag 15 people.  I don't think I know that many bloggers so I'll tag as many as I can.

1. I am never satisfied with my hair color.  It changes regularly.
2. I have a slight case of OCD.  I constantly count things.  And they have to be in even numbers.  If something is odd it drives me crazy.
3. I never go more than 24 hours without talking to my mom. 
4. I cannot go to bed with a dirty kitchen.  It has to be spotless.
5. I have a weakness for french fries.  If the choice is fries or some other side, I will always get the fries.
6. I hate the feel of cardboard.  It makes my skin crawl.  It's going to make it very hard if we ever move and I have to pack boxes.
7. I sleep with over 20 pillows on my bed.  No exageration.

I tag the following people:

• Tiffany Walker of The Walkers
• Paige Bird of Three Little Birds
• Viki Peltier of Viki and Joe's Big Adventure
• Meredith Tichenor of The Tichenor Family
• Roxanne Bradford of Hangin' with the Bradford's
• Rani May of aMAYzing Grace

Griffin and Millie sittin in a tree...

Ok I know I say this a lot but I absolutely love the thought of Millie growing up and marrying sweet Griffin Kingsbury!  His mama is my BFF and our little kiddos are too.  If they don't get married, at least they will always be close friends.  Rachel and Griffin came to New Braunfels last week and we had a great playdate.  I took some silly pictures of the babies that I have to share here.  Griffin was born with TONS of hair and has already had like two haircuts or more and Millie, bless her heart, still has peach fuzz for hair.  While they were playing Griffin's hair was getting in his face and so I had a quick solution...

It took four bows to get Griffin's hair up and I think I found four hairs for Millie's bow.

Hi sweet Griffin!!

Don't take her bow!  You have four on your head!!

Haha I love their sweet little faces.  Rachel, don't be mad at me for posting these.  He's just too cute!

Millie is 10 months old! Oh, and Happy Independence Day!

As Millie gets older it's getting harder and harder to get her to sit still to take a picture.  Notice I had to distract her with my keys.  It helped for a few seconds!

I feel like 10 months has been a huge turning point for Millie as far as her development.  She went from not having any interest in crawling to crawling EVERYWHERE and also pulling up on the furniture and walking along the couch.  She is growing up so fast I can hardly stand it!

At 10 months old, Millie:

• can crawl
• can stand up while holding onto something
• takes a few steps while holding onto the couch
• understands "No" but doesn't exactly listen when I say it
• can wave hello and goodbye
• can give sugars (kisses)
• can give high fives
• claps her hands
• likes to eat any and everything that mommy or daddy eats
• loves to munch on huge pieces of bread
• likes to stick a whole bunch of food in her mouth at one time (makes me very nervous)
• loves being in the water and outdoors
• is 20 lbs. and 4.5 oz (75%)
• is 29" tall (95%)
• is getting one of her top front teeth and an i tooth.  They are definitely giving her lots of pain and it's making me very sad. 
• is wearing 12 month clothes and some 18 month.
• absolutely positively loves music of all kinds.  Anytime the radio comes on or one of her toys starts playing music she automatically starts bobbing her head and smiles the biggest smile.  I love that she loves music so much!

Today is the fourth of July.  Independence Day.  A perfect day to reflect on all the wonderful blessings we have as Americans.  And most importantly, pray and give thanks to all of our soldiers that are fighting for our freedom everyday.  To celebrate this wonderful holiday, Trevor and I took Millie to the New Braunfels Independence Day parade in downtown and had a blast!  Millie was so great and she enjoyed all the floats and all the people.  We met up with my sister and Smitty and had a great time.

Millie with her Aunt Adriane

Have you every seen a  happier baby?  And yes, I pinch her cheeks everyday!

Enjoying a pretzel with daddy

I love this photo.  Perfect description of our personalities. 

Hi Adriane and Smitty!

Up high!

That was fun mommy but I'm ready to go home and take a nap!

It's only 2:00 so once Trevor and Millie wake up from their nap we're going to go swimming at Oma and Opa's house and then take it easy.  A little sad there will be no fireworks this year (fire ban) but happy that we got to spend the whole day together as a family.  I hope you all have a wonderful July 4!