Aurora's 1 Year Photo Shoot

So, this is a bit overdue, but life with a toddler is nuts.  We're busy all the time.  

Aurora's 1 year photo shoot was amazing!  I love love love our photographers.  The Mullikin Studio has been an absolute joy to work with.  This is my favorite photo shoot to date.  We've got an 18 month shoot on the books, I can't wait for Spring!

That is a "free" chair that we painted with red and glitter spray paint.  We also cut the legs off, so it's perfect for 1 year olds.  

Etsy is wonderful...I love the outfit..It matched the decorations perfectly!

She was in a great mood all morning.  We got tons of really wonderful photos! 

She loved walking all over the studio.  It's amazing they were able to get any pictures in focus, she was on the move the whole time! 

 We got lots of smiles, and laughs!

She didn't want the letters to touch the chair..she kept knocking them over.

 She was ready for cake by this time, but I wanted her next to the chalkboard at least once.  I had it designed on Etsy, and we printed it at Kinkos.  It turned out great.  Hopefully we can keep it nice looking and maybe she'll appreciate it when she has a baby..many many moons from now.

She could hardly believe she was getting cake for breakfast.  She didn't do as much damage as I hoped she would, but the pictures are pretty great anyway.  

She was pretty delicate about the whole thing, despite our best efforts to get her to destroy the cake.

The cake was made by a lady a friend recommended.  Cakes by Eileen in Lenexa.  She did an amazing job! The cake was delicious too.  

 We took some other pictures before she got cake all over everything.

 She loves Mr. Bunny.  It was an Easter gift from Grammy.  She sleeps with him every night. 

I can't believe how much she's changed in just a year.  I can't believe how much we've changed in a year.  We were happy before, but now, it's unmeasurable.  She's learning and growing so much, I think I'm going to keep up the monthly updates, at least for a little while longer.  Hopefully she'll want and appreciate the information when she gets older.

She's got her 1 year check up pretty soon, so we can update some stats.  Then 13 months will be right around the corner.  We've got some activities planned for this fall, so stay tuned.

Jessica

Aurora is ONE Year Old!

It happened.  I don't have a baby any more..I have a toddler.  A very crazy toddler.

Her 12th month brought a ton of stuff.  She's so big now, it amazes me how much she's learned and grown in just a month. 

We went to Irish Fest.  She loves bagpipes already!

We also went apple picking.  She liked that they were tiny apples, just right for her hand. 

We played in the yard a little bit.  The weather has been so nice.

We went to the Ren Fest with Tia.  She's going to be a dragon slayer.  

Still best dressed.  I love fall clothes!

Grammy got her a chair of her very own.  She loves to get in it, then get down, then get in, then get down.

We had a super Seussical 1st birthday party!

We were able to use props from her 1 year photo shoot.

It was crazy to see all her monthly pictures next to each other.  She's gotten so big!

Party food. 

More party food.  We did a pretty good job I think.  She won't remember, but I will. 

Special chair for the Birthday girl!

They all lined up in the dining room, it was really cute!

Cake!

Grammy got her a ball pit.

Yeah, it was a big hit.

So, I'm now the proud new owner of my very own ball pit.  Complete with a 6 foot tunnel.  Insane.

She got tons of nice things.  We're happy to have something new to play with.  She slept like a rock.

Be on the lookout for her professional pictures.  I'm running a bit behind..but they'll be next.

I don't know what I'm going to do about her updates next.  Should I keep doing the monthly stuff?  All this has gone in a scrapbook for her so far.  Do I keep that up, or do something else?  Definitely open to suggestions.

Stay tuned. 

Jessica

Aurora is 11 Months Old!

We're in the final countdown!  One month until my baby is ONE!  I can hardly believe it.

I was looking back at the first photo we took of her in this chair, she was much much smaller!

Her and Aster as still buds.  

She loves Gramma's house because she gets pudding spatulas.  Gramma under minds me at every turn...that's what they're for I suppose. 

She gets yogurt pops while she's there too...she basically never wants to come home. 

We stand by ourselves now.  **and this technically didn't happen before she was 11 months old, but she took her first unassisted steps on August 29th, in Gramma's hotel at Irish Fest.**

She's chatting up a storm too.  She can say "Mama", "Dada", "Uh-oh"..she's been able to say those for a while.  She also says "Fish" and "Cracker".  We're working on her sign language, but she hasn't picked up anything new.  She still just says "more", "milk", "eat".  We're working on "please" and "cracker".  They work on it at school a lot too. 

We went to Fritz's train restaurant, she's a fan.  She eats pretty much everything now, which makes it so much easier to take her places.  

We went to Culver's night with Tia for Aurora's school.  Part of the proceeds went to Calvary Lutheran..we're doing our part!

She's changing so much all the time, it's so hard to keep up!

We're on our way to 1 year old.  Her photos are scheduled, and we're gearing up for the party, it's going to be insanely ONEderful!

Stay tuned!

Jessica

Aurora is 10 Months Old!

Woah baby!  We're double digits this month!
She is a non-stop fun machine.

It really is getting very difficult to get these monthly pictures.

She loves taking pictures with the phone.

She's still an artist.  She loves her new school.  Everyone there is absolutely wonderful.  They seem to love her to pieces..I mean, what's not to love.

This month we celebrated 'Murica...she's not a fan. 

Oliver and I had a trial over the 4th of July, but Daddy pulled through and dressed her up Hampton's style.

We take big girl baths now.  No more tiny whale tub for us!

We went to Andrew's 1st birthday party, because hand-foot-and-mouth disease doesn't scare us.  We had a great time.  We have a great time every day...you can see that awesome bruise on her noggin...it'll probably never go away.

Stylish.

Stylish.

We went to the Zoo with Grammy and Granddad.  We got to see all the animals Tia KT takes care of. 

Sometimes it gets crazy!

She's insane all the time.  She's so close to walking.  She'll go when you hold her hands.  She can stand for a few seconds at a time all by herself with nothing holding her..if she's not distracted by a toy, or a cat, or dog, or dad, or anything.. I bet next month we report walking.  She's got 6 teeth.  4(well almost, one is just starting to come all the way through) on the top, and 2 on the bottom.  She's a complete pig, she'll eat just about anything you put in front of her.  She's still a super sleeper.  She's settling in to our new routine.  She gets smarter every single day.  I can't wait for her to learn something new!

Check back, we're on the horizon of big big changes I'm sure.

Jessica