The big ONE!

Payton had a wonderful time celebrating her first birthday with lots friends and family. I knew I didn't want to host it at our house, so Grady and Vicki were kind enough to allow us to rent the Grove Hill Clubhouse through them. It turned out perfect! The weather was better than we ever imagined it would be. You can't ask for much more than 67 degrees and sunny in February. The kids were able to get outside to play and bounce. Despite the large number of pictures that were taken, I am missing pictures of some of the kids. Thank you so much to everyone who helped Payton celebrate her first birthday. We were definitely reminded yet again of how blessed we are to have so many special people in our lives. Sorry for the overload of pictures, but how do you leave any out???























What do you want me to do with this?

Mommy helped get me started...

Oh, I get the hang of it now.

Mom, you should really try this!

We went to the doctor last Thursday and she had to get four shots. We were a little surprised by her stats. She weighed 19 lbs. 11 oz. (20th percentile), 28 6/8 inches (75th percentile) and her head was 18.5 cm. We are now completely on whole milk and she is doing great with it. Eating on the other hand has become quite a challenge. She really will only eat baby food, bananas, and oatmeal. She has been cutting some teeth lately and I am hoping that it is just that her gums are sore so it hurts to eat anything else. Maybe she will be off baby food before she turns 2!!!
The past year has been incredibly challenging, yet so fun. I can't count the number of times in a day that Jonathan and I tell each other "I love that girl." Happy birthday sweet angel! We feel very blessed to be your parents.

Adjustments

Being a mommy is by far the most rewarding, difficult, fun, and exciting job in the world. Of course there are lots of changes in your life when you have a child. After some resistance, I have accepted some of them such as not going to restaurants and living on a schedule. I have found that life is just easier when you give in. I am okay with that. There's no question that it is worth the sacrifice. However, two things that are still bothering me are this...

and this...

I do not like messes! I am having a very hard time tolerating messy eating. I know everyone says, just let it go, but I can't help it. I also can't keep my house clean for the life of me. Again, everyone says get over it. My hardheaded self just can't accept that answer. I know I will have to get over it very soon, I'm just having a very hard time.
With all that said, how can you be mad when you see this?

SNOW much fun!

Corny title, I know. The blizzard of 2010 has come and gone. Payton's favorite part was watching it from the back door window. When we first took her out, she loved it. But after she fell down and realized just how cold it was, she wasn't a huge fan.





In case you didn't know, Payton just wanted to tell you how old she would be in a few days!

Committed

I recently made a commitment to at least try to start running. I know that statement is somewhat contradictory. A friend at school told me about a couch to 5k program she is doing. It is a 9 week program that "supposedly" has you running a 5k at the end. I don't like running, and have never claimed to like it. I figure if I can stick with it for 9 weeks maybe I will understand why people enjoy it so much. You may be wondering why in the world do I feel so inclined to post it on the blog? Well, I'm thinking maybe this is my accountability. If you see me, ask me if I'm still doing it. I am two workouts in right now and am surprisingly enjoying it. However, please keep in mind I am running short intervals and doing mostly brisk walking in between. I am determined to complete the program just to prove it to myself. Stay tuned...

11 months

Payton turned 11 months this past Thursday! At evelen months:
-She walks everywhere she goes.
-She still isn't much into big people food, I think it's a texture thing.
-The past three days she has been bottle free!!!! She has been drinking all of her formula out of a sippy cup. You have no ideas how excited/nervous I was about this endeavor.
-She still only has 4 teeth (2 top and 2 bottom).
-She is sleeping much better through the night after all the trouble that we had at about 9 months. I have finally toughened up and let her cry it out. She is now going right back to sleep.
-Her favorite book is Brown Bear Brown Bear and I swear she can say Brown Bear when she reads it.
-She uses sign language for "more" and sometimes "thank you."
-Her favorite play place is Mollie's food bowl.
-She attempts to play with Mollie by bringing her the squirrel. Mollie is warming up to her, but not quite there yet.
-She is stubborn and hard headed. I have a feeling we are going to have a very strong willed child on our hands.

Weekend in Music City

We celebrated the long weekend by getting away in Nashville. It was so nice to get out of town for a weekend. We spent Saturday exploring downtown. Saturday night we went to the Grand Ole Opry and got to see some pretty cool people...
Dierks Bentley...

Vince Gill...

and Carrie Underwood.

But of course this little cowgirl was the best of all!

We spent the day Sunday going to the Country Music Hall of Fame, shopping, and relaxing. Payton was really a good girl all weekend. I must admit, I was very worried about getting her off schedule and out of her normal surroundings. Our only difficult moments were sleeping time. Of course, I guess it might have been better had I remembered the bottom mat to the pack and play. :) On our way out of town Monday she got to ride on her very first carousel. She absolutely loved it!

Bundeled Up

I think this little monkey is absolutely precious all bundled up. Now we're just wondering what we are going to do all weekend with below freezing temperatures!

We've transitioned back into reality this week, and actually had a pretty good week. Payton is walking as much as she crawls these days (or maybe even more). She is jabbering all of the time, and sometimes even getting a few words in here and there. Her new favorite is "Chase." I think she picked this up from Ella. She always looks at the picture of all three of them on the table and point and says his name. I was reading a magazine last night that had a picture of a baby boy on the back, and she kept saying Chase over and over again. I had no clue why she kept saying his name, and finally Jonathan pointed out that she was pointing to the picture on the magazine. Another word I hear frequently is baby. When she sees a picture of herself, she often points and says "baby." She has learned where her nose and mouth is this week, but is having a little trouble with the eyes. It's crazy to see how much she is picking up and learning every single day.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!