Rose Petal Cottage

Paxtin got the most adorable little play house for her birthday from my mom and I never got around to blogging about it! So much going on these past few weeks.

The Rose Petal Cottage lives at Nannie and Poppy's house for now, we just don't have room for it at our house. But, she plays in it every time we go over to visit and I can't wait to get all the matching furniture they make for it. I hope this is a toy that will grow with her and she will enjoy for many more years to come.










She loves crawling in and out, in and out...over and over again. I am so happy she loves it.

Traveling Circus & Father's Day

We are home from a very busy weekend. Paxtin had her final birthday party in Siloam this weekend with our family there. She was a little unsure about all the people and the noise, but she was a wonderful baby the whole weekend and the travel didn't bother her a bit. AND she got her final piece of cake for the year. ;)

A little unsure about all the HOORAYS...




I always try to get a picture with as many people as I can, but there are just so many of them...it is hard.

Pax & Cami

With Dale...

And Great Grandma.



She also thought the deck was her personal jungle gym.



Her favorite thing, by far, were the horses she got to meet at Travis & Courtney's house. Here she is with her daddy on their 2nd Father's Day together.


She wasn't scared at all!





She was also lucky enough to meet Cocoa bird! Bambi's mom brought her bird down for Pax to visit with. I am so glad that she loves animals. Even those that say hello and sing 'You are my Sunshine!'





We spent most of Sunday just lounging around. Daddy played a little golf with his dad and Pax & I spent the day with Bambi & Laci.

Bambi bought her the cutest book, too, "The Tickle Monster"


Pax also got her new car seat this weekend. It was far past time and she was really into it, as you can see. It is so weird to look back into the back seat and see her little face. I kind of like it, though.




And finally...

We started this whirlwind weekend on Friday-visiting with some family in Ft. Smith. My Great, Great Aunt Ruby has been dying to meet Paxtin, so my mom and I traveled to meet her. My cousin Aaron, who lives in NYC, was also in town and I was very excited to see him and his sister Laura. It has been years since we have seen each other. They brought gifts for Pax for her birthday and it was so nice to get to visit with them. Hopefully, we will get back to see them again soon.





We are here this weekend and then will probably be on the road again for the 4th. So glad it's summer though!!

All the toys in the world...

And she would rather sit and rummage through my bag.


After I remove all the possible baby dangers, there isn't anything good left in there...but apparently that doesn't phase Pax. This could be one of her favorite new activities. Taking everything out...then trying to put it back.


This picture is just funny to me. Pax is so cautious when it comes to her getting back down from pulling up. She can't be more than 2 inches off the ground here, but slow and steady she comes down!



With all that cushion back there, let it go sister!

12 month check up

Today was Paxtin's 12 month check up and of course another rounds of shots.

She weighed in at 21 lbs. 5 oz., down just a hair from when she was weighed a few days ago. She is 30" long and has shot back up into the 75% percentile on almost all her stats-up from when she dipped down a tad, probably due to teething. She was a little trooper with the shots. Four of them. 2 in each leg and 2 in each arm. She will only have 2 more visits that require shots and then will be done with them until she is 4. Hallelujah.

I am hoping that these shots don't affect her as bad as they say they might. They warned that she would be sore, due to the shot having to go INTO the muscle. = ( Poor Lambie.

She has her finally birthday party with weekend with our family in Siloam. They do monthly parties for all the birthdays and Pax is (I'm sure) definitely down for some more cake smashing!! June has been crazy hectic for us and I don't for see July slowing down much either. Mommy & Daddy are trying to plan a tiny get-a-way, so maybe that will happen sooner than later. It's far past time for some "pre baby sleep" for mommy.

= )

2nd set of professional shots!!

http://www.photographybyjg.com/index2.php?v=v1

click the link above and go to proofs. Password is paxtin. You have to scroll through her cake ones to get to her newest shots. They are amazing and I am so going to have such a hard time deciding!

=)

Paxtin's First Birthday Party

Paxtin's First Birthday Party!!

She is one very blessed little girl to have so many friends and family who love her so. Just some shots from her party this weekend. Enjoy!


Checking out her presents...

she was really excited to get the singing tea set!

With her great Grandma.



Her beautiful cake.


With Uncle Jordan.


Destroying the beautiful cake!


With mommy's Sorority Lil' Sis and her baby, Drew. (Paxtin's future husband.)



SERIOUS cake eating face!


And finally with mommy & daddy. What a great day.


We finally got Paxtin's final set of 1st birthday shots taken Saturday night. They are an outdoor shot and I am chomping at the bit to see them. It may be the end of next week before they are up, so stay tuned. They are going to be gorgeous. I can feel it!!

Uh oh

Not sure how visible the nose is, but Pax got her first boo boo 2 nights ago.

We were at a neighbor's house for a cookout and they live in a very old, Victorian style home with the steepest stairs EVER. Pax, of course, decided it was time she should be climbing stairs and just took off up them. I freaked. Naturally. She did ok going up and I would bring her back down to the bottom landing so she could go back up. Well...she attempted to then make her way from the bottom landing to the floor, over shot her landing and absolutely face planted. Her nose was all red and scraped looking. It is mostly the little area in between her nostrils, and is healing quite fast. But it was a definite first ouchy. lots of tears and mommy lovin' and she was right back up them. Fearless baby = nervous wreck mommy.

So, naturally I boasted and boasted about Pax having never been sick and what do you know? We end up at the Dr. yesterday, on her birthday no less. At least we made it a year. And I wouldn't say that she is sick either, just a minor sinus infection, but it does require some antibiotics. I took her for the Dr. to look at the really bad rash she has around her mouth right now (all teething/drool related...) and he discovered some drainage in her throat. We are also doing some Claritin for any allergies she may be suffering from. She has to keep her rash completely greased in Aveeno and Aquaphor at pretty much all times except for eating. It gets in her hair and all over me-not good for my OCD about her being neat and tidy in public. It was an eventful day to say the least. But this morning she is looking MUCH better.

She has also figured out how to do this...


Yeah and has no idea how to get back down. So once she decides to get up there, I have to run in and rescue her. (And yes, I realize she looks like a complete orphan and her hair is crazy.) She is pulling up on EVERYTHING-and really fast, too. It used to take her a minute, but now she is a total pro. No cruising on the furniture. I think she may be one of those that just takes off. Stay tuned!

12 Months Old-Happy Birthday Boo Baby

(Sorry this is a long post!) So much to say....

12 months ago, we brought home a beautiful, bouncing, 8 lb. 5oz. baby princess. I was scared, excited, determined to do my best, and beyond infatuated with her in every way. I had found the love of my life. She was perfect and I couldn't take my eyes off of her.




We have watched her grow & change, way too fast. Reaching all her milestones, developing her amazing personality, and beginning to blossom and become a little person; no longer a tiny helpless baby.





While I am sad that she is a year old, I am also very excited. Intrigued about what lies ahead for us, all of the new adventures we will have and the activities we will be able to experience together.

Here's how she has changed over this past year. ( I know I have posted these several times, but they are some of my favorite shots of her ever.)

The first shoot was hard. She was tired and obviously couldn't sit up.


I loved month 2 and her dress. So summery and a great color on her.



Month 3 we began symptoms of teething for the first time. She was not into this shoot AT ALL.


This one was my favorite. Such a sweet little 'boo' face! Again, teething.


Month 5 was a growth spurt. And she finally got long enough hair on top to rock the pebbles!


My mom and & I took this shot together. It took us both and this is when I realized the paper sign wasn't going to work anymore. She ate it.


I will always remember this one because I missed it. I was in Colorado skiing and my mom and dad had to take this one for me.


My second favorite shot. The sock monkey shirt was a must-have!


Probably her best smile in any of the monthly shots. And blue is a good color on her.


Between 9 & 10 months, there wasn't much of a size change. She kinda plateaued.


And our most recent before the new one. I think she was dancing in this one!!

And now here we are-12 months old!









So, Pax at 12 months:

I haven't gotten an official height, but will when we go for well-baby checkup later in the month, but, she weighs 21 pounds (completely average/slightly above.) I calculated that she consecutively gained roughly one pound each month. How neat is that? So she has gained 12 1/2 pounds since her birth. Her doctor said at our last visit (at 9 months) that she was slightly under weight due to her teething, but would catch up. And also, to expect her to get leaner and lose some weight as she begins to cruise and eventually walk.

She is now a pro at pulling up. In the tub, on her play kitchen, the couch, coffee table-anywhere. It literally scares me to death, but her face is just so precious. She is so proud of herself and loves when I clap wildly when she pulls up on her own. It is so strange to see her upright-she looks so tiny. She is ready to walk. I can tell she is tired of us having to carry her everywhere. She loves to explore.

Music has become a big part of our life these days. We are dancing to just about anything. Commercials, her toys that sing, our Led Zeppelin lullabies, & cartoons. She loves to clap and say "YEA!" We also get the "OOOO" quite a bit still. Her new words now are, " UH OH." And it completely impresses me that she uses it in context. She drops something and immediately says, "UH OH!" It is the cutest thing I have ever heard. As far as teaching her words, I work with her everyday on anything and everything we see. I ask her what she is doing, tell her what I am doing, ask her what something is, point to items and ask what they are. She enjoys her picture books with the 'real' pictures of random stuff in them. And anytime we see another child in a store, she says (I think) "Baby." She also loves pictures of herself. =)

Discipline is starting to come into play. We have had to use the' NO' and 'the look' quite a bit more here lately. She is very much into testing us and seeing just how far she can get with something. Her favorite no-no is to drop food off her highchair so the dogs will come over and eat it. And apparently my 'mean face/the look' is hilarious. I think we are in for it with this one!

She is an amazingly bright baby, picking up on things just as fast as I can introduce them to her. We count to five in English and Spanish and she claps every time we get to 5. She knows that when I put on my sunglasses, we are going bye bye. She'll go crawl to the door. And she also LOVES to be chased. I have never seen a baby get so excited to have someone act like they are going to get her. She picked up that game really fast. It's a daily thing we have to do.

Our schedule is nailed down and I am really liking what we have worked out. She is sleeping most mornings until 7:30ish, we play and eat breakfast until around 9:30 or 10:00. If we have errands to run we go at 10:00 or if not, we go outside to walk or swing. She usually is eating lunch by 11:30/12:00, and napping by 12:30-1:00. And thank God she has discovered the joy of napping. 2 hours...and then she is up again ready to go. We go visit Nannie every afternoon and then are home by 5:00 to see daddy and cook dinner. The kid thrives on her schedule and I am happy I did this long ago and got her used to having one.

This past year with her has been unbelievably amazing and I can’t wait to see what the next year holds! I have so many fun things planned to experience with her and can't wait until she can walk. The zoo is absolutely first on our list!