just another night in the tub

happy little bather

crazy hair magoo

using mommy's shades as goggles

post bath 'jammie snuggles = happy girl

this girl can eat!

After running errands we went out to lunch

on Saturday and miss priss

was very ready for her lunch when we got there.

This smile was after she eat a whole banana, a

whole cup of mandarin oranges, and a container

of toddler spinach and cheese ravioli.

Shoveling it into her mouth several pieces at a time

and only pausing for sips of water.

After devouring all of that she gave a happy

little smile for Daddy's cellphone camera

and then started grabbing for my sweet potato fries!

this and that stats

 

-Makayla had her 12 month well check yesterday morning.

It went well and she seems right on track developmentally.

She dropped down a bit in weight (percentage-wise),

which I attribute to two awful stomach bugs in the last two months.

Weight: 18 lbs 12.2 oz (10%)

Height: 28.5 inches (25%)

Head Width: 17.5 (25%)

She impressed the doc by pointing at objects around the room

and talking in her cute nonsense word way.

She wanted to hold the books and kept saying over

and over something that sounded like book.

Either way, he was impressed, so I'm good with that.

Shots were a bummer, but they always are.

-Since yesterday at the doctor's office MMC is

repeatedly pointing at random things and saying

this word that sounds like "book/look/gook."

We are trying our best to figure out what

"gook" means...do you know?

-She is all about signing

her new favorite...MILK.

She also says milk as clear as day now.

my '60s baby

I'm loving this photo of my girl in her ducky swimsuit,

so I did some photo edits:

How cute is she as a 1960's pool side babe?

a few new ones of the little miss

{this photo was from her last

bout with the stomach bug...

even with her sickly belly and rosy cheeks

she was trying to be in a good mood and play...

we took out a pack of linky letters and played

a game that goes like this:

step 1: Makayla takes all the letters out

of the plasic bag

step 2: Makayla spreads all the letters over the sofa

and floor

step 3: Mommy picks all the letters up and puts them

back in the plastic bag

step 4: repeat steps 1 through 4}

our little bathing beauty

ready for a late afternoon at the pool

love that girl!

bathing beauty

sans cover up and hat,

in her ducky swimsuit from auntie em

yes, this is the after shot

I'll set the scene...

Sunday afternoon, after church and lunch

at Bumbee and Granpa's house.

Everyone had gone home/work/errands,

except for us non-cable-ites who

stayed so Brandon could watch

the Atlanta Braves game.

Once Makayla woke from her

afternoon nap we spent some

time playing with toys from the cabinet,

watching baseball, working on walking,

discouraging stair climbing, etc...

Brandon and I each had some

ice cream pie that was leftover

from that day's lunch dessert.

Makayla was crawling around on the

floor, playing and having a great time.

All of a sudden it go very quiet and

we noticed it at the exact same time.

Makayla had crawled over beside the

recliner that Brandon had previously

been sitting in. We both lept up

and I said "Are there any light sockets

over there?"

Brandon grabbed her and this photo

was the findings...

she had found the leftovers from

his ice cream pie

and was quickly stuffing them

(mostly cookie crumble crust)

into her mouth, with both

hands at the same time.

Ha!

Caught in the act...

walking

Baby Love: Walking from Ellen Colberg on Vimeo.

Makayla decided it was time to take more than one or two steps!

The room was already cleared out for yoga,
so we kept the yoga mat and towel down for a softer landing and let her rock-n-roll.
I love this video clip, since she is walking, talking and pointing at her Daddy at the same time.
Love that girl...little miss adventure!

She also signed "want" last night and then started
signing "milk" when it was time for her bottle.

I mean, I know I am way biased but I think we have
a very smart little chica on our hands.

A very smart walking little chica...

birthday fun for the little 1

For the little miss

who turned one, that is...

Makayla had lots of

family visitors last weekend:

Nana, Papa,

Gee Gee,

Aunt Emily, Uncle Jason, Jamison,

Aunt Liz,

Aunt Celia and Rachel,
Beth, John, Ben and Chris.

Her first birthday

party was held

at Bumbee and Granpa's

house 

(thanks for hosting, Bonnie!)

and we had a great time.

Unfortunately the morning

of her party Makayla

was feeling a bit under the weather.

She is usually so happy

and playful and she was 

fussy and unhappy on Saturday.

A few hours before the party

her temp was 103...yikes!

So, what's a good mom to do?

Give that sweetie some infant

tylenol and a nap and hope

for the best and some returned 

health and happiness.

Well, we woke the sweetie pie

up just in time to get to her

party and you could tell 

she was not happy to be

woken up and she

still wasn't feeling that well,

poor baby.

We made the most of it though,

and once she saw everyone

(all the folks mentioned above,

plus Aunt Heather, Uncle Thor, Gage,

Brock, Aunt Erica, Catie and TJ)

she perked up a little bit,

or at least tried to be a trooper

and play.

We decorated party hats,

played with bubble guns outside,

ate snacks,

watched the birthday girl try

her cake,

we all ate cupcakes,

and opened some gifts.

Here are some photos

of the big birthday party

(I'm sure you'll be able to tell she

wasn't feeling so hot...slim to no smiles..

but hey, what's a birthday girl to do,

it's her party and she can cry if she wants to):

a few days before, on her real bday,

letting everyone know she is 1

practicing birthday candle blowing out

on her carrots and green beans

 food, decor, cupcakes, cuteness galore!

world's most precious party hart (worn for 0.5 seconds)

cuppy-cakes and smash cakes

made with love by Nana

 flower pot birthday sign
and rainbow fruit skewers

party girl holding Gee Gee's hand

birthday dress gifted from Gee Gee

sitting with Bumbee

holding her presh party hat

the first attempt at donning the hat,

can't you tell she isn't feeling well?

lasted 0.25 seconds

decorating party hats with the cuzzies

a joyful moment as she scampered off

to attempt a stair climb

Brock coaching MMC on her first solo climb

bubble time!

everyone enjoying playtime outside

high chair banner, I AM 1

 second attempt at party hat wearing,

lasted an additional 0.25 seconds

notice she is scowling

prior to cake we played a little game

everyone guessing which duck MMC would choose,

AKA what she would be when she grew up...

(L to R: political, scholar, diva, athlete, doctor)

once everyone had voted, via secret ballot,

I gave her all the ducks and she picked number 1,

the political duck...El Presidente!

Ha, her Daddy and I were the only ones

that voted for that duck...so we went for a second pick

and she picked the DIVA duck!

foretelling her future as a singer, dancer,

actress, supersmom, etc

most people had voted for this one,

so we chose a winner and it

was Aunt Heather, who recieved

a fabulous prize of a rubber ducky that

said Lucky Duck and a pez dispenser :)

fighting through the fever (see those rosey cheeks)

to show off her #1 and #2 ducky picks

time for sugar!

happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you,

happy birthday dear makayla, happy birthday to you

hmmm, what is this stuff?

I don't know what it is,

but it sure isn't greenie beanies

ok, what gives, you guys have been holding out on me!?!

and it is strawberry flavored :)

desperately needed water break

not feeling so swell

and DONE with cake,

flinging her hands to get the icing off 

moving on to the pressies

(note the two eager beavers to my right)

going after the bows, the best part!

 successful bow snag,

poor baby has that sick look about her

enlisting the older cuzzies to

help MMC unwrap her gifts

little yellow ducky swimsuit...luuuurve it,

thanks auntie em!

admiring a pretty dress she was given

snuggling up with her special minky blanket that Nana made

forget the clothes, gimme the tissue paper!

num num...no need to open the toys, i'll just chew the package

Happy 1st Birthday Makayla!

birthday guest book

I'm a sucker for a good guest book...

well, I'll take the "good" back and

say I'm a sucker for a creative guest book.

I wanted to make something for 

Makayla's first birthday party,

that we could use as

a guest book.

A keepsake for family

to sign and show

a little love to MMC.

I searched on etsy for some

inspiration and was pulled

in so many interesting directions.

This is called "tree of love"

and it arrives as a simple tree branch print

and all the guests sign by stamping their

thumb prints as leaves on the tree

and signing their name beside.

Love this idea, but we

won't have quite enough

guests for that...

credit

From the same etsy seller,

there is also this beautiful peacock:

credit

And from another seller

there is this cute balloon

print that would be great for

a birthday party:

credit

I also looked at puzzles,

where each guest signs a piece.

A wooden keepsake box where

notes from each guest

could be saved in.

A ceramic plate

that each guest could

sign and then we could

have it fired at a pottery store.

I even thought of making a

little time capsule for her.

I love this idea, so maybe next

year. We could have each

guest bring something to

fill the capsule and seal it,

only to have to her open it in

5 or 10 years.

But I went with an old

faithful idea...

the same one we used

at our wedding...

probably because it

turned out so lovely

and still hangs

in our condo today...

a signautre mat.

I wanted to get a little

crafty with it,

but didn't want to spend

too much,

so I hit up Michael's

and happened to find

the perfect white 5x7

signatuare mat,

and a wide variety of

cute birthday stickers in the

scrapbooking aisle.

Here it is displayed
at her party:

And the finished

product,

with all the love notes

from her family.

Ready to be framed

and hung in her nursery!

A few minutes of creativity...

a few minutes of signatures...

and now a wonderful keepsake

that we can show her for years to

come...all the family that

loved and cared for her,

and came to her first birthday party!