Fun Day!

We went to the Wildlife World Zoo today!!! It was so much fun to watch Sydney see all of the animals in person that she has been seeing for so long on her baby einstein movies. By far, our favorite was feeding the giraffes. Greg held Sydney's foot out and the giraffe licked it. I have it on video but I didn't have the time to download it yet. It was very cute! She was also excited to see all of the ducks and monkeys.

This past week seemed like it flew by. Sydney's black eye is finally going away - thank God, we have been getting the stink eye from people everywhere we go!!! She continues to practice walking and talking and is growing like a weed! Starting this week, we are going to wean down from two breastfeeding sessions a day to one a day...wish me luck! I think it's actually harder on me than on her. It's just such a special bond that the two of us have shared since she was born. How do I let something like that go?

Videos and pictures coming soon...

12 Month Checkup!

Yesterday was a little rough for Sydney (although her Minnesota blog entry turned out quite nice)!! We had her 12 month check up and shots. The doctor was quite impressed with Sydney's vocabulary for her age. When I started rambling off all of the words and short phrases she already knows, the doctor said that was very unusual...that most 12 month olds only know a few words. The doctors words were, "you have a little genius on your hands". Mommy was very proud! I told the doctor that Sydney now turns her nose to baby food and that we are almost done weaning her of breast milk. Sydney showed off for the doctor by walking a few steps for her and by talking. She is 23.5 pounds (75 percentile) and in the 90th percentile for her height. The doctor said we have a perfect little girl and commented on her pleasant personality and demeanor. Mommy left the doctors office feeling pretty good. I cannot believe it's been one whole year. I must be doing something right because she is such a smart, happy baby!

The bad news is, Sydney had to get 4 shots. Then, later in the afternoon, Sydney fell against a piece of furniture and she now has a black eye!!! Of course it "hurts" mommy worse...I feel so bad for her. I couldn't fall asleep last night because I just couldn't get the image out of my head of her getting hurt. Oh boy...and it's only the beginning of booboo's!!

As I look back at the past year, I am just blown away by it all. How much she has grown and changed. How much she has learned in such a short period of time. How much I have grown and changed. I feel like a COMPLETELY different person than I was before having Sydney. I really thought that taking care of a baby was going to be the most challenging part for me - not so. Surprisingly, the most difficult challenge has been accepting my new role as a stay home Mommy - I am still working on this one! I have worked outside of the home since I was 15 years old. Not making a paycheck and not having adult socializing has proven to be quite challenging...but I have no doubt that I'll figure it out - eventually!!

Minnesota Pictures!!

Mommy said I could pick the pictures to put on the blog from our Minnesota trip. It was hard to choose because Mommy got a little crazy with the pictures!! Here are some of my favorites...


Me and Mommy and Great Grandma Doris


We went to a strawberry patch and got to pick our own strawberries!!! Of course I picked the best ones! Nana washed them up and put them in this pretty bowl so Mommy could take yet another picture!!! Mmmm, they were good!



See, here I am picking a strawberry!


Oh yeah, and they had this crazy guy in a weird outfit in front of the store at the strawberry place. He didn't have much to say but he sure looked funny!!


This is my aunt Susan - or course Mommy just had to interrupt our story to get another picture!


Here is me and Pap watching the Twins game. By the way, I know how to say "Pap"! Nana and Mommy get a big kick out of it!


I had Mommy take this picture so I could show off my new wheels...nice huh!!!


We miss you Nana and Pap!!!





This is Nana and Pap's house. They live on a really cool lake.


Here is Mommy, Daddy and me. Hmmm, I wonder who took the picture since Mommy is in it!


Daddy and me doing Eskimo kisses!!



Ewww....Mommy and Daddy being romantic!


The big day...my 1st Birthday! I wore my hat during the whole party! My party dress was already put away so I could eat cake!!


I LOVED my pretty pink birthday cake...


...can you tell!!! I feel a little bloated, I think I might have had a little too much!


My Great Grandma and Grandpa and Mommy and me, the birthday girl!


These are all of my cousins. We had a blast!


Oh yeah, and this is Aunt Susan's new "baby" Oreo. He was so funny! Mommy took video of us playing and I think she will blog about it soon.


Me and my cousins playing some cards. I may be little but I can play cards with the best of them!


I am practicing my walking with Nana.


Hey, why am I not in this picture? This is Mommy's friends and their kids. They were all kind enough to drive to see us. They were awesome!


Look how cute I am sitting on Mommy's lap with all of her nephews and Alex and Kia, Cory's new baby!


Nana and Mommy took me to the park to swing and play these drums. It was lots of fun but too hot!

Well, that's all of the pictures we could fit for now. Mommy says I need to go to bed now. She also said that I needed to say Thank you to everyone for taking such good care of us in Minnesota. We are both kind of sad that we had to leave everyone but we were really happy to see Daddy! Good night everyone!

She's Walking!!

Sydney started walking today!!! We got it on video and I will get it on the blog soon!!

We Are Back!!!

Hello again! We just got back from Minnesota. It feels like we were gone for so long. I guess 15 days is awhile! During our visit, Sydney changed so much and is now a little toddler! she learned so much from all of the interaction with all of her cousins, aunt's, uncles, Nana, Pap, Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa, and from my friends and their children. I have so much to share with you all but no time to do it at the moment. I need time to get caught up with things at home and to download all of our pictures and video. Just know that Sydney had a wonderful first birthday and an awesome first vacation!

Stay posted!!

Our Silly Girl

We have been so busy the last few days. Yesterday was daddy's birthday. He had to work but we had a little party for him after work. Our neighbors and Jordan and Lauren came over and we had cake and champagne...it was nummy! Of course, we forgot to take pictures!!!

Today, Lauren and Jordan came back over to play with Sydney. Sydney LOVED her time with them and laughed almost the whole time. She even showed off for them and took a couple steps by herself!

This will probably be my last journal entry for awhile since tomorrow we will be busy packing and running errands because we go to Minnesota on Wed., very early in the morning!! We are very anxious to see everyone and of course to celebrate Sydney's big birthday. My baby is growing up! See you all soon...

Video!!!!

I finally had some time to sit and download a bunch of video clips. The one below is the first encounter that Sydney and Zoey had with Elmo. Zoey kept attacking Elmo and knocking him down and I had to try and shoot the video while picking Elmo up...that explains why the camera is moving around so much!!

The video below is from yesterday...she was in super speed mode and was cruising around with her walker.

The video below was from a couple days ago. She took all of the toys out of the cabinet and then crawled inside and got stuck. I was in panic mode for a moment because I wasn't sure where she was. I turned my back for a moment and this is what happened...

The video below is from yesterday. She kept turning and turning and turning until she got dizzy. It was pretty funny to watch. I was only able to take video of the last few seconds while she was doing this.