Anybody Still There?

I can't believe I haven't blogged since August.  Many times, I have tried to start a blog post, and just haven't been able to finish it.  Life has just been so busy, and to be honest, Instagram is just easier.  If you would like to keep in touch more regularly, follow me there...jessicaw1106. 

But anyway, I was sitting her on my day off and just got the urge to write.

Speaking of my "day off,"  I got a job!  I am officially a speech language pathologist, and I got a job in an elementary school.  Pretty much a dream come true.  And now that it's happened, I feel like I'm drowning and I'm so overwhelmed!  But I think once the dust settles, I'm going to really like it. 

I'm jumping the gun a bit.  Let's rewind back to the middle of August when I graduated.  That's right...that insane experience known as "grad school" is now over.  I didn't think I'd survive it, but here I am on the other side of it, and it feels like just another blip on the radar in life.  What's that they say? "It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small."  Oh, right.  Elsa says that.  (The Frozen phenomenon has not yet ended in our house).

Anyway, I survived the most intense externship over the summer and the hardest 8 weeks of my life, and graduated on August 16.  I walked in my ceremony, and then my family had a party for me and my brother-in-law who happened to graduate on the same day, from the same (large) university, in the same ceremony.  (Small world!)  It was a day that felt like such a milestone.  One of those days I know I'll remember for the rest of  my life.  I decided to go back to school because I couldn't get pregnant and wanted to take my life in a different direction.  And then I ended up holding my one-year-old daughter in graduation pictures.  Funny how things work out!  God's timing is phenomenal.

I had a magical 8 weeks after my externship ended and before I started my job that I got to spend as a stay-at-home mom.  8 weeks is the longest amount of time I've had at home since Scarlett was born, and having that time with my family was amazing.  Here are some pictures that convey the awesomeness of our summer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The good thing about working at a school means that I get to spend every summer like this!  Yes, 9 months of the year are going to be CRAZY.  But the other 3 are going to make up for it! 

Hopefully this post means I'll be back to blogging.  Unfortunately, I have no idea if I'll blog again tomorrow, or in 3 months.  We'll just have to see how it goes.  But I sure do miss it, and each one of my blog friends!  

Scarlett's Pink Lemonade First Birthday Party

If you have stuck with me throughout my unplanned hiatus the past couple of months, I am very thankful!  I have missed blogging, but just haven't had time for it.  But I'm completely DONE with school, and I graduate a week from tomorrow!  So I hope to be posting more regularly as well as catching up on all of your blogs (again).  Hopefully I don't fall off the face of the blogosphere again!  

***

I was so excited about Scarlett's birthday party!  As in, I started pinning things and decided on a theme back in December.  Seriously.  I knew I would have a busy few months due to finishing school, so I thought I better plan ahead!  I decided on a pink lemonade theme, because I thought it was cute and girly, and perfect for the middle of summer.  We decided to have Scarlett's party at our church cafe.  It turned out to be such a nice day!  

I was in the middle of probably the most hectic, intense 8 weeks of my life with my last externship for grad school.  So needless to say, I pretty much needed a vacation after this party in the middle of it all.  But thankfully I had so much help from family!  I would have never been able to put everything together without them, and I am so thankful.  

***

So here's my picture-heavy recap of Scarlett's first birthday party:

I made this banner in Microsoft Power Point, and it was so easy!  Who would have ever though Power Point would be the easiest program for crafty things like this, but it really is!  I used it a lot for Scarlett's party.

And here is a picture of the cake table.  The outer wall of our church cafe is pretty much solid windows from floor to ceiling, which makes for a beautiful setting!

My mom got Scarlett's cake for her from a nearby bakery where one of her friends works (The bakery at Hartville Kitchen).  I thought it was perfect!

The smash cake was adorable as well.

And my mom made some really cute cupcakes with lemon candies on top.

 

My sister-in-law Maria created this adorable fruit display.

And of course we had to have a lemonade table.  We decorated it with paper straws, lemons, the chalkboard I made a few years ago, and Lemon Head Boxes.

The centerpieces were flowers from my grandpa's garden that my mom arranged into pretty bouquets in mason jars.

My family members all pitched in to help with the food, and I really didn't even make anything!  Luke and I really do have the best families! On the menu was veggie pizza, chicken salad on croissants, tortilla chips and 2 different types of dip (buffalo chicken and jalapeno popper), and mixed fruit.  

I made food labels in Power Point and taped them to toothpicks that I stuck into lemons.  I found the idea on Pinterest, and thought it was so cute!

On the mantle we put some more lemons, Lemon Heads and tulle in my mother-in-law's apothecary jars, a "Keep Calm and Drink Lemonade" sign that I made, and another lemonade sign (I can't remember where that one came from!)  The pictures in the banner are Scarlett's monthly pictures (notice the colors of her onesies in her monthly pictures match the colors of the party.  One perk of knowing the theme way ahead of time!  ...And of having OCD. Ha!) 

We had to put a room divider up, so my mom and sister decorated it with streamers and lots of pictures of Scarlett mounted on scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby.

 ***

And now, onto some pictures of the party itself!

She was definitely a fan of her frosting!

The birthday girl, looking a little dazed and sleepy!  (unfortunately she did not nap well that morning).  I love her dress.  I just wanted something pink and sweet.  I found it on Zulilly.  I tried to get her to wear a yellow headband, but she is sadly beyond the point of wearing headbands.  She wouldn't keep it in for anything!

 This is her infamous "o" face.  She does it whenever she is excited by anything.  And this is my current favorite picture of her: 

Here it is again:

Me and my girl:

Here she is with Great Grandma Lorie

 And Papa (Luke's dad)

This picture makes me so excited for all these kids to grow up together.  Future bffs!

With Aunt Moey (or Moe Moe as Scarlett calls her)

And with the grandmas.  This was toward the end of the day and she was in desperate need of a nap!  

What a special day!  I still can't believe she's over a year old already!  Time flies when you're having fun!  But as always, I wish it would slow down!

1 year old!

Dear Scarlett,
I am writing this almost a month late, but you are 1 year old now!  We can hardly believe it!

  

You have grown and changed so much in the past month (and year!)  You are less like a baby now, and more like a toddler.  We're so proud of the little girl you're becoming, and we love you so much!

You now have 8 teeth (4 on top, 4 on the bottom).  You are eating more and more real food each day.  However, you are still just a tiny little peanut!  At your 1 year well check you were in the 2nd percentile for weight, weighing in at 15 lbs, 6 ounces.  You are in the 12th percentile for height, at 28 inches.  Everyone continues to comment on how little you are, but you're healthy as can be!

In fact, you really haven't been sick at all in your first year of life.  There were a few times when you had a runny nose or a slight fever, but we think that was mostly due to teething.  I just want to say a big "I told you so!" to the people who were so worried about you being so small, because obviously you're one of the healthiest babies around!

On your birthday, you pulled yourself up in your crib for the first time!  You also had begun saying a few new words, including mama, dada, baby, bubble, no (which sounds like "nie")  pah for pacifier, and bah for blanket.  And since your birthday, your language has started to explode, and you say new words (or your version of words) practically every day.  It's so fun to watch you learn to talk!  

You got so many new toys for your birthday!  You love them all, but your absolute favorites are your little doll houses, your baby doll (which is the same size as you!) your elephant that plays music and spews out balls from its trunk, and your singing giraffe.  You also got a baby Bible, and you love it!  You always turn to the page that shows baby Jesus in the manger, and you love to point to the animals and to baby Jesus. I tell you that we will be celebrating that special day in a few months at Christmastime!  

On top of all of those toys, you are also obsessed with Elmo.  It's funny, because you don't really watch a whole lot of TV, so you don't see him on there very often.  But you have some Elmo toys and books and you love him so much!  We were walking through Target today and you spotted a big Elmo stuffed animal.  You gasped and shouted "Momo!"  (that's how you say Elmo, and it's adorable!)  It makes my day to see you discovering the world and getting excited about little things like that all the time.  

In the month before your birthday you did a lot of fun things!  Mommy was busy with my last externship for school, but we found time for some fun things!  We went to lots of parties for the 4th of July, went shopping on the weekends, and went swimming a few times.  You also spent a lot of time with Nana and Papa, Aunt Di, and Grandma and Grandpa that month since Mommy and Daddy were so busy!  

Here's what you looked like in your 12th month:

We celebrated your birthday with a big, pink-lemonade themed party with a lot of family and friends.  You had so much fun, even though you hadn't napped well that day, and were exhausted!!  You loved digging into your cake, and got frosting all over yourself!

Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you.  Your first year of life has been the best year of our lives!  You bring so much joy, and also teach us things about life each day.  This year went by so quickly, but I can't help but be unbelievably excited about the many, many years to come with you.  We love you more than words can say!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy 

11 Months Old!

Dear Scarlett,

You turned 11 months old on Wednesday!  Look how much you've grown:

I can't believe we only have one month until you're a year old!  Time has flown by, and I'd do just about anything to slow it down. But every day you learn something new, and this is a really fun age!

You continue to be one of the most curious babies I've ever seen.  You are constantly watching everything, and you don't seem to miss a thing.  This makes it hard for us to stay a step ahead of you!  When we go out to eat, you love to sit in a high chair and people-watch.  I tell you it's rude to stare, but that doesn't stop you at all!

The craziest thing is that you still don't crawl.  You have mastered the "Scarlett scoot" and you get around so fast that way, I just don't think you'll ever crawl like a normal baby.  In fact, you are starting to pull yourself up on things, and can toddle around pretty well if someone holds your hands, so I think you'll go straight to walking.  In any case, you are totally mobile, and just not interested at all in crawling on your hands and knees.

I say this every month, but you constantly make us laugh.  You dance around, make silly faces, silly noises, and just love to make everyone smile with you.  You love to sing!  I've been singing The Raindrops Song to you a lot, and as soon as I get to the part that says, "standing outside with my mouth open wide" you start yelling "ah! ah! ah!"  Sometimes you just randomly yell it when you want me to sing the song.  It is adorable!  I've started singing Happy Birthday to you sometimes too, and I pretend to blow out a candle when I'm done.  I want you to be ready to blow out your candle on your first birthday!  And you already have the hang of it.  As soon as you hear me the first line of the song, your whole face scrunches up in a huge smile, and you break into adorable giggles. 

You are so friendly, too!  When we go shopping, you love to smile and wave as we pass people.  It takes me forever to get my grocery shopping done, because almost everybody stops me so they can look at you, tell me how cute you are, and talk to you for a few moments.  You LOVE the attention!

You've gotten 2 new teeth this month.  These were the hardest ones yet.  There was a whole week where you woke up just about every half hour, every night.  Mommy and Daddy almost lost our minds!  But then all of a sudden, the first one poked through, and ever since then, I haven't had to get up with you once in the night.  (Knock on wood!)  

Your favorite toys right now are your Peter Rabbit stuffed animal, your Elmo stuffed animal at Nana's house, empty water bottles, your little bouncy ball (you love to roll it back and forth), spatulas, and Nana's chip clips.  Yep, that's right.  You love to play with her chip clips.  It's funny the things you get attached to!

You also love your blanket and pacifier.  When you're starting to get tired, I put your blanket across myself, and you just bury your face in me.  We always say, "snuggle!"  when you do this, and I think you think your blanket is actually called your "snuggle" now, which I think is pretty cute!

You've gotten even cuter this month, if that's even possible.  You love to blow kisses, do the motions to "Pat-a-cake," do "so big!", dance, give high fives, wave (you wave with your whole arm now, and it's so cute), give hugs (which are just you touching your head to things.  We also say "noggin" to you, and touch our heads together.  I think Aunt Di started that!)  Like I said...you learn new things ever day!

You're such a sweet little girl, but very sassy, too.  When we picked the name Scarlett, it sounded like a very feminine name, but also strong and not too prissy.  I think it fits you perfectly, because that's exactly how your personality is.  You are so sweet, but you are strong too.  We hope you never change, and that you go through life as a strong woman who stands up and advocates for herself, but who also has so much sweetness, femininity, and love for others.

This is what you looked like this month:

 I can't believe that your birthday party is being planned, and your invitations are all ready to be sent out.  Time has gone too fast.  But I am so excited for your future!  It's definitely bittersweet to see you growing and changing every day!

We love you so much!!
Love,
Mommy and Daddy