The Big ONE

Heidi's birthday was yesterday....can it be? It has been a fun and wonderful year. Here are the little things about Heidi at a year that I want to remember:

- She has six teeth, two on the bottom and four up top.
- Her favorite foods are blueberries, broccoli, and crackers. She'll tolerate most other things but her appetite definitely depends on her mood. Some days she'll like a certain food, but will throw it on the floor the next day.
- No signs of walking just yet. She can cruise along the furniture and pull up on your legs, but will not let you hold her hands to help her walk. She'll just buckle her legs and melt to the floor.
- She's still taking two naps and sleeps almost 12 hours at night.
- She loves to play peek-a-boo with you. She'll hide behind something then pop up with a big smile on her face. Then she'll do that over and over again.
- She is a little dancer. She grooves to any music she hears, shaking her head and moving her body.
- She loves to be outdoors. We take a lot of walks and play on the playground often. This is where she learned how to climb steps.
- Her words consist of buh-bye, da da, dee (her word for the dogs), uh-oh, buh-duh (brother). Nope, no ma-ma yet. I'm not upset by this or anything. Nope, not at all upset.
- She is really starting to try and imitate words. She laughs and thinks it's a fun game to copy you.
- She's learned to wave, give high five, and clap.

This morning we went to the doctor for her one year check up. She's still a petite little thing: 18lbs (7th percentile) and 27.5 inches (8th percentile). Everything was fine and dandy according to her check-up. That's not hard to diagnose...this little girl is happy, giggly, and a joy to be around! We are blessed!! Here's some pictures of her big day celebrations from playgroup on Tuesday, and yesterday's fun...

Going for a ride in her new car seat:
The cake pops we had at her playgroup party Tuesday. I wish I had taken more pictures of the kids but us mommies couldn't stop gabbing:
Birthday donuts yesterday morning. She took her time with the first donut hole, then realized she liked them a lot and decided to stuff the entire next one in her mouth:
Going for a ride in her new car. She had perfect birthday weather yesterday and we were able to stay out most of the day:

Happy, happy, happy birthday, Miss Heidi!!

Races and Parties

Saturday was a big, fun day for us. Tobin ran his first race with me. It was a race for the Denton Health Department and he ran the entire mile, non-stop! I was so very proud of him and he's super proud of himself. He was ready to do another one the next day. His favorite parts were the free granola bar at the end, running past the woods and wondering if there were bears in there, and keeping up with all of the other runners. It was a special memory for both of us! Saturday evening, we had family over to celebrate Heidi's first birthday. She had a great party! Here's some pictures of her day:

The goodies:

Mmmm...my new toys taste great:

Daddy...can you hurry up with the batteries? I'm ready to play:

Forget it. I'll just do it myself:

Is this for ME?

That cake was great...but I'm full:

I made a slideshow/dvd for our families of Heidi's first year. Here's the slideshow:

Heidi's One Year Slideshow from Emily Smith on Vimeo.

Wednesday is Heidi's actual birthday. We have plans to go out for birthday donuts and perhaps we'll picnic/play at the park all day. No matter what we do, what a gift we have in this girl and what a special year to celebrate!!!

A Beautiful Birthday

My mom's birthday was yesterday and we celebrated with a wonderful dinner outside. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. We had some Easter cascarones (Mexican eggs filled with confetti) that we hadn't used last weekend since Tobin was sick and saved them, knowing that Mimi would love them. It was a lovely evening....

Mom with her Almond Bliss German Chocolate Cake:
Then Heidi discovered the yumminess that was right in front of her and decided to dig her fingers into it:
Then we brought out the cascarones:Heidi is clearly unimpressed with the confetti in her hair:
And here's the delicious dinner:


Matt's brother, Sean, had a birthday yesterday, too. Happy Birthday, Sean! We miss you!!

Easter 2010

We hope everyone had a wonderful and special Easter! Ours started out like this:

And an hour later, our plans for church, family, and fun ended in this:
Notice the Lysol and bucket on the floor? Yes, Tobin came down with a stomach bug yesterday. He's feeling much better today and so far, no one else in the house is showing signs of sickness. In fact, this little girl is going about her business of chasing the dogs, playing with cabinet doors, and unloading any basket or dresser drawer she sees available:

Nine months update

Okay, so I'm a little behind on Heidi's nine month update. She had a great check-up right before we left for Boston. She weighed 16.5 pounds (5th percentile) and was 22 inches. After she was measured, both the nurse and the doctor asked how tall I was and how tall Matt was. When I told him about our less than average heights, they both responded with a "Oh, okay" thus understanding the petite nature of our little girl! Our doctor explained that after the six month mark, genetics kick in and the baby's size starts to be determined by genes instead of nutrition. Heidi was slightly anemic and I was told that a vitamin supplement would fix that. Other than that, no problems for this little girl! Here's some wonderful things about Heidi at nine months:

- She just started crawling at nine months. However, she has a fearless personality and now that she's crawling, she's also realized she can pull up and stand on her own. I think it's just a matter of time before she starts to walk without worries about falling or hurting herself.

- When she eats baby food, she will take a bite and immediately suck her thumb. It's almost as if she can't swallow food without sucking it down like a bottle.

- She has a things for pillows and soft things. She will crawl to a pillow and lay down and sigh as she lays her head down. It's one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

Heidi and her pillow from Emily Smith on Vimeo.

-She's a great sleeper. I can lay her down in her crib with her blanket and she giggles with excitement over it. She will rub her face on it and immediately start sucking her thumb.

- She has two bottom teeth and is working on a top one. Here's a picture of the two she has. I had fun playing with her hair this day:
- She still doesn't care much for baby food but if I put pieces of bread, carrots, avocado, peas, cheerios or any other table food on the table, she'll go after it.

- Tobin is still the best one to get giggles and belly laughs out of her. Now that she crawls, she will follow him wherever he goes and loves to play "chase" with him and the dogs. She adores riding on our shoulders as we chase Tobin around the house. I can't get enough of her squeals of delight and laughs!!

Here's some pictures:
Dancing with daddy
Playing in brother's closet

Happy Valentines Day to Us

Matt and I have been blessed with the opportunity to buy a new car. We chose the Honda Insight number 1-because it was in our price range, and number 2-because it gets 40 mpg in the city as a hybrid, and number 3-because it's so darn cute (okay, that's mainly my reason for wanting one). We had a pretty awful experience after buying our used Xterra (it was in an accident that wasn't disclosed to us at the time of purchase and it ended up costing us a lot of money to fix many mistakes) and we were nervous about the whole car-search process. Fortunately, McNatt Honda, here in Denton, was a pleasure to work with and it was actually a fun experience for us! Here's our new car:

Isn't it adorable?!?

Snow Day

We got a record amount of snow yesterday (12.5 inches was reported). What a special treat! Not to mention the fact that Matt got to stay home with us yesterday and again today. No family loves pajama days more than the Smiths so we were all in heaven. Hot chocolate, making bread, great naps, crafts, and lots and lots of playtime...and we get to do it all again today as we watch it melt away!!