One Year Old!

Kay is one today!

Last night before going to bed, Craig and I were talking about how one year ago we were in the hospital, on bed rest, beyond exhausted (as you can see by how lovely I look in the picture below), experiencing every emotion possible, and about to have a baby at 4 am. It is amazing to think how far Kay has come. We thank God everyday for our precious little girl and the wonderful staff that took such good care of her in the NICU.


We were so fortunate to win a free photography session with Kathleen of Amelya Jayne Photography. This was Kay's first experience with a true photo session! I am so happy to have nice pictures of her at age 1. She did great and was pretty much all smiles. Kathleen had two cats which made Kay's day. She squeals in excitement anytime she sees a cat or dog. In the picture of her leaning over in the bench she was looking for the cats!

CAKE!

While camping we decided to celebrate Kay's birthday. We have weddings to attend over the next several weekends and did not want to wait too long for Kay to get some cake. Craig had to hold her back until after we sang. She was so excited to crawl over to it! She first enjoyed smashing it, then after Craig fed her a piece realized it was good! She would alternate between smashing and eating until there was only a huge mess of cake left!




After Kay was covered head to toe we thought to ourselves...now what! A full moon in the only bucket we had, of course!

1st Camping Trip...

Kay went with us on her first camping trip. Craig and I used to backpack and car camp fairly often before Kay was born. We invested in a large family size tent to make this and future trips a little easier. We packed everything to try to make the transition easy for Kay. We even set-up her pack in play in the tent! She did great! She fussed a little bit before falling asleep, but fell asleep and slept the latest (6:20 am) that she has slept in a long time! She enjoyed another hike on dad's back. It was a great weekend of family time together.

So Big!

Grandma has been working on teaching Kay the line from Pat the Bunny. "How big is Kay??"..."So Big". She got it for the first time when Grandma was here. Now she loves doing it all the time!


Pops came to stay with us for several days. Bill was in town to visit his uncles and we were lucky enough to have him spend a long time with Kay.


Kay really enjoys looking out windows. Here she is looking at her daddy working on the porch.


Kay is hilarious when you put her in a bath with bubbles. She holds her hands up high in the air while checking out the bubbles. She then slowly lowers them until she decides it is "ok" to play with her toys. If the bath doesn't have bubbles she immediately puts her hands down and starts playing.

Belly Laugh...

There is nothing like a belly laugh from a baby...

This video is going to make you dizzy! I think it is worth it :)

Kay and I were playing a game where I would turn away and then say boo and she would laugh so loud. I wanted to capture her laugh so the camera is a little dizzy!

New Cousin Snuggles...

We went to visit Kay's cousin Charlie and new cousin Natalie over the weekend. Kay and Charlie had a lot more fun together this time because Kay can actually move around and play with some toys. Kay would babble and Charlie would point at her and say "it talking". We grilled out one night and hung around the house for most of the day. Kay loves dogs and really enjoyed trying to catch Molly's tail. She would squeal in excitement whenever Molly came close.


On the way home, we stopped and went for a hike. Kay loved her hiking backpack as long as we were moving. When Craig stopped, she got bored and wanted to keep going. We fed her lunch in the great outdoors and she loved watching all the people. Kay was so comfy she even fell asleep at the very end of our hike.

Pulling Up...

Kay has started pulling up some on her own. She is still pretty timid about it and only does so when she is highly motivated because she can see something fun to reach up for. She has gotten too long for her infant car seat. We are still working on the sippy cup. She has made a lot of progress, but has a long way to go.