When your baby turns one...you really should celebrate.  We did.  Twice. 

Party Time: Take 1



I guess turning one is quite traumatizing



Still crying...I think I shed a quick tear here myself too singing "Happy Birthday." Proud Mama.

I think  hope that look is pure delight since I did make the cake...ha.

We love this little girl SO MUCH

Underneath all of the mess you can see her first and ONLY pearly white.  So sweet.

She was a pro at ripping off the wrapping paper. 

Her first volleyball...her Uncle has big hopes...

First "real" dolly from Great-Gma

Thanks to her Auntie, B finally will have things on her wall!

Party Time: Take 2

Since we celebrated the weekend before her Birthday, we had another party on the day of her birth.  I became a little sentimental on that day.  I was recalling hour by hour what was happening exactly one year earlier.  There are so many highlights on that day and the day leading up to it.  Here is a wrap up of that time.

Monday.  August 2, 2010.  38 weeks along...2 weeks to go...

After a morning Dr. appointment with no new news besides my time was getting "closer" I went home and Kaleb went to work (yes, Kaleb made it to almost ALL of my appointments!).  I lounged on the coach and fell asleep and woke up. "I think my water just broke," I thought.  "Eh, I'll wait to call Kaleb."  Apparently I was really calm about this.  I did call Kaleb.  He came home right away and we went to the Dr. again. She confirmed that my water did break and that we would be going to the Hospital.  Well I wasn't ready for that.  I wanted to go home.  Shower.  Pack. Straighten things up a little bit and eat something...so I did.  While this was all happening we still hadn't told a soul.  We wanted it to be a special time for us so we decided to wait. 

After getting admitted to the hospital that's when the real fun started. 

Here's a few of my highlights...

-Timing ourselves walking around in circles in the hallways...trying to encourage the contractions to start. 

-Having weird dreams...ask Kaleb.  He'd be able to tell you better than I.  Apparently I shared with him.  I was unaware of this. 

-Having STRONG contractions while Kaleb slept...and kept sleeping.  Haha.  He was exhausted. 

-Being told at 11:40 am August 3 that was I was almost ready to push.

-12:15 the Dr came in and the pushing began...15 minutes later we had our little angel in our arms.

After having a special family time to snuggle and take in the moment we started to call family telling them that we had our daughter in our arms.  They thought it was a joke.  We were 2 weeks early, and were pretty hush hush about the whole thing.  A little unexpected. 

So here we are one year later celebrating that special day that I will always hold near to my heart. 

Here are a few pictures on her big day! 

Special Birthday cake made by Grandpa

A special thank you to all of our families for your love, prayers, and support you've given us.  We love having you apart of our lives and are so thankful for all of the love that you show Baleigh. 

Baleigh...

We are so proud of you and love you more  than you will ever know. 

Happy Birthday baby girl!

A TRUE Celebration

We've made it!

I can't believe that we all survived...and are thriving.

We had our doubts...concerns...and worries...but we must have done something right because...

Little Miss Baleigh

 turned
1

And that, my friend, calls for a TRUE celebration!

I am so proud of this little girl and thankful.  She has given us a new perspective on life.  We now have NO IDEA what we did before she came along.  It's been awesome.  

I have been going through all of the pictures from this last year and it's so hard to believe how fast time goes by.  I was always excited for the "next new thing" with Baleigh, but lately I have really challenged myself to enjoy and savor "this moment."  I can't tell you how much that has changed me.  I'm still excited for what's to come, but enjoying the here and now is so rewarding. 

Seeing the transformations that Baleigh has made over this last year makes me want to really push down on the brakes and slow things DOWN!

I remember holding her in my arms for the first time.

Seeing her Daddy give her the first kiss.

The first big diaper blow out!

That first smile.

Noises.

The giggles.

I loved (and still do) watching her personality blossom.

I'm ok that she took a little more time to do some things like...

rolling over (6 months)

crawling (10 months)

that first little pearly white pop through (11.5 months)

I was able to keep that "little baby" part a little longer. 

 To help keep these things close to our hearts [or should I say forgetful brains] our family started a Memory Jar.  Every time something happens that we want to remember, no matter how big or small we write it down on a piece of paper, fold it, and put it in a jar that we have placed on a stand.  There are so many fun little things that have gone in there.  I'm excited to read them together this christmas and savor the memories. 

I don't want to be the type to be living for tomorrow...I want to live in this day!

Kaleb and I went out to take some pictures of Baleigh for her 1 year photos. Here are a few samples.  My photo editor kind of stunk out on me so excuse the un-edited pics. 



This one is for you Mom!



Just because