12 Months

Sienna,
One year!! How can one year go so fast, yet it seems like you have been with us forever? Seems like I was just waddling around trying to imagine what you would look like and how our lives would change. It truly has been the best year of our lives as everything seems more fun to have you experience it with us. But enough sap, now time to brag!

You've developed a lot of new skills this month. You are now signing more, water, and dog consistently. We are working on help, cat, and all done which you do sometimes. It's so sweet to see you do it and communicate back to us! I love it. You have added Bita and Hi to your vocabulary. I haven't heard Bita, but she has. You say Hi!! and wave to anyone that walks by when you are in the mood.

You were very well behaved for pictures this month.


You've gained 1 more tooth on the bottom and have 3 more trying to break through. The Dr. thought by the end of the month you will have 8 total. Lots of teeth in a little time! We were correct in our measurements and you haven't grown much since 9 months. Here's the official stats:

Height: 28.3 inches (33%)
Weight: 20 lbs 1 oz (25%)
Head: 18.4 inches (90%)

So in summary you are little with a big head! hehe. No wonder those shirts are hard to put on. You've definitely dropped in percentages and the Dr. said your weight will probably drop more once you start walking. We shall see! You are a very good eater so that will definitely help. Your favorites are cheese, peaches, watermelon, and baked beans. As for walking you haven't shown a ton of interest yet. You'll stand on your own for a few seconds but you'd much rather crawl to something than try and take steps.

We spent your big day with a family trip to the zoo and hosting your Sparkle party with the Eid's and Moehring's. A very fun day!

State Fair '11

After not going to The Fair last year I did everything I could to make up for it this year. I think I did a pretty good job! Cari, Mom, and I went out on Friday. Here's some of our food highlights.

For breakfast we started off w/Axel's new breakfast lollipop - sausage patty dipped in a corn batter, deep fried and dipped in a maple syrup. It was delish!! I would definitly get it again. Since mac n'cheese on a stick was at their booth too I thought I might as well grab it. And then we added French Meadow's strawberry n'cream scone with coffee to the mix. Quite the way to start the day!


For our mid-morning snack we tried the new cookie dough on a stick. It was great too. The cookie dough stayed in dough form but the deep frying warmed it up and made the chocolate all metly. Since we were in the food building, Cari had to pick up her favorite Sausage Sister's thai sausage dipped in a peanut sauce. Always tasty too.


For lunch we went the "healthy" route and stopped at Giggles. Had their walley cakes (LOVE those!) and the new salad on a stick. Sounds boring? It was actually very tasty and good for my stomach to have something not deep fried. The salad greens were topped with a wild rice mixture and balsamic vinaigrette. Then the tomatoes and mozzarella balls were skewered and laid on top.


A bit later we shared a Gizmo. It's crumbled beef mixed with italian sausage topped with a red sauce and mozzarella cheese melted on top. mmmm. I want to try and make these at home.




That was the end of my pictures for the day. We of course continued to eat but stuck with traditional stuff. My mom has always loved pronto pups and corn dogs. Her goal for this year was to figure out which one was better so we did a taste test. The pronto pup claims to be "The original corn dog" but when we asked their batter has a little corn meal in it, but is mostly flour. The corn dog is all corn meal. Side by side we tasted and determined the corn dog's batter was sweeter and we all liked it better. BUT the pronto pup had a much more flavorful dog. So who won? The pronto pup! Surprising but the dog was that much tastier.

There's my fair review. I'm going again next Friday to give Sienna her first experience. Probably won't be pigging out quite as much...but you never know. Any other new recommendations I should try?

Cooking Club VIII

This menu was Mexican inspired. I couldn't really tell you what all of the words mean. Hopefully the pictures explain it all.

Apertivio curso
Aguacate Ceviche de Camarones Estillo Sarita

Sopa de curso
Sopa Albondigas

Plato Principal
Pollo Oaxaca
Maiz Dulce Tomaltio
Mexicano Frijol Negro

Postre

Fritos de Helados

1st Birthday Party

What a fun day. There are so many things to say about it and not enough words for me to find. I tried to keep my expectations low for the day, knowing that if I wanted everything to be perfect, then nothing would go that way. My 2 goals were to get some cute pictures of Sienna in her headband (done!) and for her to smash her cake (and done!) Everything else fell into place.

I'd like to say she was as happy as she looked in this picture but the party started off a little rough. She was pretty scared of all these people coming to our house at once and all oohing over her. There was a lot of fussing and clinging to Mama. And then there was the issue of not being able to crawl in her dress. Very frustrating. But 1 snack later, and a few moments to warm up, she was her smiling self...for awhile at least.

Some drinks, snacks and laughter started the party off. Followed by a delicious dinner and then it was onto the presents! I wasn't sure if Sienna would get into them, but she surprised me and did. Izzy helped her in unwrapping. Sienna really wanted to play with all of them and got a little mad when I had to take each one away so she could open another. So far her favorite presents appears to be the rock that came with a dump truck she got. Go figure! She is carrying it around everywhere.

The night finished with cake time. Sienna fulfilled my hopes and did a great job of smashing her cake. However, she was quite dainty with eating it. She would take a swipe of frosting on her finger and lick it all off before going for the next. She was messy but didn't even NEED a bath after. I've seen her do more damage with fruit.



And so her big party is over. I was actually ok with the whole thing and not too emotional. Maybe it helped because she's not technically one yet. Or maybe it's because she is just so much fun and it keeps getting better. I can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Many more pics of the day.

Upcomings

I just figured out that after today I only have to work 2 days out of the next 10!! Hallelujah! I'm dancing in my cube. Love vacation days. It's been a busy week. My house is starting to fill with in-laws. Rick and Dougie have come to visit and the rest of Justin's family comes Friday night. We've been busy with all the preparations of the big 1st birthday party!! Lots of pics and reports to come soon. Lets hope she smashes that cake.



Can you believe my little monster is turning 1 already? Where did this year go...

Note: I think she looks just like me as a kid in this picture. Right mom? I need to find a comparison pic.

A Sparkle

Who would think that a misspoken word would become a fun, new tradition. The other night I was out with Cran & Kristen (who is 8 months pregnant). The conversation went something like this.

Cran: Is anyone throwing you a sparkle?
Kristen: [laughs] No, but I think you mean a sprinkle.

A sprinkle for those who don't know is a small baby shower given for the 2nd baby. Put that conversation together with Mikayla's approaching 2nd birthday where only family parties were planned, and an idea was born: A Sparkle - a small birthday party for our kids celebrated by the 3 of our families.

Unknowingly of upcoming tradition, we actually tried to have one for Ellie this year, but due to the winter of sickness it didn't quite happen. So Mikayla got to kick off the sparkle parties.

It started with fun times at the sand and water table (minus the sand)


Sienna splished and splashed.


Mikayla liked drinking the water more.


Loving all her presents...


...and also the cake.


Perfect day for the sparkle. Sienna's is up next!

Baby Signs

Ever since Sienna was about 5 months old we started signing "milk" to her without much success. Once she started eating real foods we added "more", "eat", and "water" again with no real reaction. Until last week. She signed "more" back to us!! She gets it! It was so cool to see. Soon after that we also saw "eat" and "water". My favorite was during her snack this weekend. She was eating some cheese, raspberries, and blueberries. Like all kids she's a cheese freak and as soon as she ate up all the cheese she immediately signed more. She had already eaten her quota of cheese for the day but being the sucker I am, I ran to fridge and cut up a little more. How can you resist!

Push N Go

It's been awhile since I've shown a video. Sienna still has a ways to go before she starts walking on her own. Until then she's been mastering her push behind toy.

It was a hot day. Pardon the diaper only outfit. :)

11 Months

Sienna,



First of all...PIGGIES!!! I just about died when I came home and saw Bita had put your hair up. So cute, but makes you look so big. My little baby is growing up.

The biggest milestone you've had this month is your teeth. You finally broke your first two on the bottom. The top 2 are starting to swell up and maybe by next month we will see them too. If you enlarge this pic (click on it) you can see the teeth.



You decided that the wood floors are ok to crawl on and are moving all over the house. Usually following us around because you always want to be by people. You've also mastered going forward in your walker and love going in circles around the kitchen while we cook. Unfortunately for us you don't realize that running into ankles hurts!



You've taken a big interest in books. We have a big basket of books that whenever I take out, you pull yourself up on the side and stand there looking through them all. Your favorite one is a photo album full of your friends and family.



Either you haven't grown at all or we can't measure. I'll be curious to see your official measurements at the doctor next month. You appear to still be at:
Height: 27.5 inches
Weight: around 19-20