Valentine's Banner

I found this idea and said to myself, "Ashley, that looks easy."  I agreed, so I made it.

My Baby is One!

I have been so excited for my baby to turn one!  What an accomplishment for her to now be a "year-er" instead of a "month-er."  (Though, I guess she is still a little bit of a "month-er" until she is outgrows 12 month, 18 month, and then 24 month clothes.)

A few days before her birthday, she received a package in the mail.  Almost nothing makes us more excited than packages in the mail!  I guess that's one perk of living far far away.  Inside the package we found a chunky puzzle and an outrageously cute petti-skirt.  Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!

Normally, we would have to wait to open birthday packages, but I had a feeling there would be some fun outfit inside that Raquelita would want to wear on her birthday.  (We did check with Daddy to make sure he didn't think the skirt was too wild for church, but luckily he gave his consent.)

Two days later, it was birthday time and Mommy & Daddy's turn to give gifts.  We have been hanging on to some of these toys since pre-birth, so I was super excited to get them out of our hiding spots (not like she's even mobile enough to go looking) and present them to our chulinda.

Not surprisingly, the wrapping paper was a pretty big hit.

Her birthday dinner request was homemade pizza, which she devoured.  Afterwards, cake time!  I put so much thought and effort into her cake last week, that I let Luis come up with her birthday cake this time.  He suggested a piggy face, to keep the farm theme going.  I unofficially put him in charge, which meant I was to bake the cake and he to create the masterpiece.  Unfortunately, life got busy and I ended up throwing it together last minute.  Thank goodness it was a simple idea!  I only wish I would've been smarter about the candle placement.  Tragically, Raquel's sweet and innocent piggy looks like he's smoking a joint.  I'm going to go ahead and blame that on Luis.

 After cake and ice cream, our little woman went off to bed.  I guess we should've let her stay up because Mother Nature suddenly decided to surprise us with one final present for Raquel...
California Snow!


Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone!  Raquel had a super duper day!

Doce Meses!!!

When Raquel born, I thought about what the year would be like and how much fun all the holidays would be with a baby.  I even envisioned what she would be like when she turned one.  That day seemed so far away, but now that it has come and gone, it's surreal to see how much she's grown.

It's a good thing Daddy was around because he quickly turned the photo shoot from this...

...to this.  She adores Daddy.

Raquel at 12 months

• A whopping 16 1/2 lbs and 29 1/2 in.
• Her hair is 5 inches long.  Love love love.
• She has informed me that she will never crawl.  It's unrefined.  Instead, she cruises around on her feet, holding on to our hands.  She also scoots around a bit on her bum.
• She is eating all sorts of grown-up food now.
• She loves the book, Llama Llama Red Pajama.  It's the only long book she'll sit and listen to.
• Out of nowhere, she'll start laughing at her own private joke.
• She turned one and is suddenly, MAGICALLY, sleeping through the night!
• Her newest words are "duck" and "hi."
• She L.O.V.E.S. to stand on the bathroom counter (yes, we're holding her) and look at herself in the mirror.  She makes faces at herself, waves, and jabbers on and on.  It is probably my favorite moment of the day.

But seriously, wouldn't YOU stand and look at yourself in the mirror if you were this gorgeous?  I know I do.



Cookie Face Challenge

Have you ever tried the cookie face challenge?

WE DID!

Fail

Fail

Fail

Success!

Pre-Birthday Party

With SOMEONE's birthday just around the corner, the celebrations have officially begun!  Luis and I decided not to throw a big party for Raquel, but instead, chose to invite a few friends over for some cake and ice cream a week before her birthday.

 

Since Raquel will be getting several farm animal toys for her birthday (not planned), we decided to go with a farm theme.  It wasn't a PARTY, so we didn't go all out with decorations, but we did try to make it a little fun.

 

As you can see, Raquel was INCREDIBLY interested in her first cupcake.

 She thought the cupcake was mediocre, but what she really went for, was 

ICE CREAM!

It was so fun to have some of our friends over.  Even though bedtime was really late for some of us, the sugar rush set in and we all had a good time (though we did miss our McGarys and Ranes).

Raquel even scored some new duckies from the Mohlmans.

Happy almost birthday Raquel!