Excuse The Chaos!

Hey Everyone!

I just wanted to apologize for not posting our Bad Girls of the Bible Study yesterday.

Honestly, I spent Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday soaking up time with my Hubby's Mom, youngest Brother, and Step-Dad (pictures to come soon).

As well as shower Bitsy with Birthday love!

Now it's Saturday evening and we are in the midst of planning our move.

In case you missed it the other day, we found a couple that wants to rent the house we are renting.

That means we will be released of our lease free and clear.

THAT means we will be moving onto base housing!!!

We get the keys Monday, the movers come Tuesday, our internet gets disconnected here Tuesday and doesn't get connected at the new house until Wednesday mid-morning.

Then I have the joy of unpacking our house as quickly as possible to retain some sense of normalcy!

In the meantime, Bud & I took pictures off the walls today and labeled rooms and objects in rooms so that the movers would know where to put things in the new house.

I have to get over to our new place on Monday and label what rooms are what!

Also, tomorrow we are supposed to get our family pictures done, along with Bitsy's 1 year photos!

However, I'm looking out the window right now and it's storming.

There is a tornado warning a few counties over....and tomorrow isn't looking much better.

Rescheduling might be required.

As you can see it's going to be a crazy busy week and as much as I would love to promise to retain my regularly scheduled program around blog land, I just don't want to make a pie crust promise to you all.

So keep checking back, I might get down time, I might not.  Worse case scenario I'll be back October 8th with a yummy recipe to start the week off right!

Thank you so much for understanding, your birthday wishes to my beautiful baby girl, and your prayers and support!

I feel so blessed by all of you!

Have a Blessed Saturday!

Baby Diaries #49

Well Hello Everyone!

I have a 1 YEAR OLD!!!

I can't believe it's been an entire year since Bitsy arrived.

I am feeling beyond blessed.
I've shared so much of her life and pre-life with y'all that I can't help but continue.
We recently did a photo shoot for her 1 year, complete with smash cake!
What follows is a plethora of photos showcasing our baby girl!

At her 1 year appointment Bitsy weighed in at 26 lbs and 13 oz (That's up 18 lbs and 9 oz from when she was born)
She measured in at 31.5" long (That's almost an entire foot of growth in just 1 year!)

In this first year we've watched her go from needing us to fulfill 100% of her needs to watching her feed herself, crawl & pull up, and help undress herself for bath time.
She says words like Mama, Dada, and Daw (as she points to the dogs).

She's not yet walking on her own....

....but we don't mind!
We know that when the time comes she'll walk and we will experience a whole new level of busy/crazy!

I whipped up a special apple cinnamon cake and covered it in horribly sweet red and white frosting.
Seeing as how she snubbed her nose at my cream cheese frosting, I was nervous to see if she would try this.

We saved smash cake photos for AFTER our family portraits.

Bitsy was curious to say the least.

I can't get over her facial expressions.

"Hmm....let me see what I think of this confection".

"Maybe just a little more".

Still trying to see what she thinks.

SHE LIKES IT!
Now to bring on the funny pictures....

"This is fun Mom".

Bitsy gives us these big CHEESY grins now.
They make up for the tiny tantrums she throws when she's told "No".
(These tantrums involve alligator tears and 2 seconds of crying before she's back to giggles and smiles).

Becoming a parent has changed how I/We live our lives.
We used to be more sporadic in what we did, now we plan quite a bit more (normally around nap times and meals).
We used to hang out late and not worry about how late we slept in, but now we know that babies don't let you sleep in much ;)
We used to love only each other, now we love both love her more than we could have imagined.

Life changes when you have a child.
It ends as you know it, but it starts over in a new and exciting way!
Bud & I have caught ourselves on various occasions just sitting and smiling at our beautiful daughter.
Her giggles make us laugh, our laughs cause her to imitate us, which sends us into further depths of laughter!
We have paused our TV shows more than once for a chance to listen to her sleeping sighs over the monitor.
Going to bed feels incomplete if we haven't checked in on her to see what silly position she's ended up in.

"This cake is no good on the plate Mom, I can't get to the bottom of it"!

Going...

Going...

Gone...

"Ha ha, my little plan worked".

*cue Mom to flip cake right side up again sans plate.*

Only to watch her flip it again...silly girl!

Now she is trying to pick the entire cake up.

These pictures....

....crack....

......me.....

....UP!!

I recommend everyone does a smash cake photo session!

I don't think either of us was able to keep a straight face as we watched her dive into her cake.

And she was all giggles herself!

"You're not thinking of taking this cake away from me are you"?

"Because it's mine and I LOVE it"!

*cue evil baby laughter!*

So as you can see I have a 1 year old.

I am a proud Mommy.

Bud is a proud Daddy!

I love being a parent.

I love this stage of my life.

The love I have for Bitsy grows exponentially by the day.

With that being said, 

I hope you have a Blessed Thursday!

What We Did Wednesday- A Fisher Price Party!

Have you ever heard of House Party?

It's awesome!

You check the website to see what products are wanting to host a party.

You apply to host the parties that get you excited.

Then you wait.

If you are lucky, you'll get chosen and you'll get free products from companies.

Sounds great, right?

Well I applied to host a Fisher Price Play Date.

I wasn't sure if I would actually get it but when I got the email saying I was chosen I was beside myself with excitement!

The best part was that throwing this Play Date fell in conjunction with Bitsy's Birthday Party.

So what did that mean for us?

It meant that we got nearly $200 dollars worth of toys to showcase at our party.

All of our little party goers got to play with and enjoy these toys and their parents got to see how they worked.

Fisher Price even supplied us with gift bags for our partiers, complete with coloring books, kid friendly CDs, and coupons!

The best part was that the toys are ours, to keep!

So this past Saturday we decked out the house, fired up the grill, and played all afternoon!

I threw a dandelion themed party for my little dandelion.

She started from a seed and has been growing like a weed!

Not to mention I worry that if we blow on her hair hard enough I'm afraid it'll all blow away!

Flower Puffs.

Grassy Butter Pecan Cupcakes with little flowers.

My Awesome Husband spent the morning mowing the lawn and then ran to 'get gas' for the mower.

He returned with these.
He said that I deserved them.
He also thought they were perfect to go with our yellow and green decor!

How sweet!

A few weeks before the party the box with all my products arrived.  

Let me say it was like Christmas in September!

I don't think it matters how old you are.

Opening a box of toys is a rush!!!

I opted to let Bitsy try out one toy a week until the day of the party.
I figured this would give both her and I a chance to learn all the ins and outs of the toys before we shared them.
The Apptivity Monkey is pretty special.
On his own you he's soft and cuddly and each paw offers a different reaction.
However, if you insert your iPhone or iPod touch into his body core you ensure that your phone is protected and additional entertainment can be provided to your little one.

The Stand-Up Ballcano offers a fun place for baby to stand and play.

A twist of the handle and music plays, a turn of the roller and the balls tumble down the sides of the ballcano.

It's great for teaching cause and effect!

The Stride-to-Ride Puppy was/is probably Bitsy's favorite toy!

See!  Kisses for the puppy!

When you touch his nose it lights up and his utters one of a handful of phrases.

You can feed him 'treats' or place those shaped toys in his side.

You can ride on it or pull the seat up to lock it into a walker.

When he rolls he sings and talks.

And the 'tags' on his collar teach counting, ABCs, and other fun songs.

Sharing her puppy with a friend!

He's the cutest and something I would totally get for a little one!

Finally on the day of the party we showcased the largest of the Fisher Price goodies!
The Cruise & Groove Ballapalooza!

A fancy ball track, swinging door, and 'punching' bag.
Lots of places to pull up on.
Lots of lights and music!
So much fun that every time it played music Bitsy did a little dance!

The toys were a huge hit amongst the kiddos, but there was still a special little girl that needed attention.

Documented!
One of about a dozen kisses she gave her 4 year old Buddy C.
That's more kisses than Mommy and Daddy get in a whole week!

I made her a special apple spice cake with a cream cheese frosting.
Happy Birthday To You!!!
Happy Birthday To You!!!
Happy Birthday Dear Bitsy!!!
Happy Birthday To You!!!

Make a wish!
Oh wait, it already came true.
We got to host an awesome Fisher Price Play Date!
P.S. Mommy and Daddy didn't have to buy any birthday presents since these awesome toys came!

Learning the hard way that someone is not a fan of frosting.
Or cake.
Of any kind.
After eating we opted to open gifts from our friends.

As predicted the tissue paper was far more fun to Bitsy.

Bitsy was showered with toys and clothes and other awesome goodies!
Spoiled!
Yup, that's what Bitsy is!
Blessed!
Yes, that's how we felt by everyone's generosity.

I underestimated how busy I would be during the party.
Fortunately, my wonderful friend Mrs. W was there to snap some pictures of this special day.
I am so grateful.

Anyways, we had a wonderful experience with House Party and if you have checked them out you totally should!
Right now I'm waiting to hear if I'm up to win a Battle of the Sexes Party, which would be awesome.
Why would it be awesome you might ask?
Well because it would fall in conjunction with a small house warming party.
Wait, what?
House warming party you might ask?
Oh!  Did I forget to tell you?
I showed the house on Friday to some potential renters.
Friday afternoon I got the call, they wanted and were approved for the house.
They move in October 12th!

We are moving into base housing!
The movers are coming October 2nd!
So I apologize in advance if I am a bit behind next week.
Between unpacking and getting utilities hooked up (i.e. internet) I might be a bit delayed in my posts.

All in all it was an awesome amazing weekend filled with friends and fun.
How was your weekend?

I hope you have a Blessed Wednesday!