The big ONE!

It's hard to believe that it is already here, but Adalyn turned one today! It seems like just yesterday that we were in the hospital and now our little girl is an active and happy one year old. We celebrated Addy's big milestone with a party at our house on Saturday. Both sides of our family were able to make the trip from Indiana and we invited several friends from the Bloomington and Springfield areas. I think we had around 25 people, which was a new experience for Adalyn. She enjoyed having so many visitors on her turf and really soaked in all of the birthday attention. There were quite a few young guest invited and Adalyn enjoyed playing with all of them. This is the largest crowd we've ever had in our house during the cold months when the use of our outdoor space wasn't feasible. Our parents were a great help in preparing for the festivities and we are very thankful for their efforts! This was quite the experience for me as well, as I haven't ever been so closely involved in planning and carrying out a child's birthday party. Opening gifts was quite the eye opener and didn't go quite as I had envisioned. By this time addy was getting a bit over stimulated and tired and wasn't interested in sitting down and opening her gifts. In fact, I opened many of them solo style and if you looked at the pictures and didn't know any differently, you would think that it was my birthday party.

After gifts, we went on to the culminating activity--the cake! Addy ate her very own small cake like a pro and made quite the mess of herself and her parents. Her handiwork earned her a quick bath (which was more of a hosing off), which wasn't near long enough in her eyes. All in all the party went well and we were so appreciative of everyone who took the time out of their busy schedules to celebrate with us. We are truly blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family!

On Friday Adalyn had her 12 month checkup. She weighed 25 lbs. 10 oz. and was 30.5 inches tall. She has definitely slowed down on the growth chart, but still tops the charts in heigth and weight. The doctor said she is doing well. Adalyn got two shots and did very well with them. We also got the "go ahead" to start Adalyn on whole milk and to turn her car seat around (which she will love)!

Today I took a half day and Adalyn, her Grandma Freihaut, and I headed into town to meet Derek for a little birthday celebration. Before meeting Derek we headed to the kiddie shoe store to get Addy her first pair of "real big girl" shoes. She had a little bit trouble walking in them at first, but she is getting the hang of it.

After picking Derek up from work, we headed to this child friendly place called "Make a Mess." It was supposed to be a place where kids can play with all types of fun intereactive things. Needless to say it was a dud. The best part of the place was when Addy and I crawled though this giant inflatable obstacle course. It was certainly interesting! Since our first attempt at fun didn't pan out, we decided to give good old Chuck E. Cheese a shot. Derek and I hadn't been to one in forever and we weren't sure what to expect. We didn't eat the pizza, but Addy got to see the giant robotic Chuck E. and rode a few little rides. She enjoyed running around and watching all of the kids and checking out the games. We ended the evening with dinner at Outback. Addy was very well behaved and attracted a lot of attention with her Birthday Girl shirt. It was a fun day!