A few weeks in toddlerhood

Since going on a picture snapping frenzy for Claire's birthday, I took a little bit of a hiatus for a few weeks by unintentionally forgetting my camera everywhere we went (hence the missed post last week).  I hate to admit it but it was nice having a week off from uploading, editing, and blogging.  That being said, I really miss having a photo library of what we did the past few weeks so I'm excited to get back into it this weekend when we're at the beach.

In the meantime, here's a slim snapshot of what she's been up to since her party.

She's been having a blast playing with all of her toys.  Some of her favorites are this little Monsta her friends Gavin & Maddie gave her.  It looks like a little gremlin and makes a pretty creepy little squeaking sound but she absolutely loves it.  As soon as she gets cranky, we push his belly and no matter how mad she is, she breaks out in a huge grin.  Here she is hugging the little fuzzball.

She also loves putting her coins in her piggy bank.  I'm super proud of how fast she picked up on how to do it.    

She's also loving all of the books she got.  Her personal fave is the one with "Da-da" in it.  :)

Besides playing with all of her cool stuff, Claire also got to spend lots of time with family.  2 weeks ago, Mommy had the honor of being a second time Godmom to Claire's sweet little cousin, Bridget.  

(I would like to point out that I'm wearing 3.5 inch heels in this picture)

Claire had a blast hanging with all of her cousins as she always does.  This past weekend, we had lots of parties to go to...Daddy's Aunt Mary Jean and Uncle John's bbq on Saturday, Claire's friends Emma & Addi's Dad's bday party on Saturday night, and Mommy's Aunt Marcy's birthday party on Sunday.  Claire couldn't decide what to wear on Saturday....this is what she picked out and put on while Mommy was getting ready.

Once she finally settled on an outfit, we headed out for the festivities.  Claire enjoyed playing some ladder golf with Daddy.

I think she thought you won points for getting them around your neck which is why she kept piling them on hers.

These are about the only pictures I took.  A sweet little interaction between Claire and cousin Luke saying hi.  

Claire couldn't wait to give him a kiss.

She got so excited she fell down.  Luke tried to catch her and help her back up...

But that didn't go so well.  Haha.  At least you tried little buddy.

It was a wonderful few weeks of family and friends...and eating some grass too. 

Guess she's getting ready for that delicious sand next weekend :)

1st Birthday Celebrations!

Even though we had a big party planned for Claire's first birthday on Sunday, the 12th, we just HAD to do something special for her on her actual birthday.  So Mommy and Daddy woke up extra early on Wednesday the 8th and made her her FAVORITE breakfast...scrambled eggs.  She gobbled them down in seconds...

Yay scrambled eggs!

Then she was off to Grammy's.  After work, Mommy and Daddy picked up the munchkin and brought her home for more celebrations.  First, some crazy stunts with Daddy...

1....2....3....(close your eyes)

And Jump!

After jumping off countertops we snapped our 2nd annual self-shot family portrait.  

And then it was birthday time.  We got the little lady her first cupcake, stuck a candle in it, and sang Happy Birthday to her.  

We tried to get her to blow the candle out herself but all she wanted to do was grab it so Daddy blew it out for her.  She didn't seem too pleased.

Once the candle was out, we let her go to town.  "Seriously guys, this is for me??"

Dig in :)

And boy did she.  

She LOVES cupcakes.

She tried all sorts of ways of eating it to see how to get it down the fastest.

Good ol' fistfuls of cake seemed to work the best.

She probably ate 90% of the cupcake...and trust me it was a big cupcake.  I'm so glad we got to see her enjoy every bite.  Even though I felt like I cheated everyone coming to her party from seeing her eat cake for the first time, it was really nice getting to share the moment with just the 3 of us.  She was too much fun...I'm glad I didn't have to share :)

On Friday, we took Claire for her 1 year checkup.  She got a clean bill of health and the doc says she's right on par for where a 1 year old she be development wise.  Woohoo!  Her measurements however were a little all over the place.

Her official stats:

     Height: 31 inches long (95th percentile)

     Weight: 20.5 lbs (35th percentile)

     Head: 18.5 inches (90th percentile)

All of those eggs and cupcakes must be going to her head.  Looks like we have a tall lanky bobblehead on our hands.

Finally it was Sunday.  The big day had arrived.  Claire's first birthday party!!  We couldn't fit everyone at our house so we had it at one of the boathouses on boathouse row thanks to our good friend Anselm who's a member there (you're the best!).  The house was awesome with a huge deck overlooking the river.

And an AMAZING view of the Philadelphia skyline...

Luckily for us, it was a GORGEOUS day so we got to take full advantage of that deck (and took lots of pictures out there :)).

We got there a few hours early to set up before everyone arrived.  Grammy and Nana helped set up as well and kept the little lady entertained while Pop & Papa put the tents up outside.

A few girly touches...

And the manly boathouse was looking much prettier.

Even the giant moose head seemed to like all of the pink.  

Once we were all done decorating, Claire was ready for her guests to arrive.

And boy did they.  It was a packed house.

She had lots of friends who came to play.

But who needs toys when you've got ice buckets...

And coolers...

And even flower pots.

After Claire played and mingled with her guests...it was time for cake.

Claire got her own special cake...

Everyone came inside to sing Happy Birthday to the guest of honor.  Close to 50 people singing at once was pretty impressive.  I don't think Claire blinked the entire time.  She was in shock as to what was going on.

But once everyone was done singing and that candle was out, she knew exactly what to do.

Ooohhh, cake.  Yum.

The little cake monster kept her dress surprisingly free of cake and icing...wish I could've said the same about her hair...

After cake, we attempted to take a pic of all of the kiddies together.  Seeing as some are still too little to sit by themselves and some just didn't want to (uh um Claire), some of the Moms joined in for the pic. I think it turned out pretty well.  

Once we were done with pictures, all of Claire's older buddies helped her open her presents.  Thank you so much Grace, Paige, and Emma for being such big helpers and taking turns so nicely!  Claire's Mommy really appreciated not having to wait for Claire to open all of them herself :)  Ha.  

And thank you so much to EVERYONE for the super generous gifts and for taking time out on such a nice weekend to help us celebrate Claire's first year.  We're one lucky family to have such great family and friends.  We love you all.

And even after such a long day of prepping and playing and celebrating and socializing, Claire still had some energy left to help us clean up and collect all of the balloons.

And even stopped to check out the view herself :)

What a great day.