A Baby No More

Well, it is official. My baby is no longer a baby. Saturday, June 28, at exactly 3:36 PM, Shelby turned 1. It was very bittersweet for me. Where has the year gone?!?! But despite any sad feelings I had over her turning one, we had a great time celebrating her birthday with our friends and family. I was going to write a very long post about all the details of the Storyland staff fiasco, but since everything turned out fine in the end, and I am super tired, I will spare the boring details and just say that everything was great. Jordan even made it, after just having sweet baby Lilly Ann two days prior! What a woman! Here are a few of the pictures from the chaos:

Princess Shelby in Storyland


"Oohh! Babies! Babies!"


"Happy Birthday To You!"


Daddy-paw


Mmmmm...cake


Had to take a breather...

After the party, we went back to the hotel and got to visit with my family and our friends (who might as well be family), Mike and Jenny. After the McGrath crew headed back to Slidell, we ate a great dinner with Mike and Jenny. I think the long day took it's toll on Shelby, because as soon as we got back to the hotel, this is what happened:


I think that Shelby really did realize that she turned one. I say this because she seems to be a whole different person. All of a sudden on Sunday, in the car on the drive home, she decided that since she was one, she was now a big girl and was FINALLY going to hold her own bottle.

Then today, Shelby decided she would walk. She took her first steps months ago, but she actually walked today. Here is a video of her. Later on, after this video, she walked across this whole room, for a total of 17 steps. She could have gone more but we ran out of space!

Tonight we realized we didn't even let Shelby eat her cake at the party. She had a couple bites of other people's pieces, but not her own. So we stripped her down for the obligatory "smash the cake all over me" pics. She actually didn't even get that messy. What a lady.


But even though she is now such a big girl in so many ways, I am reminded of the book "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch. "I love you forever, I like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be".

Oy

My brain is fried.

Look Ma, no.........Shelby!

Yep, after almost a year, we finally had a date! Yesterday was my 26th birthday, so Jeremy very sneakily made plans to drop me off at a day spa this morning for a manicure, pedicure, facial, and massage. Then he dropped Shelby off at his cousin, Debbie's house, where Debbie so very graciously watched Shelby all afternoon so Jeremy and I could have a date. After my morning of pampering, I came home and got dressed and Jeremy took me to my favorite restaurant in the whole wide world- The Melting Pot. Jeremy asked me which I was looking forward to most, the cheese, the salad, or the dessert? I think the cheese. I love cheese. Anyway, I was so full after just the cheese and salad, and completely stuffed after the entree. I couldn't believe the words were actually coming out of my mouth, but when it came time for dessert, I found myself telling Jeremy maybe we could skip it this time and come back another time just for dessert. Me skip dipping cubes of cheesecake into melted chocolate? So not like me. I'm blaming the Topamax on that one. But it's an excuse to go out on another date again sometime soon! Thank you, Jeremy for making my birthday so wonderful!

And for all of my family, if you ever want proof that dad is Chinese...look at my picture!

Cookin' Up a Storm

I love to cook. I love trying new recipes as well as take old recipes and mix them up and create new dishes from them. However, since having Shelby, and the energy has been sucked out of me, it just became so much easier to go out to eat. And when we moved here, and realized we had the most idiotic kitchen ever, I really lost my desire and passion to cook. However, we made a goal to cook every night last week, giving ourselves two out-to-eat allowances, and we did it! So proud of myself. I know it sounds pretty ordinary to most people, but really, we had gotten used to eating out 7 times a week- every weeknight and twice on Saturdays!

Tonight I made Rachel Ray's Two Sauce Weeknight Lasagna Bowls. Of course I didn't follow the recipe exactly as I never do, but it turned out pretty good. I think the best part about sticking with our goal, besides saving money, is that I have started to love cooking again.

11 Months

I know I am over a week late on this post, but better late then never, right? Shelby is now 11 months old. I can't believe she is almost a year old! While she hasn't done many new things since she turned 10 months, I feel like her personality is devloping and changing more and more each day. She is definitely becoming more strong willed and independent. Here are 11 fun facts about Shelby:

1) Her hair is getting curly at the ends.
2) She loves to bop her head to music.
3) She likes to tickle people.
4) She is great at giving kisses.
5) She loves vanilla yogurt.
6) She faces the front in her car seat now and loves it! (I know, we are a month early, but she is so tall her feet were bunching up against the back of the seat!)
7) She likes splashing in the pool.
8) She loves sneaking Roxy her food.
9) She still loves to play with my hair while drinking her bottle. It comforts her.
10) She recently discovered baby dolls. We also got her a play bottle for her baby and she immediately took it and put it in her mouth.
11) She is so close to walking! She will take a few steps at a time. She recently discovered stairs at Grandma's house.

UTAH!

We got back yesterday from our trip to Utah. We had a great time visiting with our family. We didn't go with a huge itinerary because mom is recovering from hip surgery and I have a fractured foot, so we knew we couldn't walk much, but our main goal was to spend as much time with family as possible, and that we did.

Shelby has always been a very social baby and always immediately goes to strangers, but I think because EVERYTHING was different on this trip, she was a tad clingy. She was still pretty good and she loved playing with her cousins.



Jeremy has never been to Utah, and therefore has never seen any of the Church sites. So Saturday we went to Salt Lake and walked around Temple Square. It is so pretty.





I could write a very long post about all the fun we had, but I am still trying to catch up on my sleep since we had to wake up at 3 A.M. to catch our flight, since our flight the night before was cancelled due to bad weather in Dallas. Anyway, thanks Dad, Mom, Jared, Adrienne, Taylor, Andrew, Cameron, Olivia, Sawyer, Parker, Tristan, and Colin for a great trip!


View of Mt. Timpanogos from "Mom and Dad's bluff"


Cactus Flower

Beware of the Ketchup!

You know those big ketchup pumps at fast food places? Ever wonder how long the ketchup has been sitting in there? Tonight we decided to check out a burger joint close by the house since we were rushing around, going to a bazillion different stores looking for bottles. Anyway, the burger was ok...Jeremy says it was not even comparable to Ward's...and the fries were pretty good- sprinkled with their own "famous" seasoned salt. I was eating the fries with my mayonnaise and mustard mix, something I haven't done since high school but decided to rekindle tonight, when I decided to convert to ketchup for the last few fries. I dipped one in and took a bite. Tasted a bit off, but I thought maybe it was a bad fry- you know how some taste like they were fried in bad oil? So then I got a big fry, and took a big 'ol dip in the ketchup. Instantly I could taste the vomit in my mouth. I grabbed a napkin and spit it out. Seriously, the ketchup tasted like toilet bowl cleaner. I asked Jeremy if his was bad, and he said his was fine, but that he'd gotten them from two different pumps. Ugh. So gross. As I am typing this I am recalling the horrible taste and may have to make a run for the...