Monday, June 27, 2016

Arwyn Week 53: My Little Baby Turns 1 Year Old - 6/23/2016

Arwyn is still so cute, small, and snuggly, I can't believe that she's not that she's not still that tiny little thing that came out of my belly.  In fact, somehow that was an entire year ago, and she just turned 1 year old!  In her birthday week, she's started to find her balance, and she can now stand solo for about 5 seconds before dropping down.  Everything is very funny to her, and she makes these wonderful, huge old belly laughs.  She still loves to walk with help, and gets pissed when you try to stop, but has added a graceful Michael Jackson-esc Moonwalk to her repertoire.  Grandma came to town and put some little pig-tails in her hair, and Josh and I didn't even recognize her, she looked like a much older little girl instantly!  Also, it's been reconfirmed, everybody heard her say "Yay-ya" about Leia again.  It makes sense that she would figure out that word pretty early since Leia is such a big part of her life, but it's a tricky one, so that is very impressive!  She also impressed me with her use of her new stacking cups.  She's very good at figuring out which one goes inside the others in the right order.  And if you verbally tell her that she missed one and that she needs to take one out and put in a different one first, she will do it.  She is so smart!!  She has continued to be a little more fussy than our normal Arwyn, and I'm not sure if it's a normal developmental phase or if she's sick or something.  Guess we'll just have to keep monitoring.  She was really cute at her birthday party.  She wasn't scared/didn't cry when we all sang to her like Leia did at one, but she also didn't dig in and get messy like Emmett did.  She liked playing with the candle, and she did dig at it a little, but mostly after I ripped off a piece and fed it to her and showed her it was ok to eat.  She was pretty serious about the whole thing, investigating it and checking out what everyone around her was doing.  Pretty on par with her normal MO: calm, cool, calculating, and investigating.

Leia did very well at her party, but mostly due to the hard work and calculations of the party planners.  Grandma got all the kids the great Jake and the Neverland Pirate party favors, so every kid got something, so no need to fight about that.  I worked hard to plan a big pirate treasure hunt and lead the kids around on that activity which kept them very busy and entertained, so no time to get into trouble with that happening.  The party was outside, and once we got all the toys that the kids tried to bring out put back inside, no need to get upset and possessive about sharing all her stuff.  So all in all, it was successful.  Just a few little squirmishes when she got her presents and about sharing her balloons, but hey, a 100% tear free party would have been asking way too much!  The big (but kind of predicted) disappointment was that Leia did not like the very special Strawberry Cake that I made for her from scratch!  She's been telling everyone for a few months now that she wants strawberry cake, but I have no idea where she even came up with that idea considering she's only eaten cake about twice in her life and neither time was strawberry.  Nevertheless, I decided to humor her and make strawberry cake even though she probably wouldn't have known the difference.  The problem was, I didn't want to make that crappy, super sweet frosting because a) I don't like it, and b) I noticed the last time she had cake she only ate the frosting and then declared the cake finished and wanted more, so I wanted her to get a better "whole cake" experience.  Anyway, I make a delicious strawberry cake from scratch with a strawberry whipped cream frosting that was just sweet enough to compliment the cake without being too sweet.  Well, all the adults loved it, but as I feared would happen, Leia did not because the frosting wasn't sweet enough.  I don't think she even bothered to notice how good the actual cake was.  Oh well, I'll just have to keep trying.  Or not, maybe I'll get her to like pies soon!  Anyway, now that we have a big 3 year old (well almost), we decided it's finally time to let her have a big girl toddler bed.  The decision was mostly motivated by the fact that nighttime potty training is in our future, and it will probably be easier if she can actually get herself out of bed to use the potty if she needs to.  Grandpa put the bed together for us, and her first night was a success!  The rules were that she still had to stay in bed and call us when she needed to get up, and except for a few sneak outs before bed, she actually complied pretty well, especially in the morning.  Night 2 went well too.  Looks like we are into a new phase...so scary!



So fun to have a fan blowing wet air in your face!

Midnight on birthday eve, everyone's asleep but Josh is still up pulling his pork!



Birthday girl up early with her party dress on, ready to go...T minus 4 hours until the party starts!


Guests are starting to arrive and get settled...let the fun begin!


The kids are all finding their favorite toys, bring on the chaos!

Charlie (Arwyn's school friend and sole invited guest) takes advantage of the still empty putting green to work on his chipping skills.

Arwyn with her piggies...she's a completely different little girl...who knew turning 1 could make that much of a difference!

Totally suckered Grandpa into being her chauffeur the entire day!

It's my party, I'll cry if I want to!

Becoming one with the ball...definitely going to be a golfer with this level of zen so early in life!

Loves her "Give and Take Back" game!

First Pirate Challenge on Birthday Treasure Hunt: Pirate Putt Putt!



Next up: Pirate Balance Challenge!



Another Pirate Challenge: Bapping all the bugs on the rocks with their swords.

Pirate Leia has her sword, her map, and her spyglass...yo ho let's go find treasure!

Hunting for the first buried treasure here at "Mommy's Jeep Jamboree"!

Second buried treasure was here under the Belch Mountain Fire Tank.

The Pirate Treasure Map of our yard with the accompanying list of challenges.

Even little Arwyn decided to get into the theme!

Who knew that her beautiful party dress was actually a Pirate Ball Gown, secretly equipped with the perfect sword holster!

One treasure hunt wasn't enough for these pirates, they are back out hunting for more!

Arwyn the climber is going to figure this one out on her own very quickly!

Everyone is gathered around to check out the infamous strawberry cake!
Bring on the presents!

Total chaos!

Audra was a really good present helper.

Trying hard to figure out what this cake and candle are all about!


Everyone is very concerned about whether Arwyn will figure out how to do this "the right way."


Hands into the yogurt topping...still not too sure about all this!

Ok, now she's getting the hang of it!

Oh yeah, going back for more, but clearly this is still serious business.

Prettiest little pirate ever!

She so serious about this whole turning 1 thing!

Watch out for that sneaky Audra...only kid at the whole party who was able to get ahold of Leia's brand new barbie without her noticing, and here she is pretending to admire Arwyn's new pony, but what will she do next? Give it a little yank??

Nice big pirate treasure bag full of loot!

The aftermath!

Hide and seek time for MORE treasure!

Annabelle doing a little cleanup at Leia's Pirate Hideout.



One year ago today was the end of the most horrible pregnancy and beginning of a beautiful relationship with this little sweetheart!

Happy Grandpa...he and Arwyn really bonded this week.

Pirate Julie Ahoy!

Pirate MumMum and Arwyn, planning their next adventure!

Echo was so sweet today, helping Arwyn with her cake and presents since Leia was a bit preoccupied.

Kyle was the first tester of the new belay and harness.

Emmett showing off some great climbing skills.

Pretty fun little setup we put together here!

And here you see one tired pirate in dire need of a little "Leia time."

Yep, a little self imposed "Leia Time" to regroup...I'm very proud of her for recognizing her needs.

PopPop trying to help out with the recovery phase.

I just can't get enough snuggles with this little sweetie!

Yay, finally ready to test out her new belay.

Ding!  Looks like we need to install a bell at the top!

It might appear that she's treasure hunting again, but I think it's really a cross-eyed alien communicating with it's home!

So beautiful when you're quick enough to catch that happy smile!


Garden meditation.


A happy Grandpa on Father's Day.

Doling out presents for the best Daddy!

Yep, it's pretty funny when your Dad looks like Chewbaka!

Our Daddy turned into a Wookie!

Still smells like Dad, but other than that, Arwyn's not too sure about this!

Grandpa snuggles.

"I love my Grandma!"

Beautiful morning for a little Father's Day Bruch.

Happy Father's Day to the three best Dads! (Actually 4, not pictured but attending was John.)

Prepping for July 4th with some sweet new shades!

She can't have earrings yet, but she finally figured out a way to get some anyway!

Snuggle time!


The 12 Month photo shoot was the hardest one yet...she would not hold still or pose at all!

Gotta be quick for this busy bee!

12 Months Old and cute as can be.

There's that #12 sticker for the rest of us to see.

Sitting, standing, creeping, and dancing, but NOT lying down much these days!

She thinks it's a funny game this photo shoot thing!

Loves the give and take back game these days!



Caught on camera...a solo balance for over 5 seconds!!

Love that sweet face!

Mommy and my snuggle muffin.


She really likes to use the hands free lean for balance these days.

Looks like somebody took something she wants back!

"Whoa, check out my psychedelic hand!"

Sumo wrestler squats.

Little miss happy Arwyn.

First Birthday Breakfast at Jax's with the grandparents.


Birthday pony ride for Leia.