1st Haircut

As you can tell by the last post, it was time to get a haircut.  Mommy had been putting it off but Daddy finally won and we took 'Rissa in to chop off her golden locks.  She did fantastic.  She did not put up a fight at all....

BEFORE

DURING

 AFTER

"I look like a boy"  - She was not too pleased initially

"Oh what is that you say? I am still totally adorable?"



"Gee, thanks.  You are too sweet!"



Ode To My Belly Button!

Dear little belly button

You are like a portable toy

No matter where I go,

You bring me so much joy!

I don't have to search,

You are never out of place,

Yet everytime I find you,

You bring a smile to my face.

So thank you dear belly button,

My constant companion and friend

You have been with me since the beginning

And will be here 'till the end!



1 Year Stats

Daddy took Marissa in for her 1 year appointment yesterday.
She is 28.5 inches long and 20 lbs, 13 oz.  She got 4 shots.  Daddy said she only cried a little, she is such a trooper!  All is well, she is right on track for everything.  Now we will be transitioning out of bottles and onto whole milk (hooray!). 

She is not talking much yet, her vocabulary is limited to Dada, Dad-do (I have no idea what it means so I make it fit the situation - thank you, love you, My mom is soooo cool, etc.), and hooray (acutally that is usually limited to 'ray).  She also says da for dog. 

She is climbing on everything she can.  Her current favorite is the arm of the couch whenever possible.  She is learning to go backwards down the stairs and getting pretty good at it.

Her real birthday!

She is a year old today.  It is hard to believe.  One year of additional sweetness added to our little family.  I have so many favorite things about Marissa: her smile, her eyes, the way she turns my face toward hers as she eats and locks eyes with me, the funny positions she sleeps in, her 8 toothed grin, the way she goes after bananas, the way she climbs all over Daddy, her frantic rush to ascend stairs, the way she adores her big brother...but what has to top the list would be her laugh.  She already knows how to whole-heartedly laugh (especially at her brother), my prayer is that she never loses this joy.  It is contagious.  You cannot help but smile when she guffaws!  Marissa, my hope is that life always gives you reason to smile and that you always bring joy to the lives of those you come in contact with!  Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

Here's a quick monthly review of her precious smiles over this past year:

 Sheesh, I love this beautiful little thing!

She had a busy actual birthday.  Church followed by a visit to the hospital to see Grandpa who had carotid artery surgery.  Oddly enough we were at the hospital at 1:15, the exact time we had Marissa a full year ago today!  Then we hit up a birthday party for our friends, Avery and Collin.  More cake, more sugar.  It was a fun day for all.

Party #2, the Luau

Welcome to 'Rissa's Luau

Seriously, what else can you do when your birthday falls in the heat of the summer?

We had an adorable rainbow fruit tray (if I do say so myself)!

Some rainbow cupcakes that almost made Mommy crazy trying to figure out how to get the rainbows to stay up.  Thanks to mommy's friend Christy, and the magic of royal icing, there were no saggy rainbows at this party!  Marissa will never know or fully appreciate the work that went into these.  Mommy now has a whole new respect for cupcake icers.  No matter how hard she tried, she never perfected the art of smoothly icing cupcakes.  Oh well, at least the rainbows stood firm and they were fairly cute anyway!

We had a ton o' fun in the baby pool with our friends

Then we opened presents.  Bubba helped a lot.  One may think he was being sweet but I am pretty sure he was just trying to get to the stash of goodies before Marissa did!

Then we sang the traditional birthday song and dug in!

It was a great day.  She is one blessed little girl to be surrounded by so many people who love and care for her!  Thanks to everyone for coming out, we missed you if you were unable to make it, and we apologize to those who did not get an invite!  We love you all!

Birthday Party #1

Since the family was all together for the wedding, we also celebrated Marissa's first birthday. 

She indulged, delightfully!

My baby will be 1 year old a week from the day we had this party!  It is amazing how the year has flown!

Riverwalk