First Easter

This was Payton's first Easter as last year she was born on the Tuesday after Easter. We had been practicing "hunting" for eggs all week. I would put a few of them around the house, in plain sight of course, and Payton quickly caught on to the game of collecting them in her basket. She even figured out that they opened and spent a lot of time opening them and trying to put them back together.

Payton's Easter basket, we bought some eggs for her, but the rest was a mix of gifts from others. She's one loved little girl!

In her Easter dress, courtesy of Lauren

All that practicing and she wanted nothing to do with "hunting" for eggs today. She's had a rough couple of days with those five teeth that are coming in and wasn't really in the mood to celebrate today. This was the closest she got to a smile.

Click this link to watch a little Easter video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ToO3YqAFjk 

We started the day with brunch at Papa's with Debra's famous french toast, these were at each place setting, she always sets a beautiful table!

We spend the second half of the day at Nana's where we played dominoes, various outdoor street sports and had a wonderful Easter dinner. Payton is wearing the bib her great grandma Audrey sent, but again not in the mood to smile. Hopefully these teeth come in soon and she gets some relief, poor baby.

Thanks to all for having us over to celebrate and for the wonderful food, we love you!!

Happy Easter!!

The Cure for Diaper Rash

At our house anyway...

Nashville

We took a little kid-free getaway last weekend to Nashville, TN to celebrate Jenn turning 30! We had so much fun touring the town, hitting the honky-tonks for live music, sleeping in, doing what we wanted when we wanted. We are all big country music fans and Jenn has always wanted to visit Nashville so we called in reinforcements (Grandma and Grandpa) and spent our first weekend away from Payton. The weather wasn't great, as you'll see in some of the pictures, but we didn't let it stop us.

On Saturday it was raining and windy so we took a trolley tour of the city. We were the only ones on the trolley so we ended up getting a private, off-the-map tour of Nashville which was a lot of fun.

The purple bar in the middle is "Tootsies", I think it's pretty well known and Saturday afternoon there was a guy playing that is a friend of friends of the Harms family so we hung out there for a while and listened to his band. They were pretty good!

Kole's drinking cap...

It's been a while since we let loose together, but we made up for lost time!

This was our second trip (as a couple, I have travelled with them a few times) with the Trujillos and we always have a great time. It's a good thing we didn't bring the kids, because I'm pretty sure Jenn would have stayed!

This is Margaritaville, we may or may not have had a few drinks by this time and may or may not have been the only ones dancing...  :)

We didn't stop to have a drink at the Pedal Bar, but had to get a picture

On our way out we finally made it in to the Wild Horse Saloon, another really well known restaurant/bar in Nashville. It's 3 stories with a couple of bars on each floor and a huge stage you can see from the whole place, we'll have to check it out more the next time we go.

We missed Payton, but it was nice to get away to recharge and reconnect. Not sure she missed us that much having Grandma and Grandpa's undivided attention for the weekend. Thank's for taking such wonderful care of our baby girl!!

Nashville is a really pretty, clean city with PLENTY to do, see and listen too all hours of the day. Jenn, thank you for inviting us to celebrate with you, we had a blast!! Happy Birthday Old Woman!

Love you guys :)

12 Months Old

I can't believe our little girl is 12 months old! The last month has been full of fun changes, Payton is really starting to reveal her personality and we are enjoying getting to know her. We got her 1-year pictures taken a couple weeks ago for the first time by someone other than Liz. She did a great job (although she is no Liz), but we probably won't be doing that again (long story) anyway, here are some of the proofs to enjoy. Hopefully we get the prints in the next couple of weeks!

Payton @ 12 Months

Measurements:  21 lbs, 55th percentile, 30 inches, 80th percentile. Payton's Dr. said she continues to look great and is doing everything she is supposed to. She got 2 shots and an oral vaccine. She did great when he was examining her, but screamed when she got her shots. We go back at 15 months so we will see if she continues to be on the taller side.

Sleep:  Still sleeping 10-11 hours at night and taking two naps

Food: She has tried pretty much anything we have been eating except peanut butter and nuts. We were waiting until she was closer to a year which is what's recommended, but just haven't had a chance yet. So far there still isn't anything she won't eat and she doesn't seem to have any allergies to any food. She's slowly getting bored with us feeding her so we are always trying to come up with things we can eat that she can feed herself.

Teeth: She has 3 totally in (the third actually came in before she turned 11 months) and several (4-6) on their way. They bother her from time to time, but nothing to serious.

New Words:  uh-oh, Papa, Dog and she is really close to saying Josh

New Tricks: Walking!! She really took off right around her birthday. Blows kisses, throws a ball

Happy 12 months and first birthday Payton Audrey, you mean the world to us!!

It's hard to believe I have done a years worth of monthly posts! I probably won't do another one until we go back to the doctor at 15 months, but we will keep everyone updated with what's going on with our family.

Just for Fun

I made a collage of monthly photos of Payton, it's neat to see how much she has changed over the last year.

I found pictures of Kole and I when we were around the same age as Payton, who do you think she looks like? I can see both of us pretty equally in her...

1st Birthday Party

Saturday we celebrated Payton's first birthday with family and friends! We ordered Dickey's BBQ had plenty to drink and Kelsey made beautiful cupcakes. The weather was perfect, which is lucky for us as April is one of our big snow months. Payton did really well, she had fun playing with the kids, eating her giant cupcake and opening presents. Kole and I enjoyed visiting with everyone and watching Payton have fun. The party was great! I know I say this a lot, but we are SO blessed to have such wonderful, supportive, loving family and friends and it was nice to celebrate with them and say thank you for everything they have done for us over the last year. Payton is one lucky girl to have so many people that love her.

We took way too many pictures, I maxed out the memory card for the first time ever at one event. I tried to get pictures of everyone that came, these are out of order, but I am too tired to re-arrange them so enjoy!!

The theme of the party was bright colors and cupcakes

The little book on the right is something Aunt Kelsey made special for Payton, it has pictures of their year of Wednesdays together and the sweetest note to Payton. I just loved it and I know Payton will cherish it some day. We love you Aunt Kels and appreciate you more than you will ever know!

Payton didn't really smash her cake like everyone had hoped. I think she was more curious as to why there were 20 people watching her eat! The cake was a lot bigger then I was expecting and not the easiest to smash. She did enjoy it eventually!

We skyped in Grandma, Grandpa, Great Grandma Audrey, and Great Aunt Lu in Illinois so they could join in the Happy Birthday song and cake-bashing

Payton really enjoyed watching and helping opening presents and playing with all of her new toys. Everyone spoiled her!

Love this picture, so many of the people I love all in the same room!

Jenn and I have been friends since around kindergarten and now our girls share a birthday just a day apart. She made the sweetest book with pictures of Payton from this blog, love you Trujillos!

Saved the best for last... Uncle Brian walked in our house just before the party started and totally surprised us. He's in the Air Force going through pilot training in Texas and we don't get to see much of him. I was so touched that he would make time for us and to celebrate his niece's first birthday that I cried like a baby.

It's hard to believe we are headed in to our second year as parents to such a wonderful daughter, thank you to all of our family and friends for all of the love, support, encouragement and help over the last year. We wouldn't be the same without you, we love you!!!