Springtime Fun

Nashville is beautiful this time of year with new leaves unfolding on nearly every tree and flowers in full bloom everywhere.  Perfect time to get out and enjoy the great outdoors before the sweltering humidity rears its ugly head.  What better way to kick off spring than a photo shoot of Shay at Centennial Park.  Once again, our creative, talented and generous friend Erin got behind the viewfinder of her camera and shot a bunch of great photos of Shay, her gift for Shay's 1st birthday.  Below are just a few of our favorite shots:

Flower child 

Love this one! 

Love that she's starting to look like a little girl in this one...

...and still looks like a baby in this one

On April 9th, Erin, our friend Liesl and I threw a bridal brunch shower for our friend Kristen who is getting married at the end of May.  We enjoyed beautiful weather out on the patio at local Nashville eatery Mad Donna's where we noshed on tasty food, sipped sweet mimosas and watched Kristen open her pile of gifts.  A perfect lazy Saturday morning. 

The bride to be

 Pretty flowers Erin brought

 Something must've been funny

Also this past weekend, my Aunt Paige & Uncle Bob rolled into Nashville in their motor home so we got to spend time with them on Saturday and Sunday and they met their grand-niece for the first time.  Shay, having gotten over her stranger anxiety a couple of months ago, welcomed them with all the vigor a 1 year old who has never before met her relatives can.  Which basically meant that she did not cry and instead offered up some waves and blew kisses.  She grabbed her Great Uncle Bob's cheek, fascinated for a brief moment in time with his facial hair, something she's never seen up close before (unless you count when her Daddy doesn't shave for a few days).

On Sunday, we drove to the campsite where Paige & Bob stayed in their motor home.  It was fun to check out their mobile digs and Shay enjoyed the playground and an impromptu dip in the lake, her first time in non-bathtub water.  She had a blast splashing around in the shallow water on the sandy beach and then trekked out into the lake itself seemingly oblivious to the coldness of the water.  She even fell backward and went completely under but came up unfazed.  As her mom, I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing that she's so fearless when it comes to water.  Maybe there's something to the ol' astrological sign thing...she is a pisces!  After our daughter was thoroughly soaked, we brought her back up to the motor home, got her changed into a clean, dry outfit and enjoyed a great dinner outdoors.

 Checking out the inside of the motor home

 Jeff & Bob hanging outside "Big Gray Box"

 A happy Shay Bug

 Yep, she has all the makings of a gymnast...loved hanging on the bar

 Great Uncle Bob & Shay at Old Hickory Lake

Splish Splash! 

 She kept the boys on their toes

 Beach baby

The Big 1!

Shay's 1st birthday has come and gone and I am left in awe thinking back on everything that has changed over the past year.  Her Daddy and I can't stop referring to her as a "baby" even though she's technically a toddler now.  I have to admit I cried a little the day of her birthday at that thought.  Not because I'm not absolutely thrilled to be able to watch my little girl grow up happy & healthy, but because this first year has passed so quickly and she's changed so much that I just don't want her to grow up TOO fast.

Part of me misses (and probably always will) Infant Shay.  Don't get me wrong, I don't miss the crying-almost-all-of-the-time Infant Shay.  The little banshee wails at all hours of the night and the shear exhaustion that would ensue.  Infant Shay did not smile or laugh for the first few months.  However, Infant Shay would cuddle and fall asleep in my arms (didn't realize how fast that stage would pass).  Infant Shay would let me swaddle her into a little "baby burrito." Infant Shay had that intoxicating sweet baby scent.  Yes, I will miss her.

Ah but Toddler Shay is so much fun and there will be new, exciting things to look forward to.  Toddler Shay gets more and more interactive with each passing day.  She's still not saying any words but she likes to mimic facial expressions, sounds and actions (she gives high fives, waves, claps & gives kisses).  Toddler Shay loves going to the playground and running around.  She really keeps us on our toes!  She is into running and climbing on everything.  She has a smile on her face a lot of the time and it's easy to get a giggle or squeal of joy out of her.   We're going to enjoy every stage of watching her grow up.

A big thank you to everyone who came out to Shay Bug's birthday party!  We are so blessed to have family and friends who love on our little girl so much!  Here are some pictures taken by our friend Erin...

 Butterfly Birthday Cake

It was a butterfly themed party

Me & my little Love Bug 

 Smiles

 Love this photo!

1st cupcake 

 Enjoy it now kid...you won't be able to play with your food like this for long

Love that Erin got a shot of the cupcake 'do!

Lessons from My Daughter

First off, Happy Valentine's Day to you all!  Jeff and I are waiting until Wednesday to celebrate our relatively new holiday, V-Delay!  V-Delay comes two days after Valentine's Day and consists of each of us taking $5 and seeing who can get the best clearance Valentine's Day paraphernalia for the other.  We both have the mindset that Valentine's Day can be cheesy and generic...so why not exploit that and make it fun(ny)?  Our wedding anniversary is our special day to celebrate in the romantic manner.

So, as I said in my last blog post, I'm off of work as of last Friday through next Monday, enjoying the remainder of my parental leave time.  Jeff was out of the house running around most of last Friday and Saturday which gave me lots of time with Shay Bug.  And you know what?  I'm learning so much from her.

JUST BE. 
I've been so keyed up in my routine of work, taking care of baby, family time, errands & the damned never-ending To-Do List that I haven't stopped lately to just BE. Now let me insert the disclaimer that to just BE is a really difficult thing for me to understand, let alone do. I've read it in the bible, heard it preached in sermons, discussed it at length with my husband & friends and I get the concept but still didn't know HOW to actually DO it.  Until now.  There has never been a more real example to me than Shay. In her everyday life, she exemplifies what it means to just be.  She doesn't fret about the future.  She doesn't dwell on the past.  There is only THIS moment and that's where she lives. 

DON'T WORRY
With so much free time on my hands, my thoughts shifted from worrying about work to worrying about the future.  Shay doesn't worry.  She trusts that Mommy & Daddy are going to provide for her.  I need to just trust that God will do the same for us, for me.  As a parent, I love my child so very much and only want the best for her.  How much more does God want that for His children?

BE YOURSELF
I LOVE Shay's innocence!  I love that she is 100% not afraid to be herself.  She doesn't worry about what other people will think of her.  She isn't self-conscious.  She doesn't get embarrassed.  She has no fear of rejection.  She hasn't yet been tainted by the crap that people and life will throw at her and formed walls to hide behind and defense mechanisms to keep herself from getting hurt.  It makes me sad to know that as she grows older she will lose a some of that raw innocence.  I have such a better understanding now as a parent of what God meant by putting such an emphasis on having a child-like heart.

RUN TO GOD
I hate it when Shay gets hurt or doesn't feel well and cries.  As her mommy, I just can't stand to see her in any pain.  But I love that she finds so much comfort when her Daddy & I just hold her.  And she knows to come straight to us when she's in need of encouragement, cuddles, a hug...love.  It's such an example to me of how I'm supposed to do the same with my heavenly Father.  How often to I try to get my comfort from anything and anywhere but God?

JOY IN THE SIMPLE THINGS
Shay has so many crazy toys that light up, play music, teach concepts, move, etc.  But you know what?  She is happiest playing with a simple plastic bottle cap or batting around her bottles of lotion.  As adults, we want the latest, greatest electronics, cars, houses, music, movies, gaming equipment, and the list goes on and on.  How much more joy would we have in life to just find beauty in the simple things and appreciate what we already have?

Really, there is so much more that she's teaching me but I need to wrap it up.  I'm sure I'll have more blogs on this topic.  It's about time for her to wake up from her "cutie sleep" so we can all hit the Greenway on this beautiful day!

Baby Steps

I've been wanting to update this blog for awhile now, but work and family have kept me so busy that I haven't really had any down time (when I'm not too tired) to do so.  Not complaining though, simply grateful to have a blessed life that I love living.  However, this morning found me with extra time to sit down and get some jumbled words out.  Daddy & Baby are both napping (they got up at 6:00 this morning and let me sleep in until 7:30).  Work is delayed a couple of hours due to "massive by Tennessee standards, puny by Minnesota standards" snowfall from yesterday.  So here I am...

The most exciting news as of late is that Shay Bug is starting to walk!  Last Saturday, she took her first 4 unassisted steps.  Last night it was 8 steps in a row.  She's getting sturdier, but still looks like a tiny, drunkard staggering around...quite amusing for Mommy & Daddy!  For the most part, crawling is a faster means of mobility so she'll take a few steps and then drop to the floor and crawl.  You can almost hear her thinking, "Ah, screw it...this is too freakin' slow." Albeit, hopefully with a more graceful vocabulary.

We can't believe Shay is just over a month away from being a year old!  Time really does fly!  I still can't think of a better quote to describe the timespan of parenthood than "the days are long but the years are short."

Flight tickets are booked to Minnesota over Easter.  We're excited to be able to bring Shay to Duluth to meet her Great Grandma Joyce, Great Grandpa Cliff, Uncle Ty and Aunt Jen (along with a host of other relatives) for the first time!  Not so excited for the 4 flights that will take us there and home again (American Airlines does not have direct flights from Nashville to Minneapolis).  This should be an adventure.  Hoping (Praying, Pleading?) that Shay does not decide to fuss the entire time.  We'll be armed with lots of toys and snacks!

I have tomorrow and all of next week off of work so I'm excited to spend lots of time with my little family.  It's supposed to be in the 50's most of the time I'm off, so we plan to take lots of walks on the Greenway and perhaps get Buggy to the real zoo for the first time :) 

Hope all of you are doing well and staying warm!

I'll leave you with a video of a Burton Buggy Bathtime Baby...

10 Months Old

Shay is 10 months old today!  She's so much fun and learning so fast!  I cannot believe that in just 2 short months she'll officially enter into Toddler World and leave Baby Land (although she can be 30 years old and she'll still always be my baby)!

Let's see...what has changed since my last post? 

She's standing a lot on her own now.  She still won't take any steps but we think it's just a short matter of time before she starts walking.  According to Jeff's mom, he had only one speed when he was young and that was RUN!  If she's anything like her daddy, we'll be in for it! 

She has also declared war on eating anything green.  By "war" I mean making dramatic gagging sounds and promptly spitting up the entire contents of her stomach.  So far, no luck with peas, green beans or, the most recent attempt, pureed broccoli (which translates into a cheesy broccoli dip for mommy & daddy so not a total loss or waste of time spent steaming and pureeing the broccoli).  I am so excited to get the book The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet that I just ordered.  It got great reviews on Amazon and I love some of the Google preview recipes like combining apples and cabbage...something I never would have put together on my own.  I'll get green in this kid one way or another!

She's continuing to sprout more teeth too! 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom. Just adding to the cuteness factor when she smiles. She's using them too...she thinks it's pretty funny to clamp down on her spoon and not let go. She just sits in her high chair booster seat with the spoon clamped firmly in her mouth and gives us a look of impish glee. She's a regular comedian!

Let's see, what else?

Shay's "15 minutes of fame" have extended to the Duluth News Tribune, the newspaper out of Duluth, Minnesota where several of my relatives live.  My grandma sent a picture of Shay in to the paper and it made the "Grandma's Brag Book" section.  Love this photo!

She should be waking up from her afternoon nap any moment now so it's time to sign off.  Hope 2011 is off to a great start for you!

Shay's 1st Christmas

It's hard to believe that this time last year I was 6+ months pregnant and we had not met Little Miss Shay yet. And this December 25th found her crawling around amidst a huge pile of presents at Jeff's parents' place for her first Christmas. She is one much-loved baby!
 

A happy Shay Bug by Papa & Mimi's Christmas tree

My mom and her boyfriend, Ron, flew in from Minnesota to spend Shay's first Christmas with us. The trip was Ron's gift to my mom (thank you Ron!). We all piled into "Nadia" to drive to New River Fellowship for a candlelight Christmas Eve Service (Yes, we name our cars. Our other one is named "Dominique." Bonus points to whoever can figure out the last names of the people we named them after). I'm not sure if it was the loud music, the dim lights or the crowd of people, but Shay sort of freaked out when we brought her into the main auditorium. So I headed right back out to the lobby with her and proceeded to give her Cheerios (we arrived right around the time she was due for dinner). She muched preferred Cheerios over church! After awhile, we were able to go back into the service where she was wiggly as could be in Daddy's arms but was content to quietly eat her Cheerios and puffs, only flinging them into the aisle once, LOL! When we got home, she was ready for bed so we put her down and then ordered Chinese food, a relatively new Christmas Eve tradition for Jeff & me, and we all watched "Meet the Parents." Not your typical Christmas Eve but fun nonetheless.

2 cars, a ton of gifts and baby gear later, we all arrived at Jeff's parent's house in the afternoon on Christmas Day. We had a beautiful white Christmas in Nashville, the first in 17 years, and the view of his parent's backyard was so pretty. Minnesota friends...trust me, a white Christmas in Tennessee is a big deal!

Jeff & me on Larry & Kay's deck

Shay took a long nap while we ate dinner and woke up in time to "open" her gifts. She was none too impressed and was more interested in crawling all over and exploring. Must have been total sensory overload for her. Dinner and gift opening were topped off by a visit from Santa (Larry) and the Grinch (Jeff) which totally freaked poor Shay out! Maybe next year they'll be more welcome.

Not at all happy about the Grinch honing in on Christmas

 

Santa "Larry" and the Grinch "Jeff" with an unhappy Buggy

 

I can't believe how many toys, clothes & books Shay got! And, since she's a Shay Bug, many were bug-themed. Jeff's Nana got her a set of 4 bug hand puppets. I think Jeff & I have had more fun with them than Shay!  Thank you to everyone for loving on our little girl this Christmas and all throughout the year!

Shay checking out her Christmas bear from Aunt Julie & Uncle Bob

Christmas bow baby!

Also, congratulations go out to our friends Burke & Sarah Snyder on the arrival of their baby girl, Aubrey Caroline, who was born on December 23rd!  She's beautiful!

A December to Remember

Christmas portrait

The Christmas tree is NOT going up this year. If the tree went up, Shay would figure out a way to bring it down. Likely right on top of herself! So, even though the tree won't be up, this will definitely be a December to remember. At this point, all of our Christmas shopping and wrapping is done! Looking forward to my Mom and her boyfriend coming to visit the 24th-26th and going over to Jeff's folk's place on Christmas Day. I can't wait to see Shay amidst all of the gift wrap and bows.

Baby Land continues to be THE best place to be! Shay Bug is learning and growing so fast! She's getting stronger and more coordinated by the hour it seems. She crawls at super speed and is pulling up and cruising around everything she can. We've caught her standing by herself on occasion but only when she's not aware she's doing it on her own (i.e. while busy passing a toy from hand to hand). If we try to get her to stand on her own and she knows it, she'll immediately drop down on the floor.

Squash, sweet potatoes, apples, pears & oatmeal continue to be among her favorite foods, but she also likes her YoBaby yogart, bread, Cheerios, yogart melts (aka "baby crack") and, most recently, chicken. We make roasted chicken and give her very small pieces of it. She really seems to like it and will sit and happily munch away. We call her a little "Chicken Chomper." She's also busy trying to learn how to feed herself finger foods. She has her pincer grasp down and has made the connection that she needs to bring her hand up to her mouth. However, she hasn't quite mastered the art of releasing the food into her mouth. She gets it in about 50% of the time (although, she did manage to snatch one of her organic apple puffs off of the floor and eat it before we could grab it!). It's so fascinating watching her and realizing just how hard some things actually are. We take so much for granted as able-bodied adults.

Trying her hand at eating toast

She also has 6 teeth now! Those little pearly whites just keep popping out. We've been blessed that teething isn't the ordeal for us that we've heard it can be for others. She'll get a little fussy a day or two before a tooth breaks the surface, but that's really it. She doesn't run a fever or anything like that and continues to sleep like a champ (about 11 1/2 hrs. straight at night!

Oh, and remember those baby showers I blogged about?  "Big" Shay had her baby on Dec. 3rd!  A beautiful baby boy named Liam Gabriel.  Congrats to the proud new parents!  Comje on Burke & Sarah...Baby S. needds to join the December fun!

"Big Shay" and newborn baby Liam!

We don't really get white Christmases in Tennessee, but we did get some snow the other day.  I had to take some pictures of Shay's first time out in the snow!

 Daddy & Shay

Little Snow Angel