Alyse Turns ONE!

We definitely celebrated Alyse for her birthday (November 15). We had an awesome party with our new friends' the Smith's baby, Sid...his mom, Sarah, is a super-duper party planner and I felt so lucky to have joined forces with her!

It was a cowboy/cowgirl theme and this was the invitation



At the party there was a saloon facade and behind it were some fun toys



another new friend made the cake and it was simply amazing!



I have to say that after becoming a parent birthdays have taken on a whole new meaning...remembering the actual birth, pregnancy, pre-Alyse, etc. and celebrating the fact that we made it as parents for a whole year!
Alyse has become more of a little person and less of a baby, even though she still has very chubby cheeks and not that much hair :)



She has multiple little looks she gives when she wants to be shy, coy or when she is suspicious or inquisitive. She carries on little conversations in her gibberish, points and lets you know when she wants to drink, what she wants to drink, and what book she wants to read (she has become very opinionated about which books she wants to read when!). She loves to eat, especially fruit! In fact, one of her nicknames is fruitcake. Another one is stink-stink, but I'll let that one go without an explanation, since you can probably guess where that comes from!



She can crawl quickly from room to room, stand up and move from one piece of furniture to another, and sits up very tall and proper to read her books and play with her toys. She loves baths and plays with her rubber ducky and foam letters and numbers.




Alyse adores her daddy and now cries after she weighs good-bye to him and blows him a kiss in the morning. She also loves her mommy (pay no mind that her mommy is writing this!) and often crawls over to climb up and snuggle (for a few brief seconds) or give her mommy a kiss.



She can now say "dada", "momma", and "woof" if you count that as a word. Alyse has grandparents who love her and aunts, uncles, and one cousin who also think she is pretty great.
Alyse is still in the 97th percentile, weighing 26lbs and measuring 31in at her year appointment. She often has a fiesty and spirited temperment, which we think comes from her hyper-awareness to her environment and the people she interacts with...she is just so smart and observant! She loves other kids and has been learning a lot about how to socialize and play. She still gets the best kick out of playing with her daddy and giggles and "runs" away from him.



Our lives are forever changed by having Alyse as our daughter...happy birthday, Lisi!