A ONEderful Birthday!

Abby had a spectacular first birthday weekend.  She started off the day by playing peek-a-boo with a yet-unnamed moose from her Great Grandma.

Maybe we'll call him Peekaboo Moose?

Then, we had lunch at Brooms Bloom.  No ice cream for Abby, though.  Just mac and cheese and chicken salad.  We wanted to take her to Christopher's Train Garden, which is right there.  Unfortunately, she was terrified of the loud train noises.  Maybe next year!

Abby would rather be playing with Peekaboo Moose

Grandpa made a special lasagna for Abby's birthday dinner.  Lasagna is one of her favorites!

Now, I had assumed that Abby's first cake would be at her party.  This didn't sit well with her Daddy, who insisted we get her at least a cupcake.  Since this gave us an excuse to get cupcakes from Flavor Cupcakery, I agreed.

We put on Abby's party hat...

As you can see, she wasn't a fan.  This might have influenced her lack of enthusiasm towards her cupcake.

She just didn't know what to make of the icing.  She kept grabbing it and trying to fling it behind her back.  She eventually ate a little, but wasn't thrilled.  Kevin wondered if she thought the icing looked like...something that usually comes out  of the other end.

Then, it was present time!

Daddy showed her how to show off he new pants...

...and she modeled her new cupcake hat.

Also, Grandpa made her this beautiful table and chair set.  I knew he was making it, but I didn't know he was making something quite this lovely!

Abby tries it out at breakfast the next morning.

After all this excitement, she still had a full-blown birthday party with all of her friends that weekend!

Photo courtesy of Sarah Prindiville

I love the picture of these kiddos playing!  They will be priceless one day!

Photo courtesy of Sarah Prindiville

Photo courtesy of Sarah Prindiville

Unfortunately, Grandma and Grandpa had to leave early.  But not before Abby played with balloons with Grandpa!

By now, Abby was a pro at opening presents.  Thanks to Miss Jenny for taking these!

Daddy photo bomb!

It was funny - Abby's gifts were quite indicative of the adults in attendance.  When you invite a bunch of teachers and librarians to a one-year-old's birthday party, you're bound to end up with a bunch of puzzles and books, which we love!  Abby also got an awesome baby laptop, as well as adorable shoes from the geneticist-now-stay-at-home-mom-who-loves-shoes. Really, it was easy to remember who gave what! 

Then, it was cake time!  Abby loved shaking her party hat around.  Wearing it, not so much.

Her opinion on cake had also not changed, although we did get her to try it, and, by the end, she was really sort of going for it!  I think it was too dense for her to really get a bite of!  As Danielle said, though, she was the first kid anyone has seen that cried at her birthday cake.

If you really like watching babies smash cake, here's a video:

What a busy day, with so much excitement!  Miraculously, she did take a short nap in the afternoon after cake.  Then, it was PJs and snuggle-time with Daddy.

A pretty good end to a ONEderful birthday weekend!

A Winter ONEderland Unfolds...

About a month before Abby's birthday, this story floated around my Facebook feed.  My intent is not to start a social/political discussion, but it really struck me.  It's a letter to an advice columnist from a mom who thinks her son has decided to be gay (and she would like to convince him to change his mind) because he is trying to get back at her for forgetting his birthday three years in a row.  The focus for most people, of course, is her non-acceptance of her son's homosexuality, which I think the columnist responded to beautifully.  However, seeing as how this came out a month before Abby's birthday, and I had already been planning her birthday party for a month, I was absolutely befuddled that this mom had forgotten her son's birthday, you know, the day she gave birth to him, for not one, not, two but three years in a row.  Even if you and I have different opinions about gayness, I think we can probably agree about the birthday thing.  Now, this woman says she is "very busy with work," and I am a recovering event planner turned stay-at-home-mom, but still.

But anyway, the point of this post is not to give social commentary on homosexuality or to go on about what a horrible mother I think this woman is, but to discuss about how I may have gone a little overboard with my own little one's first birthday.  No chance I would forget this girl's special day a single time.

At the party, a friend said, "I think people just do those crazy parties so they can blog about them."  I don't know if our party was "crazy," but I'm blogging about it.  If you're bored by party-planning, just skim for the pictures or skip this one all together.  I'll post about the actual birthday goings-on soon.

Abby Goes to the Beach

...well, a little anyway.  Abby's first beach vacation was a little light on the "beach," but full of fun and excitement!

About a month ago, we took our annual Ulmes family vacation to the Outer Banks.

Abby went to the beach for the first time, and dipped her toes in the ocean.  She wasn't a big fan, as you can see below.  But my parents tell me that when I was a wee one, I was scared of the ocean, too.  A wave snuck up and startled me, and I was supposedly afraid of the ocean for years. I don't remember ever being afraid of the ocean, though, so I apparently got over it, and I'm sure Abby will, too.

This new adventure wore her out, though.

She had a little more fun playing in the warmer, more sedate tide pool a few days later.

This wore Abby out, too.

We didn't spend nearly as much time at the beach as we normally do.  The Ulmes don't like to go to the beach in the middle of the day to avoid the sun's cancer-causing rays.  However, Abby tended to take her naps before and after peak sun-time.  So, it was hard to sneak in beach time before dinner time and bedtime.  Abby did manage to stay up late enough one night for us to get some beautiful sunset pictures at the dock near our house.

We're looking forward to next year when Abby will be able to go down to the beach more and have even more fun playing!

Swimming, Swimming...

...in a swimming pool! 

When days are hot;

When days are cold;

In a swimming pool!

Breaststroke, side stroke,

Fancy diving, too!

Oh, wouldn't it be nice to have

Nothing else to do! 

That's just one of the many old Girl Scout songs we've been singing to Abby, and just two weeks ago, she got to actually go swimming!  I mean, as much as dipping a six-month old baby in a swimming pool counts as swimming.

Last summer, we had so much fun seeing our friends' daughter Daphne experience the pool for the first time.

Daphne loves the pool!

Abby is 13 months younger than Daphne, so she's almost the same age Daphne was at this time last year.  So, we were looking forward to Abby loving it just as much. Abby, on the other hand, was a little apprehensive.

Daphne, however, thinks it's even more fun this year.

She tried to give Abby a high-five for trying the pool, but seeing as how they are 19 months and 6 months old, respectively, it didn't quite pan out. "A" for effort, though.  Her heart was in the right place.

I wouldn't say Abby hated the pool, but she definitely wasn't the little water baby I was hoping for, like the one in this video:

Abby still needs to figure a few things out...like how to move in the water, hold her breath, etc.  But not too bad for her first time in!

Maybe next year.  She did warm up after awhile, and even had some smiles by the end!

We hope to see Baby K in the pool by the end of the summer!

Abby's First Nom

As I mentioned in the Father's Day post, another first for that weekend was Abby's first solid food.  Or, as I like to call it, "The Day the Diapers Changed."  Only they really didn't, because she hasn't really eaten anything.  Much, anyway.

We're trying something called Baby-Led Weaning, or BLW.  In this case, "weaning" doesn't mean "weaning off of breast milk," but rather "weaning onto food."  The idea is that babies can handle appropriately sized and prepared whole foods and don't need to be spoon-fed purees.  It's supposed to foster independence and adventurous eating because baby chooses what she wants to eat and figures out how to eat it.  Something about it intrigues me, so we're giving it a go.  We're supposed to start with finger-shaped fruits and vegetables, because babies can pick them up and still have a bit to eat sticking out of their little fists.

We decided to start with pieces of avocado.  Nice and soft, and mild-flavored.

Abby was all ready!

I don't think she knew quite what she was ready for, though!  She didn't really acknowledge anything in front of her, at first, so I tried handing it to her. She just squished it in her fist.  Kevin's mom offered Abby a piece on her finger, which Abby seemed to enjoy.  After wiping her own mouth (really!), she picked up a more solid piece of avocado and gnawed on it.  I don't know how much she really ended up eating, though - I was unable to detect any evidence in the diaper! But that doesn't mean that she didn't get any - she did get to taste it, at any rate.  And, for now, food is all about exploration for her.

Since then, we've tried steamed broccoli (good because it has a handle!), cucumber, banana, steamed asparagus, and boiled potato.  She's not terribly interested in any of it.  She just looks at us, clearly wondering what happened to the toys we used to keep on her high chair tray during meals.  She was perfectly happy to stick those in her mouth and gnaw on them, but regards the foods much more warily.  It takes a lot of encouragement - like putting the food in her hand and guiding it to her mouth - to get her to try it.  She has seemed to enjoy gnawing on cucumbers and potatoes, and licking banana goo.  

I keep reminding myself of the mantra, "Food before one is just for fun."  I can't wait until she gets more interested and eats more voraciously!

First Father's Day

Two weekends ago, we celebrated Kevin's first Father's Day.

Kevin's parents and brother came down.  It's always nice to have them visit, and they looove hanging out with Abby.

I texted this picture to Kevin, and his reaction? "Looks like Dad found the Murphy's!"

Abby's starting to distinguish between "Mommy" and "Daddy" and "Everyone Else," so it did take her a little bit to warm up to Grandma and Grandpa, this time.  She loves this little barking dog, though.  She had started to fake cough about a week earlier, and Grandpa swears that she fake coughs when the dog barks because she's trying to talk back to it.  Maybe!  And Grandma is certain that when she reads Moo Baa La La La that Abby sings along with the "la la la."  This is just one of the reasons why grandparents are awesome!

And, as far as fake coughing goes, Abby found it HILARIOUS when Grandpa fake coughed at her:

My favorite part is when Kevin tries it, and Abby just looks at him like, "What are you trying to do?" It's also great when she starts looking at Grandpa expectantly, her face asking,"Well?  Are you going to do it?"

Abby also tried her first solid food while the family was here!  That's a post for another time, though.  For the grown ups, Kevin's mom helped me make Pioneer Woman's Ribeye with Whiskey Cream Sauce.  Yum! The steak is done very simply, but the sauce is fantastic - and easy, too.  Abby just had some avocado - I hope she didn't feel cheated.

I, er, Abby got Kevin, his father, and his brother beautiful engraved pint glasses (you know, because none of them have enough pint glasses) that say "Dad," "Grandpa," and "Uncle" (respectively on each glass), "EST." and Abby's birth date.  I don't have a picture of the actual glasses, but I got them from Dustyroadgurl on Etsy.

From Dustyroadgurl's Etsy page

After Kevin's family had left, Abby gave one last Father's Day present - she sat without help for the first time!

She's getting to be such a big girl!  And sassy, too!

Definitely in a good way,