One Year Old

Anna Scott turned one year old on May 10th!  Scott and I loved celebrating her first birthday and the one year anniversary of the best day of our lives.  

The night before Anna Scott was born, Scott and I had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen.  It was the Monday after Mother's day, and we thought it would be one more week before our baby girl arrived.  Little did we know, she had different plans.  Anna Scott was born the next day (Tuesday, May 10th at 5:23 pm).  The picture above with her "12 months" sign was taken at exactly 5:23 pm - a year to the minute from when she was born.  Isn't it amazing how much they change in just one year?!  

Scott and I went back to CPK for dinner the night before Anna Scott's first birthday, this time with an almost one year old.  This was Scott's idea.  He thought it would be fun to make this a family tradition for years to come.  When she turns 10, 16, 21, and hopefully 50 years old, she will have to have dinner at CPK the night before her big day!  

Scott spent the rest of the night putting together Anna Scott's Radio Flyer wagon.  This was a gift from my grandmother (Anna Scott's GG), but we wanted it to be the big gift she woke up to on her actual birthday.  Scott and I created the wagon on the Radio Flyer website.  We chose the body, the wheels, the canopy, and named our wagon, "The Laney Rover."

On the morning of her birthday, Anna Scott woke up to a blueberry pancake breakfast and "The Birthday Song."  We must have sang the song at least 100 times that day.  She loved it and would hum along with us.  

After the blueberry pancakes were no more, we took her one pink balloon and put it on our mailbox so that everyone could see it was a special day at 104 Raleigh!  (in more ways than one...  it was my last day of medical school as well.  i will graduate this Sunday!)

Anna Scott was so excited about her wagon!  She didn't know what to think.

She did know to check the tires before relying on this wagon to carry her through the Birmingham Zoo.  :)

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The tires must have checked out ok, and we made it to the zoo for some birthday fun!

Anna Scott loved the water fountain best of all.  So much for all of the animals! 

She did enjoy watching the elephants,

the monkeys,

and especially the swans and flamingos!

She also got to see the giraffes and zebras.

This friendly lion took the birthday girl for a spin!

We ended our day at the zoo with a little splash pad fun.

Do we look like we'd had a long day?!  :)

We went home to rest for just a few hours and then met Aunt Allison and Uncle Alan for a birthday dinner at Jacksons.  Anna Scott got an extra fun baby pool (with a slide!) and a birthday cupcake for dessert.  

  

We had the best day!  First birthdays are so much fun!

...

May 10, 2011

May 10, 2012

One whole year of loving you!

Happy 1st Birthday

Happy 1st Birthday

to YOU!!!

Happy 1st Birthday 

to YOU!!!

Happy 1st Birthday 

Dear Anna Scott...

Happy 1st Birthday to YOU!!!

Anna Scott is ONE year old today!

jlaurenphotography

last one before she's ONE

Anna Scott will turn one year old this Thursday, May 10th.  We are excited about celebrating her first birthday!  Until then, here is a quick update.  Scott and I agree that parenthood gets better everyday.  Life is so much fun!  Scott often says (jokingly of course), "It's been real.  It's been fun.  But, it hasn't been real fun."  :)  Well, the past year has been real fun, and we have only just begun.

Anna Scott actually puckers to kiss now, and kissing her little lips is the sweetest thing I've ever felt.  She kisses everything.  She even tries to kiss herself through her nursery mirror.  :)  She loves to throw things down for us to pick up.  This has become a game.  She is also into pitching everything out of her play pen.  Just the other day, I was putting away some folded clothes.  When I came back, she had thrown everything out of her pen except for her music table (which is a bit heavy).  

She loves to throw her arms up when we yell "Yay!"  If she is in the right mood, she will hold up one finger when asked how old she is.  Click HERE for a video.  She holds the phone up to her ear when I say "Hello!"  She has started clapping along with songs or music or "pat-a-cake."  She can also put on a show when dancing.  I hope to catch this on video soon.

She is starting to make word associations.  "Bye-bye" was the first word she said in context.  She knows that Scott is "Dada" and I am "Mama."  One day last week, when Scott got home from work,  she looked at him, grinned SO big, and squealed "Hey Dada!"  Made our day.  She tries to say "outside" when we go outside or she looks out a window (though it doesn't sound a lot like "outside").  She has also said "bath," "wa" for water, "dodo" for doggy, "papa," "la-la" for her stuffed animal named Lucky, "du" for her rubber ducky, and "bite" (the child loves to eat).  She says what sounds like "this" a lot when she is just looking at/examining an object. 

 I know I have said this before, but Anna Scott is so observant.  She doesn't miss anything!  She attended her first basketball game (our cousin played in Birmingham this weekend), and she watched the entire game without taking her eye off of the ball.  She would watch the ball from the players' hands to the goal.  She was fascinated.  Maybe she will love sports just as much as her mama and daddy.  I hope so.  She is cutting her eighth tooth right now and loves to eat anything we will feed her.  She is taking whole milk (from both the bottle and sippy cup).  She still naps twice a day and sleeps well through the night.  Anna Scott is a very HAPPY baby!

(most of the time)

She is a sweet baby (most of the time) as well.  I took our dog Hobie to be groomed last week.  Anna Scott and I went to pick him up, and I put him in the back seat with her so that they could keep each other company.  I had been driving for about 5 minutes when I looked in the back to check on them.  Hobie was sitting as close to her carseat as possible, and she had her hand over the edge of her seat, rubbing his ear back and forth.  She did this the whole way home.  If I took pictures while driving, there would be one to go along with this story, but thankfully I do not.  

Here are more photos from the past month...

I can't believe it has been almost a year since she was born.  I can't believe that the tiny, helpless baby I held in my arms just one year ago can do all of the things I mentioned above.  I can't believe that in just one year, I have gone from waiting anxiously to see her sweet face to knowing every little thing about her.  It has been the best year of my life.  Thank you Lord for this precious gift.  My cup runneth over. 

My Best Friend's Wedding

Allison and Alan were married on Saturday, April 14, 2012.  It was the most amazing, most breathtaking, most beautiful weekend I have ever witnessed.  Everything - the music, the weather, the bride, the groom, the vows, the colors, the flowers - everything was perfect.  Music is something that cannot be photographed, yet is dear to my heart.  Music at the rehearsal dinner was provided by The Lamb Family Violin Ensemble.  One special touch was the violins playing along with the song, "Lighthouse."  This was the song I used as background music to my blog post of Allison and Alan's engagement story.  The band "Second Coming" provided the music at the reception, to which we danced the night away.  My dad wrote the music and words to a song he played and sang for Allison during the reception.  Such a beautiful moment.  Music at the wedding was provided by a string quartet, with the addition of trumpet for the entrance of the bride.  The vocalists were Linda and Michael Adler (minister of music at Shades Mountain Baptist Church).  I have never heard "The Prayer" sung more beautifully.  The song below was sung as the grandmothers and mothers were seated.

"My Beloved"

I took many snapshots during the weekend's festivities.  Click HERE to view the album.  It includes pictures from the bridesmaids' luncheon, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and wedding day.  You can also click HERE to view Allison's bridal portraits taken at the Ceases' lovely home.

Allison and Alan are home from their honeymoon in St. Lucia and living happily ever after!