Lily's 1st Birthday-Monkey Theme

On March 31, 2012, we celebrated Lily's 1st Birthday Party. We had such a great time. I definitely couldn't have done it without my friend Amy. She is so amazing. She helped me plan and make decisions. She searched for ideas, helped pick up supplies, and helped me make decorations and set up. She is awesome. I couldn't ask for a better friend.

We had a great turn out. Our family and close friends made Lily's party the best. Although she was asleep for the first part of it, she really did enjoy seeing everyone. I think she liked that everyone was there for her and everyone was watching her. Totally different than Kiley.

Here are some pictures of how we set up the party.

I ordered this from etsy.com. It turned out so cute and now I have them in her room as a decoration. I figured I could eventually take off the stakes and add them to her memory book.

 We filled the tin holder with jelly beans to help keep the stakes to stay in place. My friend Amy and I made the puff balls on the sides.

My friend had the great idea to have lilies as another decoration. This was perfect since my favorite flowers are lilies and her name is Lily.

 I set this up on the gift table. My friend found the picture frame at Target and I got the dog for everyone to sign at Party City.

Candy Bar with the picture next to it.

Picture up close. Love the frame.

Lily in the tutu I made her. It was a lot easier than I thought. The onesie was custom made by collectionsbytaranicole.blogspot.com. It turned out better than I hoped with attention to details and great quality. 

Lily's smash cake!!

For another added decoration, I put up monthly pictures of Lily. It really showed how much she has grown and changed. I thought it really added that personalization I was looking for at a very inexpensive price.

The cake and candy bar! 

 The big cake! YUM! I love Publix cake.

 Me and my baby girl.

 Lily's birthday gift was her very own big girl chair. She was so excited and LOVED it.

 Lily being silly in her new chair and opening her gifts.

Lily Tidbits
She has taken a couple of steps but isn't fully walking yet. She has said mama, dada, ellie, IE for Kiley, and uh oh but nothing really consistently. They say that she says bye bye at school but I haven't heard her. she can wave but doesn't do it very often. She has only 2 bottom teeth but has 4 top ones coming in all at the same time. She loves to laugh and be thrown in the air. She sleeps from about 7:30 p.m. to 7:30 am. We are about to wean her off her bottle and I hope it goes well. She doesn't really watch tv and loves to be held. One of her favorite things to do is be chased by Kiley or chase Kiley while I am holding her. She really is an amazing little girl.

I'm going to post this with the hopes of finishing it adding the pictures soon.

A visit to the Aquarium

Kiley has been asking to go the Georgia Aquarium so we decided to surprise her and take her today. She was so happy when she saw the building. She LOVED it. Her eyes just lit up when she saw the big tanks and all the different types of marine life. I was proud of her for trying to touch the baby bonnet head sharks and actually touching a sea anemone. Her favorite part was crawling under the penguin exhibit. She did it 3 times and would have done it more if she could.
Lily was a little squirmy at first. She wanted to crawl around and explore. I guess that is no surprise for a 1 year old. She calmed down after we fed her and then the rest of the trip was great.
It was such a wonderful family day!

Kiley in the car when we parked.

On the way in.

She loved the jelly fish.

 She is so fascinated!

Me and my sweet girl. She wasn't happy that we stopped for a picture.

1st time in the penguin crawl!

Riding under the big aquarium with daddy.

Again, not happy to stop for a picture.

Getting silly with mommy.

Penguins the 3rd time through.

My two very tired girls fell asleep within minutes of getting in the car. It was a nice, quite ride home.

What a great Saturday. I love my family!

Photo Shoot

My friend from work Melissa, is starting her photography business, Melissa Gaffney Studios, and wanted to get some pictures of kids for her portfolio so we went to her house. She was so great and patient, which was definitely needed with a 1 and 4 year old. She took beautiful pictures of the girls and family. Of course, we forgot about the time change so the light wasn't as good as it normally is and Lily wouldn't really smile for anything. I always brag about how happy of a baby she is but of course, she wouldn't do it when needed.

Kiley loved having her picture taken. I was a little surprised but she was working it.

We got a few Easter pictures too.

Lily wasn't quite sure about the cake at first, but after a few tastes, she loved it. Of course, not much smiling though. She was really concentrating on eating the cake.

Pictures of the family! These turned out pretty well. It is so much harder to get a good family picture when there are two kids you're trying get to smile at the same time.