It seems like this past year has gone by so, extremely fast. Yet somehow, I feel like we've been a family forever. What a great year this has been! On August 19th, Sophia officially became a toddler.

After being a little worried that Sophia wasn't hitting any milestones like she should be, the last month and a half she's been hitting them all together! I know every baby is different, but I was most concerned why Sophia hadn't started crawling yet? She learned to crawl around 10.5 months, and by 11 months was walking along every wall in the house. She also started dancing when she hears music, and cut her first tooth this week. 

Here are a few pictures from when we were living at my dad's, waiting to close on our new house. Sophia especially loved getting into Papa's plants. :)

      

 

 

Speaking of my dad... Wow! How awesome is he? We lived with him for a little over 6 weeks. Not that we're very messy, but let me tell you, my dad is clean. He likes the kitchen clean, his bedroom clean, bed made, washes every dish right after its used - clean. Poor dad. There were always dishes in the sink, crumbs under Sophia's high chair, toys strung out in every room, crying baby in the middle of the night.. and the list could go on. But he never seemed to mind. Infact, I think he liked having us there. ;) I know I enjoyed it. Micah-Ray also enjoyed seeing Sophia so often. Why don't families live together any more? And hey, dad always offered to watch Sophia. I thought it was great! Aaron didn't seem to mind too much either. Although, I'm sure he likes having his own space again. I guess I do, too.

Here's a picture dad snapped of us the day we closed on our house. How exciting!

I'm so incredibly proud of my husband. Going from being just a single guy, doing what he pleases, to married with a baby all in a month, he's done awesome! I don't think I've ever met anyone as patient as Aaron. He has been such an amazing help with Sophia. Every day. And I love the attention, and affection he continually gives her.

He's the Aquatic Coordinator at the YMCA, and has been working hard this summer. Lots of 10+ hour days. He is about to be gone for three weekends in a row. I forgot exactlly what he'll be certified as, but the Y is sending him to Dallas to get some certifications that he can use at our Y. I want to say it's to be able to certify his own lifeguards, instead of the Y hiring someone to do it for them, and maybe a certification to where he can certify all the staff for CPR or something? Anyway, go Aaron!

Oh, and speaking of his weekends away, guess who is going with him one of those weekends? Alone?! Yep, you guessed it. Me and Aaron are going to Dallas for 3 days/2 nights, without Sophia. What?! Yes. My mom offered to keep Sophia those days while we take a trip for ourselves... That the Y is actually paying for... haha. I'll just be bored while he's gone during the day each day. Maybe I'll bring my sewing machine. Or go shopping. Heh. Anyway, we've never really done anything together without Sophia, so this is huge! To me, at least.


So we're all moved into our house. Yay! When we figured out the closing date (August 15th), I had this bright idea that we should have Sophia's first birthday party at our house (Aust 19th). Well, that was a little crazy. But we did end up having it here on the 24th.

Sophia was immediately attracted to all the window sills. They're the perfect height for her to stand and play on.

 



Dad helped babysit Sophia many times, while mom helped me paint. And let me just brag on my mom for a minute...

I don't even know how many hours of painting my mom did for us, but it was a LOT!

 

Well, I tried to make these pictures a little smaller so they'd be closer together, but I can't figure it out. Basically, my mom did trim/painted two coats to all of this. Not to mention, she helped paint the kitchen, and bathroom. Thank you, mom!!

I'd love to post more pictures of the house, because I love our house, but that'll have to be another time.

Sophia's first birthday party went well. It's not often that Aaron's side and my side of the family get see each other, so that was fun. Sophia woke up from a nap not feeling well, and was kind of cranky for the first part of her party. I mean, if this next picture doesn't say enough, I don't know what will.

 

Haha, poor baby Soph.

 

 

But after she got a little bit of cupcake in her (which wasn't nearly as fun as I thought it'd be), and started opening presents, she perked right up!

 

 

 

 

By the end of the night, Sophie was left sitting in a big pile of presents. She was so sweet, playing with all her new toys. Now we just need to figure out how to fit them all in her room!