Grant's First Birthday

Grant turned one on August 26th. We had a little celebration for him at our house with a few family and close friends.  He has changed so much over the past year, and I find myself wanting to high five Dan in celebration that we actually survived his first year!

Prior to his birthday party, we had our photographer, Sandy, take some pictures of us all.  She was so kind to bake Grant a cake so we could get some pictures of him smashing it to pieces.  Here's a look at what we got.

My sweet babies

The photographer warned me about the cake smash portion of the photo shoot.  She told me that most boys hate the frosting, and most girls love it, making a huge mess.  I was sure Grant would get down to business with this delicious looking cake, but I was wrong!  He wouldn't touch it, let alone look at it without my prompting.  I put his hand in it and it was all over.  He started crying and reaching for me (with frosting on his hands now), so I thought maybe he needs a taste of it.  Nope, even worse! After a few attempts to change his mind, we gave in and gave him a bath...

If you look really close, you can see the disgust on his face

He looks like such a big boy in this photo!

"Maybe if I stay really far away and just poke it, I will be fine"

We got a cute photo when he happened to stick his foot out of the tub.  Sandy luckily snapped a quick photo as he did this, and he promptly took his foot back in the tub.  Fearing she didn't get the shot, I propped his foot back out of the tub and he was not a fan!  Hence, the crying shot following the perfect shot.

Poor guy!

Fast forward a week to Grant's birthday party.  Somehow I thought I might be able to convince him that he liked frosting over the course of 8 days.  Of course I ordered him a birthday cake, and our grocery store offers a free smash cake for all first birthday orders.  I took them up on the offer and crossed my fingers that he would magically like it.  Anyways, he has a big sister that looooves frosting, so I wasn't worried, especially since it was a freebie.  Here are a few shots from the party and the days surrounding it.

Happy Birthday Boy!

Grandma and Grandpa got Grant a new picnic table!

Grant mellowed out and is so fun at one year old!  Of course he's tall and above average for weight as well.  He only has two teeth and was only army crawling at his first birthday.  He loves his family and also being outside.  He has a thing for his Grandpa Swartz, I guess twins have to stick together!!  His first word was "Dada" and I think sometimes I can get him to say "Mama".  He really loves being around his sister, especially when she has food.  He usually "yells" at her until she gives his a taste of whatever she has.  Grant is taking two naps a day, and does a good job of sleeping through the night.  We read books before bedtime and he's gotten really good at turning the pages, and recognizes a few of the animals in the books we read.

He still loves pointing at everything!

Don't let that face fool you, we all know what happens next!

The little hands surrounding the high chair helped with the frosting! :)

A quick switch of the cake for a brownie made everything better!

Nailed it with the brownie!

Who invited the clowns!?

A chill birthday boy

We had a wonderful day with our friends and family.  Grandma and Grandpa Swartz were there as well as Grandma Elaine!  We're so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives.

Love,

The Yorks

Sophie is ONE!

Sophie is 1 year old!  I can't believe how time has flown by!  This has been a year of joy and love in meeting our baby girl on March 28th, 2012 at 9:19 pm and getting to know her and love her more and more each and every day since.  Learning new things about her, seeing her learn new things about her world and the people around her.  It's been a year of sleeplessness, worry, and doubt in our ability to be the best parents we can be, doing the best thing for our girl.  From learning to sit, stand, and cruise, to smiling, laughing, and babbling, there has been so much change in this little girls life, it's hard to imagine it's only been a year.

Love this face!

Such an inquisitive look

Supervised play with the Advil bottle :)

As we celebrated her first birthday back home with family and friends, along with her baptism, it was a day full of emotion and excitement!  I played the moment out in my mind, when we would sing "Happy Birthday" to her, over and over again.  I could just see tears streaming down my face as I was struggling to get the words out.  Either that or an enthusiastic high five to Dan as we congratulated ourselves on surviving one year with a baby.  (Hats off to Mrs. Dugger, famous mom to "19 Kids and Counting"... how does she do it?)  When the moment came, however, I felt calm yet excited (and maybe a little bit nervous that Sophie would burst into tears when we plopped a cake in front of her to eat).  I did get a little choked up during the first few lines of the song, but managed to swallow it down when Sophie started clapping for herself as everyone sang to her.

Her day started with being baptised at her daddy's church in Indiana.  Family and friends gathered as Father Michael lead the ceremony.  Sophie was a good girl, pointing at all of her on-lookers and babbling at them a little towards the end.  She was so calm as I laid her back for him to pour the water over her head, I heard her Grandma Elaine state, "Well, she really does enjoy her bath time!"  My friend Melissa and Dan's cousin Jeff were appointed as Sophie's godparents.  Lot's of pictures followed the baptism, then we were off to the birthday party!

Our little girl, ready for her big day!

Sophie's Godparents Melissa and Jeff

Grandma and Grandma!

Cousin Ella and Cousin Cate

So lucky to celebrate with FOUR generations!
Great Grandma Ardis, Sophie, Mommy, Grandpa Bob!

Grandma Cindy made this beautiful dress!

Sophie: "How do I look??"
Sophie chillin' with her Aunties! (and Grandma)

Thank goodness I had so much help from everyone in planning and getting her party together!  I'm not sure this could have happened if I were to do it on my own.  Our little girl must have known something exciting was coming her way since she basically skipped her morning nap.  Everyone was so thrilled to see her at her party, it was a rare occurence when she was crawling around on her own!  She enjoyed smashing up her cupcake, while trying a few bites of it, and was angry when I took her away from it to open up presents.  Wow!  There were a lot of presents, this little girl is so loved by her friends and family!  Grandma Cindy was in charge of packing up all the presents to ship down to Florida.  We are awaiting 3 big boxes of toys and clothes!  It will be like having a birthday all over again!

Cute "tu tu" butt

Birthday banner I made for the party



Actually tried some yummy cake!



Cupcakes from Uncle John and Aunt Donna

Sophie's cupcake!

Great Grandma Ardis



Aunt Donna, Cousin Cate, and Uncle John



Fun with Grandpa and peeps!!

Time for presents!

Great Grandma Doris was not able to make it to the party, so we brought the party to her!  We visited Grandma at her "home" in Francesville, IN.  When we walked in her eyes lit up at the sight of Sophie!  She held her on her lap for quite awhile, and laughed many times at Sophie's simple yet entertaining antics.  They even looked at a magazine about birds together, with Sophie showing Great Grandma the sign for "bird".  It was extra special that Grandma took us to see the aviary in the common room.  There were many little birds tweeting and flying around for us all to enjoy.  Of course we managed to snap a "generations" photo!

Hanging out with Great Grandma!

Unfortunately, we all came home with a cold.  Sophie is a resilient little girl and it didn't seem to bother her very much.  Mommy and Daddy on the other hand may need someone to come and take care of them.  Attempting to interact with a one year old while under the weather is pretty interesting.  Thank goodness Sophie thinks that a Mommy or Daddy laying on the floor in her room is enjoyable and laughable.  Climbing on us, poking at our face, and pulling on our hair are all fascinating activities for a one year old with sick parents.  We all seem to be on the mend however, just in time for some beautiful spring Florida weather.

We're looking forward to another year full of fun, excitement, and surprises with our little Sophie!  Can't wait to continue sharing all of the great things our life has to bring!

With Love,
Dan, Jess, our ONE year old Sophie (!!), and Lucy