I wouldn't change a thing about this girl's daddy. He takes such good care of us and we love him so.

Next week Juliet will be 11 months old. For the past few weeks I have been mentally planning her first birthday. Although it will be just a small family affair, it has preoccupied my time. I have loved gathering ideas and imagining her blowing out her first birthday cake candle.

But today I felt overwhelmed with the thought of our sweet girl turning one year old. I don't know where the time has gone. Is this how parents feel on graduation day or when their children get married? Although these are some of the most joyous occasions in our lives I don't want to ever feel as if it has all gone too quickly.

Perhaps it is too hard for me to imagine her being so independent and grown, but lately watching her mature and change makes me feel as if I need to hold on to every moment.  I don't want to ever forget how intent she is as she combs through a magazine, how she plays with her with stuffed animals now, or her open-mouth-excited look every time we take her out the carseat.

While part of me feels that these are the best moments in our lives, I know that there are many still to come and that this really is just the beginning. And as B would say, she is only a baby.

I love her so.

My little darling wasn't very interested in napping for very long this morning. Instead she walked around her crib and made my play kisses with little lamb, and how do you say no to that?

J loves her daddy and bright yellow softballs. I sure hope she wants to try playing softball like her mommy someday.

I guess it was time to clean out my wallet anyways.

My Grandma has loved Annie for as long as I can remember. In her Alki house she had an Annie light switch cover that I just adored. She also had (and still has in her apartment now) and Annie telephone. But of all her Annie memorabilia I think my favorite were the Annie linens. When we got to stay the night we picked out a pillow case, washcloth and towel from her hundreds of linens. I always picked the Annie ones. It makes my heart flutter to see her passing her love for Annie on to my own daughter.

I turned my back for 10 seconds to put some plates in the cupboard and when I looked back there was a baby chillin' in the dishwasher. I guess I can add unloading the dishwasher to the things-I-can't-do-while-Juliet-is-awake list.

One of the first social outings for Juliet when she was just an infant was a walk around Green Lake with her buddy, Mason. And today we finally took them out of their strollers and had a little picnic at the park. It is amazing that J and all her little friends are about to turn one year old. Time is flying!

We are slow walkers (we got passed by someone pushing a wheelchair), but today we were really slow. Like almost 4 hours to get around the lake slow, but it was fun!

I am so excited because I just purchased some cute photo booth props for Juliet's first birthday! (And by photo booth I mean me behind a camera snap, snap, snapping away.) I want to have some element of surprise, but here is a little hint from the seller's site. :)

Etsy seller Little Retreats

We signed Juliet up for a gym class at Little Gym this summer and she loves it. Once a week she gets to sing, practice walking along the balance beam, jump on a giant trampoline, hang from the bars, learn to somersault, socialize, etc. It is one of my favorite activities for her too. Plus, it is an intense upper body workout for me. :)

Here she is practicing some little bar skills. They actually have the real double bars, but those require quite a bit of spotting on my part. Isn't she adorable on those bars!

At the close of class we sing a goodbye song and the teacher blows bubbles. Definitely one of J's favorite parts.

J was a bit of a naughty girl during story time class yesterday. First, she charged the teacher when she began class and proceeded to pat her shoes. When she did come back to the circle she insisted on talking with her neighbor. He was a very attentive young man, so he ignored her. When he did not respond she turned to her other neighbor and attempted to play with her hair.
Here she is attempting to get her neighbor's attention while the teacher wasn't looking.

I guess since all her schoolmates were engaged with the sing-a-long and did not want to play, Juliet decided to ditch class. Once she busted out of the room she roamed the library halls banging on doors and windows.

Here she attempting to sneak into the boys' restroom.

All this banging and yelling seemed to work because a little friend also snuck out of class and then the two of them crawled raced through the halls together until we caught them at the fire escape door. I am not even kidding. We have our gym class today and I am hoping for a little more attentiveness from this little one. 

Of course this post is all in good fun. I do not think for a moment that our angel is naughty in any way. :) 

Why, hello there.  I would say that about 75 percent of our life right now consists of this excited-open-mouth expression. And if we are really excited there is some panting right along with it.

teepees and tents

It is has begun. I am obsessed (more like addicted) to teepees and tents. They are popping up all over pinterest and the blogging world and now I don't know how we can have a playroom without one because they are so adorable. And I can't. stop. thinking about them. I can just picture J playing in one because she loves to hang out under the dining room table. (And yes, Brian, there is room. I have a plan.)

When I posted our playroom list I included a DIY tent, but there are sooo many that are calling my name.



Momincdaily via Pinterest

Etsy seller moozlehome

An angel at my table via Happinessiseva

Designsponge via Pinterest

Aren't they cute!?

Shut the front door!!! Our daughter now likes food! That is right, folks, we have an eater. This here is evidence of J eating raspberries all on her own (and smearing them all over herself, the floor and the wall while I unpacked the groceries). Last night it was some BBQ chicken and today it was pasta and raspberries. Mind you her portions are tiny, but she is willing to try some new food!  I might cry. And I can tell you that I have never been so excited to clean food off of walls. Seriously.

If you were to walk into my house at any given moment the probabily that my daughter would look like this (attempting to climb up my legs) is very high.

J had a quite a lovely conversation going last night with Daddy.

If only my daughter ate food with the same enthusiasm she has for drinking water.

playroom

We are getting ready to revamp the office/guest room into a playroom. We will still keep the fold out couch for guests, but all the office furniture is being sold or moved. (Yes, B I we have a plan.) I've been accumulating some ideas for J's playroom over on pinterest (seriously addicting), but here are the must haves so far.

A retro play kitchen (most likely her birthday present).



Kidcraft from Amazon



Chevron rug from Urban Outfitters



Giant world map from Ikea



DIY teepee (Although I am not sure we have enough room for this, but a girl can dream!)



A Svan play table. I found this way back in November and joked (sort of) about getting it for a Christmas present, but J was just too little. I am so happy I waited because I found the same table with a dark stain and it is still on sale! Hollar!

And of course storage, but I haven't even begun to finish brainstorming that one. And I love me some organization!

bedhead

J's hair is getting longer which means her all natural mohawk has almost all but disappeared. Today, however, she did wake up with some awesome bedhead.

And just for kicks here are a couple old ones that show a bit of her baby mohawk.

behind the scenes

I recruited my photo assistance to help out with the 10 month photo, but even with some (reluctant) help it was a bit of a challenge. (Just kidding, helper. Sort of.)
Numerous props were needed for this shoot. First off was our favorite toy. A wet washcloth.

Lately J has really been into giving us her toys to chew on or feeding us her food. She really wanted Daddy to bite on her washcloth.

 I even had to resort to using the forbidden camera lens, but then I couldn't get it out of her mouth.

And we're done. This is how J gets down from chairs that we sit her on, so as you can imagine she can never be out of our reach.

10 months

Finally, her 10 month update!

On the 4th of July we also celebrated our little love's 10 month birthday. There really isn't a way to explain how I feel about her being two months away from turning one besides bafflement. Although the time has flown by, she can do so many things that she couldn't do last month or even last week. Right now clapping, crawling, opening and closing doors and cupboards, making sweet little sounds to dogs and other passing children, and knocking down towers we build make her the happiest. 

There is something to be said about her life right now knowing that she is doing exactly what she is supposed to. There aren't complications, hurdles or road blocks, just love, joy and learning. I don't know how long we get to remain on this road, but I hope wherever life takes her that she always has at least a glimmer of this innocence and the knowledge that she is so loved.

Happy 10 months sweet girl!

9 months

8 months

7 months

6 months

5 months

4 months



3 months

2 months

1 month