First first birthday party

This weekend was Kaelyn's FIRST first birthday part at my parents house over in Iowa. She had a little bit of a rough day, really. We went to my niece's soccer game in the morning and Kaelyn had a great morning and a nice long nap before that. But she just wasn't herself at the game. She wouldn't eat much of the lunch I brought for her (sweet potatoes as always), she wouldn't let me set her down to run around, she wouldn't let me sit down, she just wasn't a happy camper. Once we got back to my parents house that "fun" continued. I don't know what her deal was but she wasn't happy at all. She just cried and cried and was real cuddly with me. Again she wouldn't let me put her down, she wouldn't do ANYTHING. She wouldn't eat her 2pm snack so I let her nurse. That made her happy for the time being. And after her nap she was back to her old self again.

Luckily the party wasn't until late afternoon! AFTER the nap that seemed to cure Kaelyn of her weird mood. Maybe teeth? Who knows! Anyways, Sean and my dad went golfing after the soccer party and got home by 3:30 and my sister and her husband and kids arrived just after Kaelyn got up from her nap after 4 so that worked out well. My dad paid my niece and nephew a nickel a pine cone to pick up the hundreds of pine cones in the yard. He was out quite a bit of money! We played outside awhile then Kaelyn opened her presents on the covered porch.

My sister and family got Kaelyn a turtle sand box! I can only imagine the fun (and the mess!) she will have in that once we get sand for it! MY niece and nephew also made very sparkly cards with lots of holes punched in them for Kaelyn to put her finger in! :) And my niece made her a pixo bee. Which she carried around and played with for MUCH of the weekend. IT's already been repaired three times due to the love it has received!

My parents gave Kaelyn a white rocking chair to match the two we have on our front porch. She sits in it at times, but prefers to rock it at this point! They also gave her a blow up pool (again, imagine the fun we will have in that once it warms up for good!) a swimsuit and cover up, some clothes, a Hawkeye cheerleading outfit (which Sean plans to have her wear while holding a GO NEBRASKA sign!), an Elmo potty training book that makes sounds (which she pushed over and over again!!), some Skippy Jon Jones board books, and a musical teapot set that came with two cups and plastic treats (she has been dancing to the songs from the teapot constantly and carrying around the round plastic treat.)

I think Kaelyn made out pretty well for her first first birthday party! We then had hamburgers on the grill and out came the cake! Two cakes, actually, one chocolate with chocolate, the other funfetti white with white. I blew out the candles for her and she managed to get a finger into the icing before they got the cakes away to cut them! We gave her a small piece of each and let her have at it! She mooshed those things around until they were paste! It was like a chunky mud on her hands or something! No, she didn't put any in her mouth, but she let ME put some in her mouth and didn't mind it! She pretty much gags on all foods I try and will only allow ONE bite before pushing me away. But this...not so bad! :)

Luckily, Kaelyn likes to play in water so I got a big bowl of water and let her dip her hands around in it to get off all the goo. That worked well. We played longer outside and that was that for her first first birthday party! This coming weekend will bring her SECOND first birthday party with Sean's parents at our house!

Another milestone, Kaelyn started putting things in her mouth! ONLY her snacks after her nap and only when I hand them to her one at a time in the palm of my hand. For weeks I've been putting them in her hand and shoving it up to her mouth. She's finally getting the idea! But if she takes a snack herself she'll just play with it or toss it. And she hasn't put anything ELSE in her mouth. Which is good since she likes to play with the rocks out front and other strange things! It's exciting that she's getting the picture about the food, though. Maybe there IS hope for her feeding herself someday! Next stop...getting her to eat foods other than baby stuff!!

She did really well sleeping at my parents house, but she started getting up earlier and earlier each morning. Our first night at home she got up at 5:30am and I couldn't get her back to sleep! Her morning nap is stretching longer, probably due to that early rising! I'm okay with that since that means I can get things done now that I usually do before she gets up in the morning.

I still can't believe she's almost a year old. Less than two weeks away!