Saylor's 1st BIRTHDAY!!

One!!  My sweet Saylor girl is ONE already!!  She turned 1 on Friday, February 22, 2012.  We had a small, but decked out in pink party with just family (since Say and Roman are 7 days apart we had 2 back to back birthday parties AT our house...what was I thinking?! They both turned out awesome and it was so much fun!).  

THURSDAY, 2/21/12 BIRTHDAY AT GRANDMA FAYE & GRANDPA ROBERT'S

Every Thursday we try and make it to lunch at Mike's parents house, Grandma Faye & Grandpa Robert's.  It's a great way for them to see the kids and it's also great to celebrate birthdays so they can be part of it!  (We celebrate A LOT of birthdays between the 12 or so people that come...which may be why my kids are so obsessed with birthday cake!).  

 Grandpa Mike holding Say before she blows out her 1 candle :)

 Mike, Deb, Darrell, Robert & Faye

 All the kids...the boys LOVE to blow out candles!

 Happy Birthday Saylor!

 She's quick and got a swipe of the icing

 "It's my party and I can cry if I want to..."

 Now I'm happy!  Here's my cake that Aidan cut me :)

 He's such a big boy now...he loves to cut the cake...

 and this little guy is so big now too!  Next week he'll be THREE!

 Saylor's thinking, "huh...cake...not a fan...where is my mommy to spoon feed me?"

 Roman CANNOT believe that Saylor is not eating her cake!  Roman is definitely my child...a dessert lover (anyone who knows me knows I can kick back some cake & truffles!), so Roman attempts to feed her icing...

 she rejects but persistence is key in this situation...

 maybe if he puts the icing in her eye she'd like it better...

 at this point she has had enough!!  Wish there was sound to this picture...you can use your imagination ;)

 Deb (Mike's sister) and Grandma Faye with the birthday girl!

 Deb & Darrell giving Say her present!  

 Cute boys :) They love going over there on Thursdays to see everyone!  Deb with all the kids :)

 This is a picture of our life.  Boys wrestling and Saylor crawling to safety...

SAYLOR'S FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY!! 2/23/12

 Her cute invitation!  We had her party at our house and went with her (my!) favorite colors...pink, bright blue and a little green

 Her decorations: poms with mason jars hanging filled with dum dums

 The kids couldn't wait to get those dum dums out ;)

 Happy 1st Birthday Saylor banner!  Josh spent 10,000 hours cutting out all those circles...what a dad :)

 I made her tutu around her highchair...but I definitely ordered that hat! Etsy is my friend, and Josh's enemy :)

 The spread

 pink straws of course :)

 Sweet tea with lemonade ice cubes

 My sweet, sweet friend Cynthia made Saylor's cake!  It's made from scratch and it was strawberry...absolutely amazing!  She also made her shirt so her cake & birthday shirt matched :)

 The other banner that said SAYLOR...this one only took Josh 4,000 hours to cut ;)  Love you babe!

 Daddy and his baby girl!  They look so much alike! Did I mention her first real word was "dada"...figures

 I love giving her kisses!  She'll now kiss me back...it's so sweet (usually a wet kiss full of saliva & snot...but since she's mine I love it :)

 Uncle Tommy!!!  

 Uncle Kyle, Aunt Bethany and her best friend Kensi (coming soon) 

 "Look Nana, we both have necklaces on!"

 Nana and her blue-eyed baby

 Her cute shirt...best pic I could get...it matched her cake :)

 Grandpa and his boys

 She was really excited to get straight to the gifts...especially after seeing the super cute Minnie scooter that Aunt Em got her!

 I love that she's a pink explosion of tulle and fabric! 

 Happy 1st Birthday sweet Say!

 Aidan, Benjamin and Roman...these boys are best buds!

 Her first baby doll!

 Aunt Deb and the birthday girl

 crazy child of mine

 The guys...Kyle, Steve & Tommy

 Sarah & Bethany!  Steve & Sarah were the only non-family we invited because they have a special relationship with Saylor.  We met them right before I had Roman, so when I was pregnant with Saylor they were her prayer warriors.  I mean that with every ounce of my being.  We love them so much because of the fellowship we have with them, but mainly because they are woven into our testimony.  When we were going through a really hard time a few years ago, God placed them in our lives as a light shining on Jesus and since then our lives have dramatically changed.  We're so thankful that the Lord sent them to us and used them as vessels to bring us to Him.  They are faithful servants to the Lord and are precious disciples and friends to us.  So I know that when they said they prayed for Saylor, they were on their knees praying.  That's a friendship that you can only have through Jesus Christ.  

 Ok, now that I did my little rant...back to cute pictures!  Say about to blow out her candles!

 Yes, the cake is larger than her!!  I was going to make her her own little cake, but after her first cake experience over at Faye & Roberts, I realized there was no point...she wasn't going to touch it!

 Singing Happy 1st Birthday!

 So happy!

 My sweet babies

 The aftermath of the cake...not too much went on...she proceeded to shove the cake off her tray because she didn't want it near her, and in the process got some cake on her hand, which got in her hair and everywhere else!  So at least she made somewhat of a mess!

 This looks safe...

 She loves her Minnie!

 And Roman loves pushing her!

 I can't get over how CUTE she is!!  I loved that tutu!

 Opening gifts

 Aunt Em with all 3!  I must say I am JEALOUS of this picture! I might super-impose my face in there lol!!

 Em with Nima!  

SAYLOR'S PARTY AT GREAT GRANDS 2/24/12

Every Sunday we go over to Cathy's parents' house to eat a late lunch after church (now it's just Granddaddy since Grandmama went home with Jesus this past December).  

 Grandma and Saylor girl (she still loves to suck on those fingers)!  So Cathy & Mike watched all 3 kids a few days ago and that night Saylor got sick with pink eye...so guess who else got pink eye?  YES I got Cathy sick too!  She was so sick that she had to miss Saylor's birthday party at our house!  I felt horrible!

 But I was so glad that she felt better so she could be there on Sunday!

 How cute is this girl?  Love dressing her up...especially the necklaces & bows!

 push-ups...these apparently aren't working because Say's a chunk!

 Happy Birthday Saylor!!!

This past year went by quickly and a lot of things changed.  Since Saylor was born we sold the house she came home to and bought a new one all by the time she was 6 months old.  She's been a HUGE blessing to our family and she is so much fun. I can't say that enough.  I couldn't imagine our lives without her and her cute personality.  She's a firecracker, but she's also really patient and very cuddly!  She loves to kiss and hug, which I LOVE.  She's scaling the couches and coffee tables now, but still no walking on her own.  She has 6 teeth (4 on top and 2 on bottom) and is working on more...which makes her a little moody at times!  She loves to eat, but requires it to be on a spoon.  At her last check-up a few days ago these were her stats:

Height: 30" (75-90%)

Weight: 21 lbs 6 oz (50-75%)

Head: 45cm (50%)

Thank you Jesus for our sweet baby girl.  We, along with many others, really prayed for this sweet baby and to see our prayers answered is AMAZING.  The boys love having a sister, and we love the experience of having a daughter!  Love you Saylor Catherine!  

Saylor's 9, 10 & 11 months!

Haha, can you tell I'm a mom to 3?!  I was pretty proud of myself getting the monthly pictures updated of Saylor...and then we moved.  Not only did we move, but the holidays came sweeping by and I barely had time to breathe let alone remember to take pics of my sweet growing baby!!  So, I have pictures, but they are not the usual ones with her on her rocking chair to compare each month.  Bummer...but "c'est la vie" (such is life!). She's still SUPER cute and you can tell how much she has grown!

SAYLOR 9 MONTHS (11/22/2012)

 Sweet Saylor girl during Thanksgiving.  Still has those deep blue eyes!

 She's sitting up and can scoot...just now starting to crawl!  I'm thankful because 3 mobile kids are a lot :)

 She is such a happy baby

 And she LOVES her brothers :)

SAYLOR 10 MONTHS (12/22/2012)

 Happy baby sitting up in her Santa outfit!

 She loves to smile and she's super flexible!  She JUST now started to get teeth!  Her first ones were the 2 teeth next to your front teeth...so she was "Vampire Baby" for a while!  Next came her 2 bottom teeth

 Officially crawling now...

 and so stinking cute.  She loves to smile, laugh and play with either Herschel or her brothers :)

 My 10 month old DIVA!  Girls are so much fun!

SAYLOR 11 MONTHS (1/22/2012)

 Watching Toy Story or CARS with the boys...it's so fun to see a splash of pink among all the blue & green!

 Pretty in pink!  She is all girl (well...with 2 brothers it's a very high possibility that she'll love dirt and cars, which is totally fine with me!  I just hope she's getting dirty with a bow and lace on ;) You can see "Vampire Baby" here if you look closely!  

 This picture melts my heart.  I love this baby girl so much and she is so sweet!

 Can you tell I had 2 boys first?!  Don't get me wrong...I LOVE MY BOYS!!  I was meant to be a boy mom! It is fun to dress up Say in pink tulle, lace, necklaces, feathers and bows ;)

 At 11 months she's a full out speed crawler, she's into EVERYTHING, she'll scale things but no walking, she's a diva when it comes to food...spoon-fed only so far. She's an excellent sleeper and she is the most relaxed, go-with-the-flow baby!  Probably because she's the third and that comes with the territory, but she's easy.  I'm praying her 2's are easy!!  She's also my snuggly baby.  This is weird for us because the boys were not snuggly at all...they were busy...all the time...moving constantly.  She actually wants to sit in our lap, and give us lots of hugs WHILE wanting to stay in our lap.  At first we thought she just didn't feel good...but now we know she's a snuggler :)

I cannot believe that Saylor is almost a year already.  After each child the year goes by faster and faster.  With Aidan I felt like I was pregnant FOREVER because all of my focus was anticipating meeting this little miracle the Lord had blessed us with.  That first year was full of anticipating his first laugh, his first bite of food, his first steps, etc. Then with Roman I had the same feelings of anticipation as I did with Aidan, but I didn't have the time I did with Aidan...make sense?  I was running after a baby throughout my pregnancy with Roman so the time went by faster.  By the time I was pregnant with Saylor (let's face the facts, there wasn't a whole lot of time between any of our babies!), I was chasing 2 very energetic and fast baby boys and everything went by in a second...including her labor and delivery thank the Lord!  I take some of that back...the 8 days late part with Saylor felt like an eternity.  

Bottom line, where did the time go?!  It goes by really fast, but I do have those moments that "freeze" in time where I think what amazing gifts these children are to us from Jesus.  This life goes by fast, "...What is your life?  For you are a mist that appears for a little time then vanishes." James 4:14  Don't let that verse discourage you, let it encourage you.  We are here on this earth for such a SHORT period of time, so make it count.  I know I'm still really young (reaching the end of my 20s....what?! Didn't I just graduate high school?), but the years are starting to fly by. My children's years are flying by for me.  Aidan is already 4 1/2!  I want to soak up every moment (maybe not that moment in the grocery store where Saylor exploded in her pants and it went up to her neck, Aidan is playing with the candy in the check out line and Roman just informed me that he "peeped" his pants...that's life in the trenches!), however this is my job and I am more than thankful for it everyday.  God is so good.

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice." Philippians 4:4