Darcy's 1st Birthday

Yesterday was Darcy's 1st birthday!! We had quite the party for her. I made a much bigger deal out of it than I probably should have, because she won't even remember it at all, but I had fun doing it. Well, it was mostly fun anyway. The first half of yesterday was, true to Lindsey form, a little bit stressful. I told myself I was not allowed to get worked up about this party because it was supposed to be a fun happy day, but it just didn't really work. It didn't help that we started the day at the doctor where she had to get three shots. I told myself I will never schedule a doctor's appointment on my kid's birthday again. (That should have been obvious before I know.)

Back to the party. I debated between the ladybug theme (so cute) and a pink polka dot theme. For some reason the pink polka dots were just calling to me (not to mention the fact that decorating a cake with pink polka dots is much easier than a ladybug)so I went with that. I loved how it turned out!

Our friends Rich and Brittany, Linwood and Brooke, and Arie and Abi along with their baby Evelyn came for the festivities. It was so much fun to have them. They were all such great sports! Rich and Brittany have a big fancy camera and I asked them if they would bring it and take pictures and they were the best photographers ever. They were serious about their job! :) Unfortunately I didn't get the pictures from them yesterday so I only have a few pictures I took with my camera for today. I know the grandparents were anxious to see pictures so I am posting what I have for now, and I will post more when I get the other pictures from Rich and Brittany.

We L.O.V.E. our little one year old!

Things we want to remember about Darcy's twelfth month:

- 22 lbs 30 1/4 inches. Finally legal to be in her forward facing car seat, and she is loving it!! Car rides are so much better now.

- Her nap schedule is a little crazy right now. She still takes her two naps most of the time, but if she takes two they are not as long. Sometimes she just takes one longer nap in the middle of the day.

- She took her first steps between Drew and me this past Monday! She still definitely prefers crawling, but she's getting there.

- She is finally starting to be more willing to let other people hold her. She definitely prefers women to men. She especially loves Brittany and Brooke (the women she has been around the most besides me)!

- She loves balls! She got a few new balls for her birthday and she takes them everywhere. Rich and Brittany got her a giant tennis ball and the look on her face when she saw it was priceless! She likes to take a ball to the top of the stairs and throw it down and have us throw it back up to her over and over and over.

- She loves when we make animal noises and tries to duplicate them.

- She loves dancing to music. She has a few toys that make music and she loves to turn them on and dance. If I turn the music on in the car she dances while we drive. I love watching her in the rear view mirror. Latest dance move - flopping around while she does a waving motion with both hands. She is good!

We went and had a little photo shoot before the party in our favorite spot. I made her this shirt to wear for her birthday.
Opening her presents from us. We left them sitting out and she started ripping them, so we decided to let her open a couple before the party.
Her little pink polka dot cake. It was a chocolate cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting. It was delicious if I do say so myself.
The spread. Isn't it so cute? We had pink circle candies, watermelon balls, her cake, and cupcakes for everyone else. I wanted a cupcake stand, but felt too poor to buy one so I made one out of cardboard and spray painted it. Pretty good right? I thought so!
Digging into her cake. I was so sure she would be good at this and I was right! Some babies hate to be sticky, but not this girl! She loves food too much to be scared of it ever. I was SO happy about how into it she was. It was what I always dreamed of. :)
Brittany taking pictures.
Brook helping Darcy eat some of her cake.
Here are Darcy and Evelyn watching the volleyball game. Such cute little buddies!
I couldn't find party hats I liked so I just bought some cheap ugly ones and I painted them how I wanted them. Everyone made it feel worth it by wearing them proudly. Brook especially made me feel good. She even wore her's for the volleyball game! :)
There is a volleyball court right outside our back door, so we had a little game after all the other festivities.
Darcy got this awesome rocking/bouncing horse from her Grandma and Grandpa Christensen. We didn't have a chance to put it together before Darcy went to sleep last night. Drew put it together after she went to sleep and first thing this morning she went for a ride. She loves it!

Baby Talk

I don't think I have ever heard another baby talk like this. Maybe I just haven't been around enough babies. We get the biggest kick out of her little language. We always get comments from people at church that they have never heard anything like it. It is so funny how she just goes on and on like she knows exactly what she's saying and like we know exactly what she's saying too. Luckily we have a way to cut out all the crazy parts where we are talking nonsense right along with her. :) Oh, and she LOVES the elephant noise! Since this video she has gotten even better at the noise and does it without her tongue like we do.

Sleepy

I have heard lots of stories and seen lots of pictures of babies falling asleep randomly in crazy places. I always thought it would be so funny but assumed it would never happen with Darcy because she has a really rough time going to sleep always. Well it happened today! I loved it. She woke up early and I kept expecting her to take a nap, but she just wasn't acting tired. She had been awake forever. She started fussing a little and I thought she was hungry so I got her a snack and set her on the floor. I looked over a minute later and she was folded in half holding her blanket and a few teddy grahams, fast asleep. Crazy, funny, and so cute! I snapped a couple pictures and took her up to her bed.



I know it isn't time for a scheduled update about Darcy, but I just wanted to document a few things she has been doing lately.

- She has started saying "dada." In church on Sunday Drew was passing the sacrament and he happened to come to our row. When he got close to us and Darcy spotted him she said "dada" like she was so excited to see him. We could hear a bunch of people around us chuckling or "ahh"ing.

- She has started making some major messes. It is amazing what she finds to make a mess with. I clean up when she goes to sleep, but within about five minutes of her waking up it's a complete disaster again. FUN!

- The past few days she slept past 7 in the morning!! It was awesome. Today she went back to 6:10 again though. It was great while it lasted.

Rochester Trip

This past week Drew had to work in Rochester, NY, and Darcy and I decided to tag along. We got to stay in the hotel and eat mostly for free so it was awesome. We stayed in a pretty fancy hotel actually. There was a pool that went from indoor to outdoor that we got to spend some time in and best of all...there was a TV!! HA! It is a little ridiculous I know, but I haven't had TV for a long time now, and it was so awesome to have something to watch on HGTV or TLC whenever I wanted! Darcy gave me lots of good breaks because she was busy checking the new place out. She is seriously a busy girl!! There was a big mall and other stores really close to us so we spent some time shopping. For the most part it was really a nice relaxing trip.

The last night we were there we drove 20 minutes away to the Hill Cumorah Pageant. It rained a ton before the pageant started so everyone was decked out with ponchos and umbrellas, and just a little into the show the rain stopped. We talked to an usher that said it happens like that all the time. A modern miracle I guess. :) We were completely in awe when we drove up and saw this massive structure they have for the stage just out in the middle of farm land. It was really impressive. The show was awesome! Everyone should go. I highly recommend plastering yourself with mosquito repellent before you go though. We got eaten alive!!

We also got to do a little touring in Palmyra. We went and saw the home Joseph Smith and his family lived in and the sacred grove right behind the house. I wish I could say it was a really touching or spiritual experience, but Darcy was tired and really fussy so we rushed through it all and didn't get to stop and think like we would have liked to. It was cool to be able to go see it though. So many little (and big) miracles happened in that place.

The other thing we got to see there was the place the Book of Mormon was first printed. So much tedious work went into making those books. I am so grateful for the people that put in their time and money to spread the gospel through the Book of Mormon.

The last thing we did was stop at Niagara Falls on the way home. We loved it there!! Truthfully I wasn't that excited to go, but when we got there I was just so amazed at the size of it, and I loved going down next to the falls and getting splashed by the water, and just feeling the mist from it even when we were farther away. We ate lunch at a restaurant right next to the falls too, which was fun.
When we first got there I put Darcy on the bed and she was really excited. Then I changed her diaper and she escaped diaperless. She seemed so proud of herself and I thought she looked so cute surrounded by all the pillows on the big bed, so I went to grab my camera to take this picture. Unfortunately while I was taking the picture she peed on the bed! No good. Luckily, for the first time, I didn't have to clean it up though. :) Those poor house keeping ladies.
Darcy fell asleep on our bed and I took a nap with her. I always want to cuddle with her in my bed for a nap but don't want to get her in the habit of sleeping with us. I thought it was ok to break the rule on vacation though, and I loved it!
The original Smith family home. (Taken from the road in a drive-by) It was so tiny inside. I was shocked at the size of the parents' bed. It was just a sliver of our king size bed! :) In the background is the sacred grove.
Joseph's older brother Alvin built this second home that the family eventually moved into.
At the Palmyra bookstore where the Book of Mormon was printed.
In front of the printing press.
A Book of Mormon in the process of being put together.
The three of us at the Hill Cumorah pageant. The stage was in the background, but it was too dark with the flash.
This is what Darcy did most of the show. It was kind of awkward to hold her while she slept because we were covered in plastic, holding umbrellas, and trying to scratch our legs and feet where the mosquitoes were biting us.
This was the tree of life.
This was the part when Nephi built the ship and crossed the sea with his family.
This is the stage. Isn't it crazy how big it is?! There are so many people that come from all over to be a part of it.
The three of us at the top of the Niagara Falls. It was so beautiful and such a nice day!
Darcy and I at the top with our shades on. I just got hers and they are so funny because they are so huge!
Down at the base of the falls. You take an elevator ride to the bottom and then walk all around on these platforms. We walked up really close and got wet. We worried Darcy would get scared, but she didn't really even notice.
Another picture at the base of the falls.
Drew in front of the statue of Nikola Tesla, his hero!
Darcy did a lot of playing in the front seat of the pickup while we waited out the rain or just to have a break from her car seat. She thinks it's a party in the front seat! She crawls all around and bangs on the windows and talks like crazy.