Carys and Riley

a couple of weekend ago my mom was watching my niece, Riley, for the day so they came over to visit Carys and I

Carys warmed right up to Riley and wanted to play with her cousin and sit in her lap :)

And We're Back!

so it's been two months since i've updated the blog... but we're back!

the blog has gotten neglected the past couple of months b/c my to-do list is TOO LONG and when i actually get some free time, i have so many other things to get done. i just got overwhelmed with trying to keep up with Carys as well as laundry, cooking, dishes, cleaning up, working out, work for my part-part time job, etc., that the blog took a backseat.

for some moms this juggling act is easy and effortless. however, i am not one of these moms. my to-do list is never ending... which is nothing new for me, it was like this before Carys came along. i am a procrastinator. i take care of business, it just takes me longer.

And, Carys will be 15 months in about 5 days, so as you can imagine, she is very active! getting on the computer to download pictures and update the blog while she is awake is nearly impossible. 

anyway, we are doing good. Carys is great. she is a handful... she's just a big ball of energy and literally does not sit still unless she's sleeping. she's my little monster... ripping and running around the house all day long. but she is a sweet sweet girl, and i love her so much! she's still so tiny, but her personality is huge.

so i'm gonna try to get back into the swing of things with the blog... which needs a makeover btw b/c the first 12 months are over and i can't call this a baby blog for too much longer.  i just need to revamp this thing, so hopefully i'll get to that soon. easier said than done, but i'll do it... at some point ;)

right now i'm feeling a little brain dead and it's getting late, so for now i'm just gonna post some more pictures. but i plan on updating regularly again, so don't worry... we didn't go anywhere!

 

hangin' out at Burke Lake

 

Easter

 

on Easter we went over to Billy and Barbara's house for brunch and an Easter egg hunt

 after all the bigger kids combed through the backyard looking for Easter eggs we took Carys back there and found some well hidden eggs that the kids missed :)

Sugar Plum Fair (my bff Mindy) bought Carys some plastic Easter eggs a few weeks ago. so apparently Carys has become a pro at opening them up b/c I turned my head for a second and looked back at her and she was shoving M&M's into her mouth. This was the first time Carys had chocolate (or any type of candy) and she loved it! i had to resist the urge to pry them out of her hands b/c i'm kind of crazy about not letting her eat junk, but i know a couple M&M's won't hurt her.

notice the chocolate dripping down her face

Richard, London, and Carys... they are soooo cute!

Carys and Sage

Carys LOVES animals. If our cat, Sage, would let her, Carys would play with her all day long. She can't say Sage yet so she calls her "Sa." All day long she says "Sa," calling for and looking for Sage. She has also figured out which toys belong to Sage, and she will dangle the cat toys in front of her face. 

Sage has usually had enough of Carys after about 10 seconds... and will run up the stairs

and Carys used to just just wait for her at the bottom of the stairs

but recently she has learned how to climb the stairs... the other day i went into the kitchen for 2 minutes and came out and found her at the top of these stairs. guess we need another gate!

Birthday Party

we've been MIA for a couple of weeks... sorry i've been neglecting the blog!
here are some pictures from Carys' birthday party... she did so good at her party btw, i thought she would be a bit overwhelmed with all the people over at our house, but she had a great time! and she got some awesome gifts!

this is the beautiful and delicious cake that my bff Mindy got for Carys

i am so happy Claudia (another bff) was here to celebrate Carys' bday with us, she lives in Italy and i miss her so much! here is Carys and her baby Gabriel. he is almost 5 months and Carys and him are pretty much the same size!

he is so handsome!

opening presents... she has soooo many new toys to play with, and new clothes to wear!

 i am so grateful to have such amazing friends and family! Carys had a fantastic 1st birthday party!

Happy 1st Birthday Carys!

Happy Birthday to our beautiful baby girl!! I can't believe you are 1 year old today!

Carys got her very first car today :)

Carys is walking all over the place now... and i'm sure you know what that means... i can't keep her contained anymore. well not for long anyway. she is not content in her gated off play area. she whines and shakes at the gate, so most of the time she is roaming around the living/dining room and kitchen exploring and getting into everything.

she loves chasing the cat around...however the cat is not especially fond of Carys' grabbing and pulling of the fur... i couldn't even get a picture of the two of them b/c Sage really doesn't want to be anywhere near Carys lol

one of the best parts about Carys becoming a toddler is that she can entertain herself for longer periods of time... it's amusing to sit back and watch her toddle around and play

she is also learning to share. she'll open up your hand and give you whatever she is holding. she has even learned how to share her chewed up food, yum! she'll take food out of her mouth and try to shove it in your mouth. or if she doesn't like something she'll spit it out and hand it to me... but i'm always very polite and say "thank you!" ;)

she really into imitating now... so if you cough, laugh, blow kisses, throw your hands in the air, etc. she'll do the same

she likes to help me do the dishes by stealing the silverware basket and running away with it

she's a little stubborn thing... if she doesn't get her way she gets very upset

"puuuuuhlease can i have your camera!!!"

she still loves her pal Violet

I made Carys a (mostly) organic birthday cake. It's a pumpkin-apple-pecan cake. I've never made it before so I didn't know how it would turn out, and I figured she wouldn't like it b/c she has become a picky eater.

But she dove right in and she loved it! It was actually really good, I was impressed with my baking skills!

Happy Birthday Carys Willow!

Well, I made it through her first year! At times I thought I wouldn't, lol. There have been lots of ups and downs. So many tears shed. So many nights I wanted to pull my hair out b/c of sleep deprivation. So many days of utter frustration and tested patience. I found myself worrying about everything little thing and always questioned whether I was doing the right thing for my baby. I have to admit that it has been much harder than I anticipated it would be. But I wouldn't give it up for anything! It's been the most amazing and joyful experience raising Carys and watching her grow from a tiny 6 lb 8oz baby to an almost 19 lb toddler. I did my fair share of complaining along the way and have had many bad days, but I think I'm finally settling into motherhood. It'll never be easy, in fact, I'm sure it'll only get more challenging as she gets older... but it really is all worth it. Seeing Carys smile and watching her master new skills and reach new milestones makes it all worth it. And having an understanding, loving boyfriend, who is also an awesome dad, helps ;)

Thank you to everyone who has helped us this first year of Carys' life, we couldn't have done it without all of our amazing friends and family!

I was only going to do this blog for her first year, but I think I'm going to keep it going so you can continue watching Carys grow! I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us!