Melia's 1st Birthday Party!

Melia gave a great birthday present in that she went to bed at 6:30 last night and slept the entire night...waking up at 7 AM! It worked perfectly because she was able to get in a morning nap before her party.
She ate lunch before everyone arrived. Here is a cheesy shot of her eating her watermelon. One of her favorites!







We made Melia's cake the night before. It was a rainbow cake. Yum!

The kids had fun jumping in the bouncy house before lunch. Melia loves it in there!

After lunch...Twister!

Melia really wasn't all that impressed when the kids sang Happy Birthday.

Even though the cake had dairy in...we let Melia have a slice. It was her birthday. She ate the whole piece so must have tasted good. She even wore the hat from her 1 year photos. It barely survived as she had cake all over it. This time she didn't even realize it was on her head. The video is of her eating Papa Rick's rainbow sherbet. It was a bit sour/tart, but she kept going back for more. The face was funny. She was so sticky afterwards that I hosed her off in the kitchen sink.

Cameron opened all her presents...he was excited! She was pretty uninterested. We kept chasing her down to bring her back. She did like the toys and baby dolls though...they didn't hold her attention though until after everything was out of the box later.

Then a few more shots from the day.

Standing...and stealing salad.

We were at dinner the other night and Melia thought it would be a great idea to try and take some of my salad off my plate. This girl will eat anything...or try to. And she can put food away! She tried with all her might to eat the lettuce and like it. I think the only reason she kept attempting was because the little bit of raspberry dressing on it tasted so good.

Decorated with Cameron's stickers.

Loving the pool with her brother. She even goes under water.

Cameron gave her a "santa beard" on her forehead.

A video of her first bubble bath. She was in there with Cameron. Boy does she love to splash. She started out at the back of the tub and kept working her way to the front.

And she has learned how to open the cupboards! Of course we are in a place we can't baby proof. She figured it out by accident and it was like discovering a whole new world.

Her biggest achievement so far...she is gaining confidence and can stand by herself! She will actually let go of your hands and is so proud of herself while she is doing it. The look on her face is funny too...her mouth stays in this big "O" shape. It really won't be long and she will be walking. She really wants to take a step...starts to try then gets nervous and sits down.

This is the exact face!

4th of July!

Melia got to see her first 4th of July fireworks! She was so tired about an hour before we left. We put her in bed and she refused to sleep...just cried and cried! I finally brought her back downstairs. The poor thing looked miserable. Her eyes were so swollen from being tired and crying and she looked like she could pass out at any moment. I guess she didn't want to miss the fun because she stayed awake the entire time. We were at a park across the street from Red Rock Casino. She LOVED them! She kept pointing (her favorite thing to do) and then would periodically start clapping. She even stayed awake the entire drive home to watch Cameron do sparklers & poppers. We also had a few fountains.

Just turned 11 Months!

She has mastered waving when she hears hello or bye bye. Now even when you say "do you want to go bye bye" she picks up both of her hands and starts waving.

She has also mastered the art of fake crying and whining.

 

She also likes to fake laugh. Loved this video because it shows her top 2 teeth (it's a little blurry from the car moving and changing focus). She actually has 6 teeth now. There are 4 on top, but only 2 of them are all the way through so you can see them. She knows her belly, but in this video she wouldn't cooperate.



She loves to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider. Tries to do it with her hands.

Then she cooperated and showed us her belly.

 

We've had her over to the pool a couple of times. She is just ok hanging out in the floaty. She really prefers not to be in it so she can splash more.

And we have moved her out of her high chair. She's sitting at the big table with us now. Still pretty messy though.