Hollyhand House

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Anna Riley's 1st birthday- Smashcake

Anna Riley was not a fan of her smash cupcake!  But if you remember she got the stomach virus the day that we took her smashcake pictures so I am thinking she might have remembered that.  She has had sweets before and she has even had a cupcake and loved it but not that day!! :)




Anna Riley's 1st birthday party- The guests

The playroom really came in handy for the party.  Because Anna Riley has a February birthday and it was so cold (just the weekend before it was SO nice),  it had to be indoors of course.  We will probably have some of the future parties at locations in town but I really wanted her first one to be at home.  We are so blessed to have so many close friends and family that came to share this special day with Anna Riley! 






Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Anna Riley's 1st birthday party--The decorations & food

I feel like I planned this birthday party since the day I found out I was pregnant!  Although some things did change, I still planned and worked on this party for a while and I loved every minute of it!!  I wanted her first birthday to be more of a color scheme than a theme because we will have PLENTY of birthdays where she picks a theme!  I decided on hot pink and orange and I love the way it turned out.  I made most of the decorations myself.  I got most of my ideas from other blogs. 
**Ribbon topiary with the favor bags
Go here to find out how to make the ribbon topiary.
(It was very easy to make but time consuming!)

I didn't put much in favor bags because honestly most people forget to get them or its mostly junk that they end up losing anyway.  So I just put some bubbles, pretzles, fruit snacks, suckers and a krazy straw.
The table in the kitchen.  had a newborn picture and then a 12 month picture.

*There were two wreaths both pink and orange.
Click here for a tutorial on making these wreaths.

**I made several tissue pom pom...I hung the big ones and did the small ones like flowers to sit on the table.
Click here to see how to make these.

*The invitation were done by my friend Peyton at  Do It Cute


The stickers were also by Do It cute (I used them on the cups and made a cheap version of cupcake toppers)

The drink station...water, pink lemonade, sweet tea, cokes and juices in the tub for the little ones.



**We had a collage made from the smash cake session. 
I love the way it turned out!!

I did not make the birthday banner.  I did not have the cutouts to do it so I ordered it

I did make the hat and decorations on the highchair.
Do it Cute did the monogramming and applique on the hat and I did the rest...super easy and these are so expensive if you buy them!

 I made a banner with her pictures from each month and just painted the letters and numbers.



The cupcakes and smash cupcake were made by a
 lady in Tuscaloosa made them and they were wonderful!

Mom helped with all the food.  We had a lot but we also had a lot of adults here so I wanted adult and kid friendly food.





12 months-- February 4

I can't believe it's finally here...my little baby is ONE! Oh how I remember the day she was born so perfectly and it seems like it was just yesterday and now a year has already flashed before my eyes and she has grown so much! Here is what she is doing at 12 months old:

* She weighs 22 lbs 13 oz. and is 30 3/4 inches tall (she grew exactly 10 inches in a year)
* She wears size 4 diapers and mostly 18 month clothes.
* She takes a morning and afternoon nap. Her morning nap is usually 2 hours and afternoon can go 3 and sometimes I have to wake her up!
* She goes to bed around 7:30 and sleeps until somewhere between 7-8.
* She LOVES her bed!  I really think she would play in there for a long while.  Sometimes I go in to get her and she cries when I get her out.  But she does have a few things that she sleeps with and we always put a book in there too. 
* She would prefer not to be rocked but there are some rare occasions where she will actually let one of us and we take full advantage of it.  But she rarely falls asleep that way so we still have to put her down awake and let her fall asleep on her own.  But that is the way she likes it so I wont complain but I do love to rock her when I get a chance!
*She has 8 teeth and she now has a big girl toothbrush that she loves!
* She has been formula free AND bottle free for a about a month now and did excellent with the transistion. She loves drinking her milk out of the sippy cup. She has milk after every meal. 
*We are slowly working on weaning from the pacy.  I am sure this will be a lot harder than the bottle.  Right now she only gets it at naptime and bedtime.  She is doing well with that so far so we will probably start taking it away at least during naps and finally bedtime!
*She still eats really well but meal times are the most frustating! She gets in trouble for throwing food and we are still working on eating on a plate! She fed herself yogurt with a spoon and she did pretty well.
*Her favorite foods right now seem to be strawberries and avocados. She loves guacamole!!

*She loves her bathtime and tries to crawl over in the bathtub while we are running the water. She loves a bubble bath but likes to stick her face under the water so she has bubbles all over her face.
*She is walking but still not taking off. She will walk back and forth from me and Riley and she will walk to the couch or certain objects but she likes to have that security or know that something is going to be there to catch her. She is constantly standing by herself playing and doing things so her balance is much better but she just seems like she is too scared to turn loose. I have a feeling it wont be long though.

*She is a dancing machine. If she hears any kind of tune, she immediatly starts dancing, swaying or waving her arms...especially if its the hotdog dance because that is her favorite!

*She loves books and will actually sit still to let us read them now.  Her favorite is Brown Bear, Brown Bear (probably because I read it to my kindergarteners so much when I was pregnant because it was their favorite too!)  :)  Out of the many books she has we probably read that one close to 10 times a day! 
*She likes to cuddle with me again!  She likes to sit with me in the recliner and watch Mickey Mouse or read a book and drink her milk. She will actually sit for a long time (30-40 min) now where just last month she wouldn't sit still for 5 minutes.  We usually do this before her afternoon nap and I look forward to that time!



*She loves her baby dolls and stuffed animals. She holds them up to her shoulder and pats them on the back and then squeezes them real tight and kisses them. Its so cute! Sometimes she will have the baby in one hand and cooking at her kitchen with another. :) I have also noticed her strolling her baby and leaning down to its ear like she was telling it something and then she will stop and kiss it on the forhead. Its amazing to see how much kids learn from their parents!


*She can climb in and out of her school bus slide by herself.

*We are still having a tough time at church when we leave her in her class.  She did great until she moved up to the next class.  She is so excited when we get out and walk in church but the minute we head down the hall she knows whats coming and she cries.  She usually just sits in one of the teachers laps and wont even get down to play.   I am hoping she gets out of the phase soon because she has always loved playing with the kids in the nursery!
*She "talks" all the time I just don't understand half of it! She says DaDa and UhOh all the time. She will say MaMa but she rarely does...I think its a stubborn thing! I will ask her to say "MAMA" and the little stinker will look right at me and say "DaDa!" haha. She can also say "thank you"  and "good girl"...we are working on words like ball, book, milk but she has yet to say those but she will repeat something like good girl! haha


*She knows what certain objects are: Ball, books, baby, her Bunny, cup, milk...and usually she will give them to you if you ask.

* She makes the funniest faces!  We are constantly laughing at her facial expressions!! 
*You can ask her to "show me your teeth" and she will make this funny face that shows her teeth.

*She sticks her tongue out all the time...especially to her Daddy!


We love her so much and we are so thankful that she is in our lives!! 

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Beautiful Day

It has been so cold and rainy here that we were so excited to have a BEAUTIFUL Friday and Saturday! We tried to be outside as much as possible and it really got us in the mood for spring. Saturday it was actually so warm I had to go change into shorts. I have never been more ready for a season to change than I am now! I am patiently waiting for Spring! Friday, Anna Riley and I took some of her toys outside and played and then had a "PB&J picnic." I thought she would probably not sit still but she actually did and really enjoyed it...and I did too! :) Saturday, Riley and I took her to a park for a while, but unfortunately all the parks around here were so crowded and there isnt a lot to do for her size. We do not have good public parks that are geared for all ages here which makes me sad! So, we just came back home and played in the backyard. We had such a great day full...Im ready for the next "spring like" day!
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Saturday, January 22, 2011

Playroom Pictures


I forgot that I never posted pictures of the playroom. We plan to probably get an entertainment center built because we can't find one we like so for now we have a temporary one that we already had. And we still have to get a rug to go under the couch (probably just going to get some binded carpet for now to save on $). But we need it because the room echos really bad. The pictures on the wall are pictures that Riley painted in an art class in high school. His Mom had saved them and they went perfect in here! I can't wait to display her artwork in here soon!
She loves her new space!! She goes from one area to the next! It never stays this clean for long...she can destroy it in 5 mintues!



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Friday, January 21, 2011

Sick Baby




Anna Riley had a bad case of the stomach bug Wednesday night. Poor Baby! I kind of knew something was up but her nose had started running and I think she is also getting more teeth so I thought she wasn't feeling good because of that. She has always been such a good eater and she didn't eat much for breakfast or lunch that day. We had pictures with Kim after lunch and just as I had predicted, it didn't go so well! She was so ill!! But I know Kim and I am sure she got some good ones. But I really don't think she smiled for one picture! I just knew she would LOVE the smash cake session because she loves cake! But she didn't even eat much of it. She of course made a HUGE mess with it but didn't really eat any of it...just a little bit of the icing. So that was another clue she was getting sick. Anyway enough about that...Well that night, we had ask Riley's Dad to come over to eat dinner. She literally took 2 bites and threw everything up. She ended up throwing up at least 15 times from 6 pm-2am. I had called the doctor around 9 (first time I ever had to call the doctor after hours but I was so afraid she was going to get dehydrated). She kept pushing everything away and couldn't hold anything down. I can't recall even having a virus that bad in a really long time! Poor thing hung in there like a trooper though! She spent all day Thursday resting and drinking lots of fluids. She is finally getting back to herself today. We have had lots of cuddle time...watching cartoons & reading books! She has doing this thing where she lays her head on my shoulder and pats my back like I do hers! Its the cutest thing. She is in that "loving" stage they get in when they are sick.




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