Dear Chloe: 11 Cool Things About You Now

Dear Chloe,

You are such a silly, fun little girl with so much excitement and wonder in your eyes. You make your Daddy and I so incredibly happy and always keep us on our toes. Here are a few cool things about you now at 12 1/2 months old!

:: You love to cuddle! Out of no where you will come and lay in either your Daddy and I's arms for a couple minutes before going back to play, and yesterday you even cuddled with Grandma! You sure no how to melt my heart little one!

:: You are walking everywhere now, and with such speed too and if you fall down you will get right back up and continue walking instead of going back to crawling.

:: You love to mimic us, for example if you see me blowing on your food to cool it down you will do it too!

:: A couple days ago your Daddy and I heard you sing for the first time. You were just sitting by yourself playing with a toy when all of a sudden you started to babble but in a singsong voice. It was the coolest thing ever, we keep trying to get you to sing all the time now just so we can hear your pretty voice!

:: Your completely obsessed with opening and closing the screen door that leads out to the balcony. we even got a cute video of you in action!

:: As soon as you see other babies and children your eyes grow big and light up with excitement. You are fascinated with children and really seem to understand they are just like you!

:: Grandma and Grandpa have a dog named Ozzy who you have just recently started calling Oz. You will look right at Ozzy and point and say "Oz" You always amaze me little one!

:: You love to empty out the cabinets in the kitchen and also in the bathroom and I don't know what it is about brushes but you love them.

:: Though a part of me misses your baby days I really truly love this new toddler stage we are in. You are so fun to be around and play with and you can always put a smile on my face.

:: Whenever you see a picture or a video of yourself you get so excited and start smiling and laughing and babbling away!

:: You can blow kisses and click your tongue.

I love you so, so very much Chloe, more and more everyday.

Love, your Mama

The Screen Door

One of Chloe's favorite activity to do lately is to open and shut doors. Her favorite door to open and shut of all time is the screen door leading out to the balcony. I swear she could probably spend a whole hour just opening and shutting that door. It's pretty adorable to watch how excited she gets but the part that's not so fun is trying to take her away from the door, she screams and cries and kicks her body all around until you find something else that's fun for her to do. Yep, I think she is definitely a toddler now!

Here is a ridiculously cute video of Chloe from yesterday evening

-- Warning -- lots of high pitch baby squeals!

Chloe Eats: Breakfast

A typical breakfast for Chloe is usually scrambled eggs made with almond milk and a little bit of cheese, some fruit, and maybe a piece of toast. Chloe loves scrambled eggs and could probably eat them everyday!

The question I have for all of you is, what is your child's favorite fruit or fruits to eat? Chloe loves blueberries, grapes, blackberries and sometimes bananas and pears but I would love to get her to enjoy eating more fruit and have more of a variety in her diet.

Chloe Madison's Garden Themed First Birthday Party

Well I cant believe it, we survived Chloe's first birthday party! Everything turned out better then I could have ever imagined and I am so forever grateful to everyone who celebrated this special day with us. Chloe is one loved and adored little girl!

The Decorations

The colors we used for Chloe's party were pink, yellow, purple, orange, and Tiffany's blue. We decorated my Grandma's backyard with lots of balloons, streamers and this beautiful banner  from Etsy! We also used a few different types of flowers throughout the party as well to add to the garden theme.

The Guests

We were so happy that we were able to celebrate with all of our family here in Chicago. I loved having both my family and Mike's family together and Chloe got to meet her Uncle George and Aunt Debbie and her cousin Aaron for the first time. Unfortunately it's pretty difficult to be the host and the photographer at the same time so I wasn't able to get a picture of Chloe with each family member but I tried to at least get a picture of everyone there! 

 

 

The Food

Mike was amazing and grilled hamburgers and hot-dogs for the party and a few people also brought side dishes to share with everyone. We had homemade macaroni and cheese from my brother William, a beautiful fruit salad from Sara, my Mom's famous anti-pasta salad, sliced watermelon, Aunt Debbie's baked beans and corn, and brownies.

Everything was so good!

The Cake

We got two cakes for Chloe's party from a grocery store called Mariano's, a small(ish) smash cake just for Chloe and then a big sheet cake for our guests. Both cakes turned out so well and tasted amazing!

When it came time for everyone to sing "happy birthday" to Chloe I got so emotional thinking about the day she was born and how amazing it has been to watch my baby blossom into such a beautiful little girl. It took a lot for me not to break down and cry right in front of everyone!

The Gifts

Chloe received so many wonderful gifts from all of our family and friends.  Thank you all so very much!

After everyone left and my Grandma's house was clean again we headed home. Chloe was beyond tired and fell fast asleep the moment we got in the car. When we got home I was able to take Chloe out of her carseat, snapped that picture below, walk up the stairs to our house and then walk up another flight of stairs to our room where I laid her gently down in the bed and there she slept peacefully for two hours before waking up!

Hope you loved her first birthday party Chloe, I cant wait to look at all these pictures together when you get older!