12 month update

Today, Little Pea had her 12-month check-up. I was amazed at her stats! She grew 2 1/2 inches in the last 2 months and has gained a few lbs! She was 29 1/4 inches and 19 lbs 8 1/2 ounces. Wow! I can't believe she's almost 20 lbs. because she's so little. Her daddy tells her she's "4 bags of sugar" big.

She has become quite the climber. Yes, she, like her daddy, is fearless. I have to constantly watch her to make sure she isn't going to hurt herself. It's amazing to see her figure out how to get higher, whether it's stacking pillows to use to climb onto something or trying to climb the shelves. She is really good at climbing the stairs and is getting better at going down them.

For awhile now she has been waving and saying "bye bye" but lately she has really been mastering it. She waves and says bye to her daddy when he leaves for work. It's so sweet!

She is pretty much just eating table food now. Occasionally, I like to add in a baby food container of vegetables if I want to make sure she's gotten enough. But she'd rather just eat what we're eating. It definitely makes things a lot easier on us, though mealtimes are much messier now. Thank goodness we have a dog that loves to clean up after Little. We purposely just get her out of her high chair and shake her clothes off in the floor so Mollie can do her job.

We are in the process of transitioning to whole milk. For the past month or so, she has been drinking toddler formula. I didn't want to transition until we got the okay from the doctor, so today after her check-up we went and bought her some milk. She downed it this afternoon, so if there are no tummy issues, we'll start to give her more and more each day until she's totally transitioned over.

She continues to amaze me at how sociable she is. She will pretty much walk up to anybody and let most anybody hold her. At my mom's surprise birthday party, people just passed her around...people Little had never even seen before. And she was living it up, making them laugh and laughing back at them.

She will randomly just come up and hug and kiss me throughout the day. I am so blessed to be able to spend my days with her.

Surprise! Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today, my Dad and I threw a surprise birthday celebration at our house for my Mom's 60th birthday. The fact that we pulled off the surprise is truly a surprise in itself. Anyone who knows my Dad understands this. He cannot keep surprises because he just gets so excited and has to share about them. We definitely had a full house with lots of friends from church and even some family from out of town who came to wish her a happy birthday.To celebrate the occasion, we had delicious food and punch, presents and cards, balloons and flowers, and lots of old pictures of Mom all over the place.

And here is the very surprised birthday girl. If you ask me, she looks much younger than she is. Hopefully, I'll enjoy those same genes.

Here's the birthday girl posing with some friends.

And here's the birthday girl and her sister. Much thanks to my aunt for the beautiful flower arrangements and for coming to help me set up for the party!

And the hosts of your party...US! You may be amazed to notice that Frank's eyes are open for this picture! Too bad Little's aren't.

Happy Birthday, Mom! We love you!

Purple and Gold Potatoes!

We have potatoes! Our garden is thriving, and some of the potatoes have started pushing up through the ground. Hopefully that means that there are plenty more underneath. We decided to go ahead and pick the ones that were sticking out of the ground. We cooked them, and they were so good! I never knew potatoes could taste so fresh, but they really did taste different than the ones you buy in the store. I'm excited to harvest the rest when it's time.

5 minute meal: Salmon

Every time Little and I go grocery shopping, we pick up some fresh seafood to cook, usually tilapia or salmon. Those are two of my favorite things to cook not only because they are delicious but also because they are the easiest and fastest meals to make. Today, Publix had fresh wild salmon, the best kind to eat. I thought I'd share my salmon recipe with you. This is one of those things that I never order out at restaurants because I like mine best. Don't we all have recipes like that? Anyways, this is the easiest meal and it literally takes 5 minutes. Seriously, you have to wear a watch or have a clock while you're cooking it in order to not overcook. I like to serve mine with rice and do NOT like instant rice, so since it takes longer to cook, I usually start my rice and then go do something else for 15 minutes or so and then come back to finish up the meal.

1. Heat olive oil in skillet on medium to medium/high heat.
2. Rinse fresh salmon filets and then lay non-skin side down for 30 seconds. This is simply to sear in the juices. Watch the clock!
3. Flip salmon over onto the skin side and cook for 3-4 minutes, depending on thickness. While it's cooking, sprinkle with Seafood Magic (Pictured below). And again, watch the clock!4. Flip over to the non-skin side for 1 more minute. Flip it back over and smear some of the teriyaki stir-fry sauce over the top.
5. And you're done! Make sure you don't overcook it.

I usually make one of the Publix Steam-in-a-bag veggies to go with it; usually something green, but tonight I was in the mood for corn. They only take 5 minutes, so if you start them when you start your fish, everything will get done at the same time.
This is a great meal for baby, too. The way the fish flakes makes it the perfect size for finger foods. Little was definitely a fan!

Rained out Pool Playdate

Yesterday, we were all hoping to catch some rays in the pool in our backyard, but the weather had other ideas for us. So, we all stayed inside and played...still a great time. We'll try again next month for another pool playdate.

We missed those of you that couldn't make it!

Happy 3 Years!

Happy Anniversary to the man I love! I am completely blessed to be living my life with you and am so thankful that you are the father to my beautiful child.

Little's Birthday Party!

Happy Birthday to our sweet angel! I cannot believe it's already been a year since she came into our lives. We wanted to have a special time for all of our family to celebrate the occasion with us. We took tons of pictures, so I'll only post a few.

Oh, and remember the dress I made for Little to wear at her party? It was way too big, so we found her an adorable striped dress to wear instead. Maybe she'll wear it to her 2nd birthday. ha. I was able, however, to use the leftover fabric from that dress I made to make some table runners. And luckily, our hydrangeas are still blooming beautifully, so we had free fresh cut flowers as decorations in every room. I also made a picture timeline of the last year (thanks Big Jen for the idea) and hung it on the mantle under her name banner. She enjoyed looking at the pictures, though I'm not sure if she realized that they were pictures of her.
And because this was a pool party, we had a few decorations outside. We were so excited that so much of our family was able to make it to the party. We even had family come from out of state. Here is a picture of Frank's aunts and granddad who traveled so far for this special day. We haven't seen them since our wedding three years ago, so it was such a great treat for us all for them to be able to come. Frank's dad also snuck in the pic. Here are four generations of Cohees.

The party started with everybody hanging out outside, swimming, talking, and smelling the nice aroma of the grill. When Frank finished with the burgers and hotdogs, we all headed inside for lunch, cake and presents. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a pic of the cupcakes, which I must say were so good and beautifully decorated. They were confetti cake mix with homemade cream cheese icing and decorations on top.

We were so happy to also have some of Little's cousins from out of town at the party. She really loves her cousins, and it's so sweet to watch them interact. Here she is with her oldest cousin, and Little, by the way, is the youngest cousin.She loved giving kisses to the girls.And what family party would be complete without my adopted family? I love these girls so much.
Time for cake! This was Little's first time to have sugar. It took a little bit of help to show her that she could eat the big cupcake in front of her, but once she tasted it, she did just fine on her own. She was surprisingly clean about it. Can you tell that we are proud parents of this sweet Pea?Next was time to open presents. She really loved reading the cards, and her cousins made her some very sweet homemade ones. Little received so many special and thoughtful gifts. I was truly amazed at how much thought everyone put into what they got her. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and are so thankful that each of you are in Little's life.
The day couldn't have been more perfect. It was truly a sweet time.

Little's Birthday!

Little's birthday was this past Friday. So she wouldn't be too overwhelmed with gifts at her party, we decided to go ahead and let her open the gifts from us on her actual birthday. She was mostly interested in the bows and paper until she got into the gifts and saw that there were actual toys inside. First she opened some books, a feather boa and some trucks, which she actually picked out at Target. She also got a Teaching Turtle that teaches colors, shapes and alphabet. We knew it'd be a hit because it is musical and lights up. And finally...I've mentioned before how much she likes to vacuum. So, she got her very own vacuum for her birthday. There were two different ones to choose from, and I opted for the more realistic looking one (though it is pink, but hey, mine is yellow so what's the difference?). It was a great way to start the weekend. Keep reading to learn more about her party!

Pool Date

Today, Isaac came over to swim with Amara. As soon as Big Jen and Isaac walked in the front door, Little was smiling from ear to ear. She even had a couple of kisses for her future mother-in-law. Before swimming, they played a little and shared lunches with each other. It's so nice for Amara to have a friend that is in the same stage because they seem to really do well being around each other. We only got one picture, but they were so cute in the pool together.

Cuteness, Cousins, and Hibachi

Okay, so these first two pics were just too cute to not share. There is no story behind them...just cuteness. Today, 6 of Little's cousins were in town, so we went to Momma J's so she could play with them. They had a great time, and Little kept kissing Ivey and then sitting herself down in Ivey's lap. Sweet cousins!When we were driving to Momma J's house, we noticed that we've gotten a new Hibachi grill right down the street from our house. Frank loves this kind of food, so we decided to give it a try for dinner tonight. Also, Little has been eating lots of "big people" food lately, so we thought she might even like to try it. (This week, she's already fed herself homemade blueberry pancakes and spaghetti. I'm so proud!) The restaurant was so good! And Little did great. She really liked the zucchini and broccoli from the grill. I didn't want to break out my camera in the restaurant, so you'll have to excuse the poor quality of this phone camera photo.

Little's 1st Day in the Pool...

was a success!

To Catch You Up

Wow...I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since my last post. We have been so busy, and there's a lot to catch you up on, so this post is going to be a catch-all. Normally, I would make a different post for each event, but since I've been majorly failing at taking pictures, it won't be too hard to just combine them all.

So, I can't remember too far back, so I'll just start with last weekend, Memorial Day weekend. We went to the Hot Air Balloon Festival at Point Mallard in Decatur on Saturday with my parents. There was SO much going on, including the Hot Air Balloon Festival, Arts & Crafts Trade Show, Tractor Show, Auto Show, and even their own American Idol competition. Unfortunately, we got there too late to see the balloons, but I did get this picture of some wind socks. HA!It was so unbelievably hot with little relief in any shade. We lathered the sunscreen on Little and she was such a trooper. We finally found an Arts & Crafts pavilion where we were able to sit in the shade and have a funnel cake. I definitely would not recommend going in the middle of the afternoon if you're thinking of going next year. It is just too hot.
Sunday, Frank's parents decided to come up to visit with us for a couple of days for the holiday. We were so glad to have them, and Little really enjoyed spending time with them. They were so gracious to stay home with her on Sunday night so Frank and I could go to a late movie, a luxury that we have definitely missed since having Sweet Pea.

And on to Monday...Now that Little eats "Big People" food, she loves to share food off your plate. Here she is requesting some of Big Daddy's breakfast, even though she had already eaten yogurt and a cereal bar of her own.For lunch, we grilled out with Frank's parents and with Clint & Leah. Frank's mom made some awesome deviled eggs that we devoured in a matter of seconds, and they brought up some potato salad and steaks. Frank did a wonderful job cooking the steaks. We also had corn casserole and sauteed green beans. The meal was topped off with Frank's mom's strawberry pretzel salad and an apple crumb pie that Clint & Leah brought. We ate way too much, as usual. And the only pics I got were these two of Little in her red, white & blue dress and in her bathing suit getting ready to go out to her baby pool. I must have been too busy eating to remember to take any pictures.
What a sweetie!

Wednesday, we had Girl's Day Little Pea Adventure. Frank, Leah, my mom, Little and I went to Nothing But Noodles and then all the girls went birthday shopping for Little at Target. She had such a good time walking down the toy aisles pushing the buttons of the toys that make music. She was so content the whole time we were there. I told my mom that if I ever need a fun outing for Little, I'll just take her to Target. Next, we went to Ann Taylor Loft (which you know from previous posts that she loves) and Little made some new friends in the dressing room. It was definitely a fun Little Pea Adventure.

And this brings me to today, which was also a big day. Little met two of her newest friends today. And when I say new, I mean they were JUST BORN! Two of our close friends had babies and were in rooms right down the hall from each other at the hospital. First we met Luke Mitchell, and boy is he a cutie! He surprisingly has blond hair, unlike the rest of his family.
Next, we went down the hall to meet Ellis Anne. She's a beauty!
You might remember a few posts back where we had a baby shower at our house to welcome Miss Ellis Anne. We're so glad the newest babies are here!
And today's Little Pea Adventure ended with dinner at Jason's Deli. Now that Little is going to bed a little later, we are able to take her out to dinner some. She made a couple of friends there, too. She's a little social butterfly.

So, you can see, things NEVER slow down at our house. I've just got to remember to take more pictures!