Delaney's 1 Year Photo Shoot

Click here to check out Delaney's 1 Year pictures!

Golf Baby Shower for Princess

Delaney and I made our first girls-only trip to Tekamah this past weekend to throw a baby shower for Auntie Jess & Baby M. I went with a golf themed shower since they are doing a golf themed nursery. Golf has been a big party of Jess & Nick's relationship, so it's only fitting! I only managed to snap a couple pictures before the shower started of a few of the decorations, but we got quite a few picture on Jess's camera of the actual shower!

Here's the diaper cake I made for her. I tried to find as many "golf" baby things I could use. I found some golf shoe baby slippers that were too perfect for the top of the cake! I also found a PGA beanie bear that was so cute! Jess used to collect beanie babies, so this was also a great find! Finally, I found the golfer rubber ducky! Every kid needs a rubber ducky, and my nephew needs a golfer ducky! The argyle ribbon was the last touch!
Here are the golf cake pops I got from Sweet Bites in Omaha! They tasted just a good as they looked, and were a huge hit at the party!

Swimming Lessons & Bath Time...

We started Delaney's second session of swimming lessons last week. After 3 weeks off, she was a little off her game last week; however, this week she was back to you usual "fishy" self. She was floating, kicking, swimming, dunking...like an old pro! She is such a natural. The last few classes Craig has actually let go of her for a few seconds while she is under water, and she just floats and kicks her way across the pool. It's a little unnerving for me, but so amazing to see her be so little and so big all at the same time. Her teacher, Miss Jessica, joked tonight that by the time she's 3-years-old she won't need lessons anymore! We shall see! I managed to snap a few pictures that turned out decent in the horrible pool lighting...

We got there a little early, so Delaney and Daddy hung out pool-side and waited for the early class to end! She couldn't wait to get in the water!

Here she is modeling her new swimming suit from Auntie Jess! It's soooo cute, but I'm afraid it isn't going to fit for too many more classes!

She's in! and lovin' it! Weeee...

She's practicing her reach and kicking skills!

She's underwater and on her own! Such an amazing thing to see!
Here's Delaney practicing the life-saving skill called the "Circle Swim". This is what Miss Jessica teaches all her students in the even that they happen to fall into water on accident. She teaches them that safety is the wall/side. The kids learn to immediately turn around and find safety or the side. Here's D hanging onto safety all by herself! Such a strong girl!

After swimming is bath time is also one of Delaney's favorite things! Daddy always gives her baths, and they always party!

Here she is with her favorite bath toy...her star fish! She loves this thing and will pick it out of all her bath toys!

Silly girl!

Bath time antics with Daddy!

A party side-effect...

Well not only did we share food, cake, and laughs on Saturday at Delaney's birthday party, we also apparently passed around a nasty virus. About half the guest list has been or is currently sick since the party! I feel horrible that everyone is getting this nastiness after celebrating with us. I came down with it Tuesday night, and now it appears that Craig has a touch of it. We have heard from several of our guests that they too have been sick and missed work/school this week! Boo! So far (knock on wood) Delaney remains healthy! We have another big weekend planned full of working for Craig (sorry, honey) and throwing a baby shower for Jess! Let's hope we get healed up before then! So far it seems to be a quick-moving virus!

12 Months

***Since I just shared all of Delaney's birthday pictures, I thought I'd post picks of her throughout that last 12 months...hasn't she changed?!?***

It's so hard to believe that it's time for Delaney's 12 months post! Our little peanut has grown to become such a big girl in the last year. It's hard to remember that teeny-tiny baby we brought home from the hospital. At 12 months, Delaney is the happiest, most laid-back baby I've ever been around. She has quite the personality, and is become quite independent. It appears at this point that she is very much like her daddy in both looks and demeanor. This means she'll always be the life of the party and everyone's friend!

day 1

She is so close to walking these days, it's a little scary. She could totally do it now (could have weeks ago), but our little Miss Independent's stubborn side has taken over and she seems content to remain a crawler for now. Her vocabulary is also developing quite nicely. We can definitely tell she's trying to tell us things versus just making noise. She has distinct sounds and syllables. I think we're going to have quite the talker on our hands here very soon! She's not a "quiet" child! I'll walk in the room and she's say "Mom" clear as a bell! We also think she's found her words for "more" and "milk". Her favorite though is still her friend "bob". She talks about him all the time, "bob" this, and "bob" that. I'd really like to meet him sometime!

1 week

She seems to have gone through a growth spurt here recently. All of a sudden her 12 month clothes seem a little too short and snug. We are gradually working our way into her size 18 month wardrobe. It also seems like her feet have finally started to grown. She now wears size 4 shoes. It looks like they are getting wider all the time too...another trait of her daddy's. Her hair is growing thick and long these days. She's starting to get little wisps of curls at the ends. It's so cute! I can't wait to see what it does in the summer humidity! It is a sandy brown color that has shimmers of gold and red in the sunlight. It's so pretty! She has also graduated to size 4 diapers this month. They are slightly big on her, but I'm sure they will be fitting perfectly here very soon! Today we discovered that she is in fact a big girl measuring in at 30.5 inches tall, 24 lbs, and 18.25 inch head circumference. All in the 90+ percentile! Yikes!

3 months

One thing is for certain, this girl has definitely inherited all of her family's love of food. She loves to eat, and has tried sooo many new things! We have only found a handful of things she really doesn't like...potatoes, rice, and anything that we actually have to feed her with a spoon. She's too independent for that now! She has been on strictly Vitamin D milk (not formula) for about 3 weeks now. She loves it! She will always go for the fruit on her plate over the meat or vegetables. Her favorite these days seems to be red grapes! She also has a bit of a sweet tooth as she absolutely devoured her birthday cake!

6 months

She remains a rock start sleeper. She goes to bed by 8 every night and wakes up around 7:30 or so since the time change. She takes at least one good nap during the afternoon, and once in a while (especially at home on the weekends) she'll take a morning nap too! She is beyond cuddling, rocking, and all of that "baby" stuff. She likes her bedtime stories, but she rarely sits still for them. Her favorites these days is Snuggle Puppy! She's a wiggle worm at night, all over her bed. She sleeps with one of her blankies, but usually on top of it! Good things she's hot-blooded, also like her daddy!

9 months

With the start of spring weather, she has rediscovered her love of the outdoors. She loves to be outside. In the last couple weeks, she has sat and explored the grass. She was a little timid at first, but is starting to figure it out. She loves to sit and watch Izzy play out in the yard. She thinks Izzy is so funny! She also loves to dance! She will crawl over to the stereo, turn it on, and start to boogie. It's so cute! She'll turn it on, look at us, get this huge grin on her face, and start to clap! She has also mastered a few other devices around the house...the remote control, the humidifier, the oscillating fan, and the laptop!

12 months

These days Delaney is definitely more toddler than baby! She doesn't use a bottle, pacifier, or enjoy being fed with a spoon! She'd rather take care of all of this on her own. She doesn't like to cuddle or really be held most of the time. She is far too busy to have her pants changed or get dressed. Honestly, if she had her way she'd roam naked all the time! She tells us which book to read to her, and when she's ready for bed. She seems so grown up! What a year it has been?!? I can't wait to see how much she grows and changes in the next year!

Our Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Bash

We celebrated Delaney's first birthday yesterday with a houseful of her favorite people! It was so much fun! I'll admit we went a little nuts with this party, but now that it's all said and done it was so worth it! We picked The Very Hungry Caterpillar book by Eric Carle for our theme because Delaney loves that book! I started planning way back in November, and tried to do many of the projects myself. I found a lot of great online ideas, and I'm pretty proud of how everything turned out!
I found these invitations on a website (http://www.whattoexpect.com/forums/party-ideas/topic/the-very-hungry-caterpillar-eric-carle-invitations), and absolutely loved them. I tried to re-create them as best I could. Almost 100 cardstock circles later, this was my result! Aren't they cute?!?
I saw this wreath idea on OurBestBites.com. I though it would be the perfect door decoration for this and many more birthdays! It only took a couple TV shows to complete, and turned out adorable!
I saw these polka dot balloons at Party America, and thought they would be perfect for our theme. Delaney LOVES balloons, so we ended up with a ton of them! They made everything so colorful and fun!
Here's my caterpillar balloon creation. I had drawn a face on the red balloon. It was a simple way to incorporate our theme!
A benefit of a 6'5" husband/dad is that you can hand him 3 rolls of streamers, and you'll end up with this! Isn't it cute! This is the view from our front door!
One of the highlights of our party was the cake. Joy Kouba of enJoy Delectable Desserts made our amazing cake! It turned out so much better than I could have dreamed. I had originally planned to do cupcakes that were arranged in the shape of a caterpillar, but changed my mind and couldn't be happier! Delaney loved it too! I can't wait for another occasion to order a cake from Joy. She did an absolutely wonderful job!
Above the cake table I hung up pictures of every one of Delaney's monthly birthday pictures. Nothing like some sticky foam numbers, cheap clothespins, and orange polka dot ribbon to add a little flair to a blank wall!
We decided at the last minute on Friday to try to make the garage work for eating lunch! We borrow some tables and chairs from generous friends and family, hung some more streamers, and a party room was born!
Here's a picture of the partial lunch. I didn't get a picture taken after everything was set out. Both grandma's contributed to the yummy lunch, and Craig spent 13 hours smoking the meat on Friday. It was so good, I'm a little sad we don't have more leftovers! After lunch it was time to play! Delaney and all her friends enjoyed getting all her toys out of the toy box. It was so much fun to watch all of them play and interact together! There was lots of smiles, and very few tears! I'd call that a success. Poor Parker, Reed, and Henry were a little disappointed I think of the lack of boy toys and the abundance of pink!
Then, it was time for presents! Once again, Delaney was a very spoiled little girl. She got so many nice things...new books, cute clothes, and lots of toys. We had asked our families to help contribute to a swing set for Delaney's birthday, and like I said she was spoiled! We will be adding this to our back yard very soon! She also got a very sweet growth chart personally made by my friend Kaitlyn. She was a website (http://www.etsy.com/shop/owlpeople?ref=pr_shop)...go check out all her super cute stuff!
After presents it was time for cake! We finally found something Delaney got from me...my sweet tooth! This kids loves cake! She was not timid at all, and ate a lot of it before we finally took it away! She was so happy!

We attempted a few family photos before everyone left. Here's the best of the Bryant family I had on my camera! Not too shabby!
And well, this is the best one I had of the Mencke family. it is too funny not to share! I don't think it will make the Christmas card this year...
Thank you so much to everyone that helped us celebrate Delaney's big day! It was such a special day for all of us, and she is one lucky girl to have all of you in her life!

***I'll do her 12 month post tomorrow after our doctor's appointment, so I have all the latest measurements!***

We're still here

Yes, we're still alive and well. It seems that it's been crazy lately! We have all survived a terrible cold. We have another tooth, making 3 total now! We have witnessed Delaney's first steps, and a few more since! We have installed a new kitchen floor and entryway floor! We have done some serious deep cleaning. I'm tired...

We are anxiously waiting and preparing for Delaney's birthday festivities this weekend! This week seems to be crawling by soooo slowly. I feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas. I'm sooo excited to celebrate my little girls big day! She has no idea what's going on, but someday we'll tell her all about it. I have most of my little crafty projects done. It's down to the last minute cleaning and food prep. We're hoping the weather is nice so that we can spend some time outside on Saturday. Right now, the forecast is a high of 58 and a few showers...let's hope that changes a little!

After all the partying this weekend, I have to turn around and get geared up for the baby shower I'm throwing for Jessica on the 27th. It's going to be a crazy few weeks at our house! More to come on Sunday, with tons of pictures from the party!

Neglect

Neglect...seems to be the word that best describes me lately. It seems as though I have been neglecting everything accept Delaney. My house is completely disgusting, my laundry is piling up, my dog only spends time with my while I'm sleeps (as does Craig). He doesn't even remember what it's like to spend an hour with me while I'm awake, I'm sure. I haven't blogged in weeks. I've neglected myself, and now I have a nasty cold. It's getting ridiculous.

We tiled our kitchen floor a couple weeks ago, and it seems like everything has been out of whack since then. Craig and Brent worked so hard, and got it done in two days. It looks amazing! I have pictures and everything, but haven't had time to post them. They are going to do our entryway and stair landing in the next couple weeks. We've been using that as an excuse to not clean as it's just going to be nasty again. It's bad though, if I could afford a cleaning service this would be the time to hire one!

We are counting down until Delaney's big birthday! It's only a little over 2 weeks away! I'm so excited. My housekeeping skills are going to have to make a miraculous recovery between now and then. I can't believe it's finally almost here!

Little Miss D has been a busy little girl these days. She is all over the place. She has developed quite a stubborn side here lately. She will not sit still to get dressed or change her pants for anything. She just throws a complete tantrum. But, with Craig or Holly she behaves much better. I don't get it, why is she pulling this stuff with me! She is also eating like a horse. I think we are in the midst of a serious growth spurt. Now that she has discovered the wonders of real food, she can't get enough. She still hates potatoes, but otherwise she'll eat anything! She has also given up bottles and not looked back. She's had whole milk since last weekend, and she is doing great!

She seems to be becoming more and more of a toddler every day and less and less of a baby. She just seems so grown up all of a sudden! I expect her to be walking within the next few weeks. She has finished her first session on swimming lessons with flying colors. She is a natural! We signed her up for the next session because she loves it so much! She is now talking all the time. She says "Dada", "Mama", "dog", and "more". She also talks about this guy "Bob" a lot!

We have all been fighting a nasty cold at our house this week! I hope it's a quick one, and we'll all be healed up soon! We have a lot of things to do to get ready for Delaney's birthday!