Happy 1st birthday, sweet girl!

I can not believe that my tiny 6 lb. 5 oz. baby girl is turning one! Where did this year go!? Ilyana has turned into quite the spunky but sweet, thoughtful yet crazy, toddler. She spends her days chasing around Nala (and giving her a few gentle pets when she manages to catch her), climbing and drumming on everything, and talking all about her all time favorite person: Dada. Recently she's been figuring out that objects have a specific purpose (ex. putting together a puzzle, stacking blocks, using a drum stick on a drum, brushing her 'hair', etc.). It's so neat to see her mind work through these processes and figure these things out. Ilyana now loves to say (and wave) "hi" and "bye", dance, point (especially at daddy), and even blew kisses to daddy the other night. She's also been working hard at learning to walk. She will stand by herself for a few minutes at a time and seems like she could take a step at any second, if only she would just do it! Climbing up stairs is one of her favorite activities and she has recently learned how to climb down them as well. She is a fantastic eater and I often have to wonder where all the food she eats goes; this girl is going to eat us out of house and home! We will have the opportunity next week to talk to her pediatrician about her issues with eating dairy and hopefully we will figure out the best what will be best going forward. We were thankful that Hyvee was able to make Ilyana a dairy-free cake and cupcake for her birthday photoshoot and party! It was fun watching her reaction to tasting the cake at her photoshoot; she kept giving us a look like "Am I going to get in trouble for eating this?". Our friend Natalie did a fantastic job on her pictures! We also had a lot of fun celebrating her birthday with family and friends at a "Winter ONEderland" themed party this past weekend. Ilyana was a little grumpy at first, but once the sugary cupcake kicked in she was having a blast! We are so thankful to have so many people that care about our sweet girl!

Ilyana loves: books, toys that she can put things in or take things out of, climbing, drumming, eating, Mommy and Daddy, Super Why, Schoolhouse Rock, Nala, music, baths and showers.

Ilyana dislikes: being told "no", plain tofu, not being able to catch Nala.

Here is a slideshow of Ilyana's first year: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16Ao85l-F6Y-i5EgWWatJJXIpheRWX2129a3CLQIYk1g/pub?start=true&loop=true&delayms=3000&slide=id.gc6f972163_0_15

A day in the life

I've been thinking that it would be fun to write a "day in the life" post before our little man comes so that we can look back and see what life was like with just one little one! So without further ado, here is what a pretty typical day looks like for us!

6:30- Our alarm goes off and we can here Ilyana chattering in her crib so I grab her and she plays with daddy for a little bit while I take a shower and then we swap.

7:45- We all head downstairs so Jake can kiss us both goodbye and head to work. Ilyana and I eat some breakfast (today she has a banana and I have some pancakes) and then head into the living room to get dressed and play for a while. I've been trying to give her some time everyday to practice playing by herself so while she entertained herself with books and her alphabet train I sat down and put my very swollen feet up.

8:30- Ilyana starts to get bored and wants a bottle so I feed her and then we play together for a while. She was especially entertained this morning by a personalized book that has her picture in it (she's a bit of a narcissist. Haha!).

9:15- Ilyana starts acting really sleepy so we head upstairs to lay down in mommy and daddy's bed for a bit. She has fun romping around in it for a little while and then decides to come and lay down next to me to snuggle and take a cat nap (I may have dozed a little bit too... Building a baby is hard work!).

10:15- I put together a small diaper bag and wake up the little sleepy head so we can go over to a friends house. A good friend of ours always takes fantastic photos of her son so she had Ilyana and I as well as Jenna and Charlotte over to give us some pointers on taking better pictures of our sweet kiddos! I'm so excited to use some of the great tips that she gave us. Thanks Megan!

12:30- We stopped at Chic-fil-a on the way home to pick up some lunch and I got Ilyana her very own kids meal for the first time! She ended up eating the entire thing, the little chunker!

1:00- By the time she was done eating it was nap time so she went into her crib for a good nap and I cleaned up after lunch, started this blog post, and then got a little bit of cleaning done.

3:30- Ilyana wakes up, eats a bottle, and we play for a little bit before going to Target to get a couple of things (including clearance valentines day candy of course!).

5:00- We get home from Target and daddy gets home not long after, yay! We all played together and chat about our days for a while.

6:10- We start our bedtime routine (dinner, bath time, PJ's, bottle, and bed). Ilyana had fun in the bath tonight with some bath crayons and didn't want to get out! Once she was in bed though she fell asleep pretty quick; it was a busy day!

6:45- Ilyana is down for bed so we clean up a bit and get Rover (our Roomba) going and settle into our evening activities. Tonight, Jake is working on a church app and I am working on this blog post and then reading. We'll probably play some video games together and I'll more than likely take a relaxing bath before bed around 10:30.


That's pretty much our day! I look forward to writing another "day in the life" post once we are settled into a routine with Ryker and seeing just how much life has changed!