Chloe's First Birthday!

While on our vacation, Chloe turned one.  We celebrated up in Spokane with my family.  Unfortunately, my camera battery died about 5 seconds into the celebration.  So while my mom took a billion pics, I don't have them yet.  

BUT...

We did a second celebration when we got back in Arizona.  I do have pics from that one.  The first party I did a traditional chocolate cupcake.  This time I did one that sounded good to me (Lemon Pound Cake Cup Cakes with Blackberry and Raspberry frosting).  They were delicious.  Chloe seemed to like it better too.  She really dug in.  Unfortunately, the pink frosting looks a little creepy all over her face - like crazy lipstick or something.

I finally got a picture of her sleeping.  She is a light sleeper so I never dared, but I risked it because she was just too darn cute.

Chloe absolutely adores Carson.  I see her looking at him like this all the time.  She'll smile and laugh whenever he pulls faces or dances around (and he loves the audience).

Chloe will rest her head on my shoulder when she is tired or wants a little cuddle (I eat this up).
Whenever she is handed a stuffed animal she hugs it close and cuddles it for a minute.
She is getting pretty attached to her blanket and bear.  When she is feeling a little tired or first waking up, she gets upset if she can't hold on to one of them for a little bit.  Give her 5 min though and then it's left on the floor and I can go throw it back in her crib.
She gets really excited about dolls/animals at the store.  She was basically hyperventilating the first time we walked past the cabbage patch kids.
She isn't talking yet - just lots of cute gibberish sounds.
She loves to make a few sounds (1) hitting her hand against her mouth...that o, o, o sound and (2) moving  her tongue side to side in her mouth.  You can see her doing this one in the very first picture.
She is getting pretty good at walking...still a little wobbly.
Loves books - they hold her attention the longest.
Likes to give high fives (very gently high fives).
Gets excited for real animals too.  She'll stop everything to watch a cat or a dog.
Doesn't like being strapped in a car for two days - who would have thought.
Is starting to do a lot more communicating through the use of points and head shakes.  She can shake her head "no" really good now.  She'll do this when I hand her the wrong thing.  She is trying to nod it yes as well, but this one needs a little work.  It is pretty cute though - she does it when she gets excited.

Hopefully we are not giving in too easy and she'll still be motivated to talk soon.

When we were shopping for her birthday she really wanted this teddy bear and she was just so cute that we bought it for her (it was her birthday).  She was literally laughing as we handed it to her.  She has been cuddling him ever since (see her laying on him in the sleep picture above).  Unfortunately, he got pooped on last night (diaper explosion) so he was sitting on top of the washer until I decided what to do with him (run him through the washer?  just throw it out and buy a new one?  Spot cleaning doesn't seem good enough.).  She saw him up there and stood by the washer for 5 minutes trying to reach for him and talking real important gibberish to me so that I would get him.  I finally had to carry her out of that room and she got real sad.  Luckily, she has a sweet older brother who brought her his teddy bear...a loaner for the night.  That was an acceptable substitute to her.

She is such a joy and I love having my sweet baby girl.  I love watching the relationship that is forming between Carson and her (hopefully it stays that way).  I love watching Karl with her and hearing him call her sweet little pet names.  Happy Birthday to my little Chloe.