from baby to toddler

can you even believe how fast that happened?! oi.
naomi was born and with the blink of an eye she is now a one year old.

i thank my Heavenly Father every day for such a beautiful and precious gift. she is easily the brightest spot in our lives and i can't tell you how much she has changed {challenged} us and helped us become better people.

having a baby helps you put life in perspective and makes your heart grow 10 sizes every day.
wow. i love her so much.

our now "toddler" is as curious as ever getting into EVERYTHING, naturally. she enjoys testing our patience, usually at mealtimes, choosing to live on a diet of mandarin oranges, goldfish and bread. she gets a thrill out of doing things that she "knows" are going to get a "no,no" out of us. but she still LOVES rumbi the bestest, saving most of her smiles only for him.

she is a fabulous sleeper and the perfect sidekick. she loves to be out and about, giving strangers a good stare down everywhere we go. she will pretty much go to anyone, so long as you are female. but her favorites are little girls.

she is a sensitive little soul and will start crying if anyone even has the slightest angry tone in their voice or if she sees anyone else crying. so sweet.

she still refuses to walk or really stand alone for that matter but that's fine with us. makes us feel like she's still our baby for a bit longer.

please, naomi, there is no rush. no rush at all.

baby turns ONE!

3 years

happy anniversary to us!
naomi got to play with grandma and grandpa d while we went on a fancy schmancy date.
dinner {with no high chair at the table - woohoo!} followed by a round of mini croquet. ha.

our first year of marriage was amazing, filled with many vacations - Hawaii, Italy, Niagra Falls, Palmyra, Philadelphia, Vegas... the second year rumbi joined the family and we found out we were expecting! we learned all things "hypnobabies" while we watched my belly grow, and grow and grow and grow... but year 3 was of course the best yet - becoming parents and loving on our lil sweetie day in and day out.

i have a feeling life just gets even better from here. i'm so lucky/happy/grateful/excited that i get to share it with this guy...

iloveyou steve - lover!

Baby's 1st Christmas

christmas 2011

naomi's first christmas brought much anticipation and excitement. i, of course, went a little over board with gifts for her...good thing her birthday is just around the corner!

we really did have so much fun introducing her to all of our christmas traditions. we spent christmas eve eve with my extended family. the party included our trio debuting as mary, joseph and baby jesus and a visit from santa. 2nd time around with him went much better. she actually sat on his lap long enough to open her gift and only gave me the quivering lip look for a few split seconds.

next on actual christmas eve my dad, sister and her two boys came and we had a christmas sleepover! this has become our tradition going on 3 years since steve joined the family. i had big plans for a special christmas eve feast...everyone was going to have their own chicken! i made cornish game hens but... i am a dummy and apparently tried to give everyone salmonella. so we stuck those back in the oven and ate them for 2nd dinner around 9pm.

christmas morning was the best. naomi was loving every second moving from one thing to the next. new toy - wrapping paper - box - ammon's toy - candy - wrapping paper - rumbi's bone - new toy. she loved it. and we all loved watching her. especially ammon...he made sure he kept an eye on her the whole time, making sure she didn't actually eat any of his candy or open his new toys. haha. i'm so glad they were all there to celebrate the holiday with us! and nay, seriously, adores her aunt chelle. which is smart. because aunt chelle is "the fun" aunt.

we spent the rest of christmas day and night with steve's family. which i really love for 3 reasons. 1) steve's mom is THE best cook.
2) there are 4 little girl cousins. they are all close in age and they LOVE each other. so cute to watch them play.
3) steve's family gatherings are so calm. haha. don't get me wrong i love my family and all the kids and at first i felt so awkward around steve's reserved family. i am use to people talking and laughing over each other while kids run around in the background...but sometimes after a long holiday week a little calm is exactly what i need. :)

and then...we woke up monday morning with sore throats and runny noses. thanks, christmas.

mini me

Last week steve had to stay in salt lake for a work event so naomes and I got some extra special "mommy and me" time. We went swimming at the hotel steve was staying at and spent the day at the zoo with cousins.
I love that I get to spend every minute with this cutie. She is my favorite sidekick.

At the zoo we were practicing our animal sounds... I am determined to pass on my talent for all things involving sound effects. I even tricked Ammon into thinking the monkeys were really talking to him. Mwaha.
Naomi was bundled up rill good until we went in to see the giraffes...you see she has this obession recently..she drags her little stuffed giraffe everywhere. Holding it by the neck. Poor thing can't even stand up straight anymore..anyways. so we go in and I of course am making a big deal pointing to the stuffed giraffe stuck in her kung fu grip then pointing to the real deal just a few feet away. Well she got this big grin on her face right then! (See pic) it was adorable! Probably she had no clue what was going on besides me putting on a show but I'll take what I can get.
Can't wait to go to the zoo again...next summer..its pretty cold there in december. :)

Digital Christmas Story

Digital Christmas Story

love this!

wow...i am overwhelmed with all the love. you are all so dear. thank you for all the kind words and virutal hugs. i am so grateful to have you all in my life!