Indiana's first birthday party!

On Saturday we celebrated Indiana's birthday! I had no idea what a first birthday party entailed aside from a baby eating some cake, but I think we did an okay job!

We had it at our friends the Brunell's house here in Temple. Have I talked about the Brunell's lately? About how great they are? About how they save our butts and sanity regularly? About how Indiana loses her mind in happiness whenever BB comes over? Anyway, the Brunells are our Fairy Godfamily and we are so lucky they have let us into their lives. They're much more like family than friends at this point. We love them.

Anyway they were nice enough to let us use their casa for the party. We went with a cat theme because Indiana LOVES cats. I mean, what else do you do for a first birthday? We were like, uhhh what does Indiana like? Food? Chewing on things? CATS! She likes cats! I found some cat stuff online and then cut up out all the cat faces from last years calendar and hung them up. She loved it, everyone looked cute in their cat ears, I think it was a success.

YEAH, putting those monthly photos to work!

Cats, everywhere.

I never seem to get over the fact that our family and friends are willing to travel so far to celebrate with us. So many folks traveled to be with us and it means so much. I tried to take lots of photos but when it's your kid's party and you're trying to take pictures, it just doesn't happen the way you want. I see why people who have the means pay folks to photograph these sorta things! But I snagged a few shots! Terribly candid mostly, but that's how I roll.

Can you tell they're related? SAME HAIR.

I baked thirty-six cupcakes. All while Indiana was wreaking havoc in the kitchen. I'm telling you this because IT WAS HARD AND I AM PROUD. HA! Also, look at those cat cups! Cats in party hats! The internet is an amazing place.

I also made Indiana's cake, which is a "mom" cake. Like, a banana oat flour maple syrup cake. No cane sugar. Also it's four layers? I am a huge weirdo, I know. It wasn't that pretty or yummy. She mostly just ate the icing and the blackberries. The best part was when she tried to flip it off the plate onto the floor.

Muchos gracias to Brendon's boss who suggested that maybe we should get in a picture with her. THANK YOU. Otherwise there would not have been a single photo of us together, much less any of me.

Cake selfies! Gah I love them. Best friends' offspring together, even if they're six years apart, is the greatest. Shoulda done it sooner, sorry y'all! ;) Also why is Dallas so far?

I know babies are supposed to just "smash" their first cake, but she's really into forks and was much happier when it appeared. She's a classy lady like that.

First party down, 18 to go! Haha. Let us hope when Indiana is a teenager she still lets us throw her parties! We had a really wonderful time. She was spoiled rotten with love and gifts and I just always feel so overwhelmed after things like this. I feel undeserving, but so thankful. I'm so so glad we are raising our baby surrounded by good people. People who love and adore her. She is in the best company, as are we. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who came. It was such a good day and you guys are why. Well, y'all and that baby. ;)

Christmas 2016

Indiana's first Christmas! Woooo! I think it was a success. A crazy crazy day, but she had a good time! We stayed in Temple again this year, as traveling with a baby is hard and traveling with a baby, PLUS doing multiple Christmases (the blessing and curse of your whole family living in one town) was just a little too much. So my family was kind enough to come to us! I'm really glad we stayed at home. We got to have Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with just the three of us and it was really really nice. We haven't spent a Christmas Eve or morning alone in practically our whole relationship and I have to say, it was awesome. Especially because it was Indiana's first, it made it really special. Christmas Eve was spent listening to Christmas music nonstop and I spent almost all day cooking. Happy place!

On Christmas morning Indiana woke us up and we got all ready to do the dang thing. We put her on the floor and let her go, and she went straight to her new piano! It was the sweetest thing and I tried (really I did!) to get it on video, but I didn't hit record. BAHHH, story of my life. I will forever be beating myself up about that. Oh well! Mental memory will have to do.

Indiana didn't NEED much of anything for Christmas, but I really wanted her to have a piano. A real one, not some plastic thing. And Santa brought her one! It's a real tiny piano and it makes the cutest toy piano plinks! She's excellent at banging on it. The cats hate it.

Sophie loves Christmas as much as any kid.

These two! Indiana and Sophie have recently gotten "closer" and I love it.

Indiana was mostly much more into the paper and bags and boxes than she was the actual presents, but I think she still had a lot of fun!

After Indiana's morning nap we had Christmas round two! And this is the only group shot we got of the whole day, because boy do photos go out the window when you have a baby on Christmas!

After Indiana's afternoon nap we did Christmas round THREE, which I got basically no photos of. Fail! At this point I was pretty tired. Between cooking, cleaning, wrangling Indiana, and hosting lots of company I was beat. I'm a big time introvert and we had A LOT of people come to our tiny apartment, so by the end of the day my head was about to blow up. Luckily Indiana is the opposite, she loves people and looooves being the center of attention. I wonder where she got that from.... (ahem, Dr. Hogan...)

Christmas dinner! My dad and step mom brought over a big folding table that we set up in the middle of our tiny living room so we could all actually sit together for dinner. One day we will have a bigger place. Our mini-apartment is great for the three of us at this stage, but goodness whenever anyone comes over it gets so crowded! Not to mention we are busting at the seams with baby stuff.

And this is the only photo I got of round three. Everyone looks SO THRILLED to be there, huh?

I swear we were having a good time! ;)

It was a good day. An exhausting day, but a good one. I was super glad that Brendon had Monday off so we could recover!

Indiana had a great first Christmas I think. She was spoiled rotten by people who love her (as were we) and got to play in piles of paper and boxes. I'm trying not to think about all the paper she ate, but hey it's just fiber right? Christmas with a baby was everything I hoped it would be and more and I think every year it will get better. I can't wait until she knows whats going on, haha. I think we've still got a couple more years for that, but I am so ready! Baking cookies for Santa, writing Christmas lists! Eeee! Bring it all on!

Indiana in the pool!

Today was a cloudy and relatively cool day! Something that seems rare lately. We're in the throes of summer and it is honestly my least favorite time of the year. Even though I've lived in Texas my whole life, I've never gotten used to the summers. I hate the heat! And the harsh sun! And it's even harder with a baby, who is the only person on the planet paler than me. But summer means swimming and today was nice! So we decided to take Indiana for her first swim, since she seems to be a fan of water. And she liked it! I think? She got tired pretty fast (we were approaching nap time), but she kicked her little legs and was smiling so I'm taking this as a win. And I over documented, as usual. 

Clearly on the fence about the whole thing at first.

She cracks me up with that squishy face. And all her extra sun protection! Long sleeves and a hat... she's like a little old woman. But better safe than sorry, right?

Love love love that baby.

It's crazy that babies just sorta know what to do in the water. I put her on her tummy and she just started kicking away. They're full of surprises. I hope this is the start of a love of water for her. We were going to do baby swim lessons this summer but you have to be six months+ and she turns six months in the middle of the last session. Figures! Next year for sure though. I want my baby to be a fish! And as safe as possible in water!!!!!! I'm gonna be that mom who wraps her kid in 1000 floaties.