Birthday party

I tried something new this birthday- small, very small. We only invited 3 friends with their kids and only two of them made it. You would think that seven kids would make for a calm and serene party.





Don't get me wrong, we had lots of fun, but our average age was 3 and that makes for lots of excitement, mayhem, tears (from nearly all of them at different times) laughter and great memories. We made a ladybug craft, played games, danced, sang songs, ate, had cake and presents.

I feel bad not to have invited a ton more people, but it was so much less stressful and more age appropriate. I remember with Ivan and Dominique's first birthdays planning games for preteens, because we totally love having the entire family here and involved, but it can get insane with huge age spreads. So simple was lovely.

Before:








After:


I'll try to get some videos up too. I think she was sung to no less than 5 times this week and I can see that she is understanding the song is all for her!

She did get a ton of shots yesterday at her 1 year check-up. She is in the 77% for height and weight at her age. She now weighs 23lbs and is 29 inches long. She gets to face forward in her car seat which she totally loves. I do need to start watching and encouraging her speech. They said at her age, she should be using "dada" "momma" and a few other words. So far she mostly uses "dada" for everything and that's about it. She has said "momma" a couple of times and "tete" a few times, but mostly she just screams at us until we figure out what she wants. The doc. said to be sure the siblings don't talk for her.

Speaking of siblings, we have Dominique signed up for spring soccer. She is very excited. Ivan is also excited to tell her everything she needs to do. Since he has prior experience, he figures he's a pro. I'm also trying to get them signed up for another round of swim lessons before we leave. I get great deals since I work at the Y, so I need to take advantage of it before we leave.