She's Walking!!!!!!!!

Summer has really started walking over the past few days.  It is amazing how now she can walk all the way across the room without falling.  That is not to say that she does not still fall.  She does.  But, she is getting more and more confident in her abilities.  She's really turning into that little girl I was talking about last week. 

Today we  put water into the little pool we bought her for her birthday.  After her nap and walk around the neighborhood, she was ready to take dip in the water.   First, Clint put her feet in the water and  she was not really into that.  Then he put her down beside the pool and she started putting her hands in the water and splashing.  She was trying to drink the water off of her hands.  Adorable, as usual.  So, Clint took her clothes off and let her climb in the pool on her own.  I did video tape it since it is her first pool and the first time she has been in the pool this spring.  She was charming. 

Now, I just need to figure out how to get the video to a DVD.  That would really be awesome because I have several tapes of her already and they need to be transferred before the video camera breaks....yes that has happened to me.  I am pretty good at using a camera until it gives up/dies on me.  I take A LOT of pictures now that I have Summer.  She is not a very good model as far as posing goes.  I will have to work on that.  When I was a little girl, my aunt taught me how to pose for the camera.  Of course, I have forgotten all that.  I do have the pictures where she captured me as I grew into a little girl which are priceless.  It is amazing how much a little snapshot can mean years down the road.

Back to Summer.....yes, she is walking and talking too.  She can say "Thank You" now.  I am working on please, but she has not said it yet.  She does say more and more words every day.  I am still the nameless wonder who is there for almost every moment of her life, yet she refuses to say my name....hmmmm.  I try not to focus on that.  Chances are though that she would say your name...that's the game she plays. 

We had a good Mother's Day.  We got up and did her usual morning bottle ( I know I gotta quit soon) in the chair in the living room.  Then we played until it was time for her nap.  After the nap, we went to my mom's house for spaghetti.  It was good.  I took the ice cream cake left over from Amanda's birthday and we also had brownies that my nephew made--YUMMY!!!  Oh yeah, and tea...sweet tea.  This is a must when I go to my mom's.  After we played in the yard for a while and Summer got a short nap, we went over to my sister's house and then to my Granny and Pepaw's house.  It was a fun filled day...not stressful at all.  After making all our visits, we went back to the condo for a nice evening together.  Clint got me a card and some tulips.  They are really pretty.  I am not sure how they are still blooming since the ones I have outside our gate are long gone, but I am not complaining.  They look good on my deck at the condo. 

Well, I need to go get ready for the evening.  Clint is off of work, so we are all going to go out for dinner.

1st Birthday Pictures

I have been so busy this week that I have not really got to look through Summer's pictures until today.  She is taking her afternoon nap.  She is still taking two naps a day for a total of 3-4 hours of sleeping/bed time.  Sometimes she just babbles in her bed or plays with her toys.  She knows how to cut the music and the light on in the pack-n-play at the condo.  Sometimes when I go in to get her, she is just sitting there playing happily.  When she sees me, she immediately smiles. Then she usually stands up or grabs her bear and hands it to me so I can give him some love.

She loves to play in the floor with me.  I tickle her, "get her," throw her up in the air and whatever else comes to mind.  I can pick her up and turn her upside down and she will laugh.  She gets me too when we are playing.  Sometimes I will look over at her and she will be rolling on the floor acting silly.  It makes me want to get in the floor and act silly with her...which I usually do (ask Clint).

Summer and I played at Amanda's school today while we were waiting for her to do her final presentation for one of her classes (she graduates from high school in a week).  I got some toys and a blanket out of the car and took Summer under a tree in front of the school.  We played with the dump truck and read her puppy book.  She wanted to sit on the blanket with me.  I put her in the grass when we got under the tree and laid out the blanket.  When she saw me sit on it, she decided she wanted to as well.  She was so cute.  After she got tired of playing with the toys and my purse, she wanted to try walking.  She took a bunch of steps and tumbled after about 4 or 5 each time.  She kept trying and trying and trying.  Grass is definitely the best place for her to learn to walk.  She does not get hurt when she falls down like she would on concrete.  She did want to venture into the parking lot when she finally made it that far, but her mommy wouldn't let her.  What a good mommy...LOL. 

We have a busy weekend this week.  Tonight I am having a girls night with Selelna.  Tomorrow we are celebrating Amanda's birthday.  I am hoping to go to a play tomorrow night with Clint.  Sunday we are going to my mom's for lunch.  I think we are going to have a good time.  I know I will at least. 

For everyone reading, I want to wish you a Happy Mother's Day! 

Details

I feel as though I have not been sharing enough details of Summer life lately.  She is taking more and more steps every day.  She started a week before her birthday and can take about 3-5 steps at a time.  Then she falls down.  It is really cute to watch her try and to cheer her on.  I try to make a big deal of it even if she only takes a few steps so she will know she is doing good even though she hasn't quite mastered it yet.  She has mastered crawling both on her knees or just with her hands and feet.  She wants to take steps and tries often, but she knows that it is just quicker to crawl.  So, if she does not succeed after a few attempts, she drops to the floor and crawls.  She does fall down quite often, but she has not really gotten hurt yet.  I try not to make a big deal about her falling down that way she doesn't think she needs to cry every time she gets a scratch.  She very rarely gets hurt enough to get her attention, but I have to stay on top of my game watching her and making sure she does not get into things she is not supposed to.

That is another thing that she is starting to do more and more -- getting into stuff she does not need to.  So far it is not too bad.  She will rifle through the trash can every once in a while.  She LOVES to get into my purse.  That is a sure way to keep her attention for a while.  I often let her do it at Wal-Mart to try to keep her occupied while I shop.  I have sort of been avoiding Wal-Mart the past few days.  It seems like I am always there getting something.  I have put if off as long as I can, so we will be venturing to a Wal-Mart in our area sometime this afternoon. 

First, we have to get pictures at 3:30.  Then I have to teach a Jazzercise class at 4:30.  After that, we will visit Wal-Mart and hopefully not find a million things we just can't live without like we usually do...LOL.  It is crazy just how many different things you can get there.  Anyways, that is what our afternoon is looking like as of now.  Summer is taking a nap getting all rested up for those 1 year pictures.  We were supposed to get them done yesterday, but we had a full day so I rescheduled for today.  We have already been to Playgym this morning, so we have already been on the go today.

Yesterday we went to the zoo with Selena, Willow, Melissa, Mason and Teresa (their mom/nanna).  We had a good time.  Summer really liked all the different cats they had.  They got to see monkeys and lizards and birds and goats and all kinds of animals.  Summer got to pet a goat, a dog and a donkey.  I think she enjoyed it as much as I could expect from a 1 year old.  She was pretty good and said all kinds of animal names.  She growled like a tiger when she saw the bobcats and lions.  She was cute, as usual.

She is definitely becoming more independent every day.  She will still let me feed her at times which is good.  I am glad she sees that sometimes it is okay if Mommy feeds her.  She does love to feed herself and I let her whenever the food we are eating allows.  

She did not eat much of her birthday cake.  Mostly it was just the icing.  She got to eat some chips and strawberries with her cake because it didn't seem like the cake was her favorite thing.  Maybe the icing was too sweet for her; it wasn't for me (I ate all the rest of both cakes by myself except for the 4 pieces I put in the freezer).  She wasn't really into opening her gifts.  What she was into was putting the toys back into the bags after we were done.  I let her cousins help open a few gifts at the end when it was apparent that she had no interest in doing it herself.  She did love the toys she got.  Her favorite is probably the ball popper which blows balls out a hole and then they make their way back to the bottom only to be blown up and out again.  SHE LOVES IT!!!  She also got a Weeble tree house with tons of accessories that she plays with a lot.  She got several bubble blowers.  She has not got to play with all of them, but they will all be used numerous times over the summer.  She got a couple ofreally cool books, a magnetic easel, and some clothes.  Her Nona and Nono gave her her first porcelain doll which is really adorable.  Her Memaw and Nanny gave her some fridge magnets which I hope she does not sneak into the garbage can thinking she is putting them up. 

It is crazy the things I find in my bags (and bathtub) sometimes--puzzle pieces, toys, clothes, books.  I hope this desire of hers to put everything into something turns into a desire to clean as she grows up.  That would be awesome.  I am thinking maybe we will get her a toy box for Christmas.  I really want to get her a room set up that we can keep all her toys in.  So far she does not spend any time in her bedroom unless she is sleeping, so it does not really make sense to put the toys in there.  Plus, she does even really have a real bedroom yet.  This is something I really want to get done.  We are in between moving/selling our houses and will be for an indefinite period of time.  This has been going on for a few years, so why not a few more???  I don't want to wait until we move to set up her room, but I don't really have a great place for it at the time.  I am patiently waiting for the day when I can create a little girl haven for her (at least this is one thing I can be patient for...LOL.  I never said I was perfect.).

I'm not sure what else I need to say about her right now.  But, I am sure as soon as I finish this something will pop into my head.  Oh well, I feel a little better having said all this so you all can stay up-to-date on my little girl--Summer Julianna.

I knew I forgot something.  She is really into pushing things around the house.  Chairs, her highchair, her booster seat, her walker, trashcans...whatever.  She loves to move objects to places where they do not go.  If only I could get her to put them back where they go; I'll have to work on that.

Birthday Video

Here is a video of the song and cake.  I gotta get off for now, but I will try to add more tomorrow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru8gvZG-AjU

Her 1st Videos

Here are some videos I found this morning when I was going through pics of Summer.  It is hard to believe she has gone from that to what she is now in only a year.  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0SxRjAbgns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEwP9lHFx0U

The Penguins Are Here

We went to the aquarium Thursday afternoon to see the new penguin exhibit.  They were pretty cool to watch.  Summer loved them.  She made her excited animal noise that she does when she sees pretty much anything with a heartbeat that is not human.  She loves animals. 

She has taken a bunch more steps in the past two days.  I think it was last Sunday that she took five steps and then not really any all week...until yesterday.  Now she is taking more and more steps.  If you try to get her to walk, she will NOT.  She does it when she is ready which is usually when you are not really paying attention to her.  I am trying to catch her on video, but if she sees the camera, she drops to her knees and goes after it.  I am sure I will get some this week though...especially since she is doing it a lot more often now.

Well, I have the night free.  So, I am going to spend some time with Clint and get ready for our big day tomorrow.   She's going to be ONE!!!!

Three Days & Counting

Summer will be one in just 3 days.  The past year has really flown by.  I can still remember those sleepless nights when she would wake me up numerous time to eat.  The nights when she was still in our room waking us up with every little noise she made.  Now if she makes a noise, I just roll over.

There are no more pacifiers (the short while they lasted).  No more swaddler blankets to wrap her in before she goes to sleep.  No more soggy breast pads.  No more staying put when put down.  Pretty soon there will be no more bottles.   All in all --NO MORE BABY.

It makes my heart a little sad letting go of my baby.  But, she is a beautiful little girl so it is worth it.  Her smile provokes conversation from even the leeriest stranger.  When she walks into a room (not literally of course), she gets the attention of almost every person in it.  In elevator, halls, stores, and restaurants, people adore her.  She is literally a doll.  She makes me smile every day.  The time I get to spend with her is priceless. 

Three more days and she is officially a little girl.  Well, I guess it is not "official" or anything, but it is a big milestone in her life.  I hope I am there for all of them.