Waverly is 1 year old!

Waverly is ONE! Can you believe it??  I cannot. She has turned into such a fun little girl and I love watching her change.

We had a great 1st birthday party in the backyard with lots of friends and family. It was butterfly themed which turned out so cute.  It became a bigger party than I had originally planned, because it was our first time entertaining at the house. We worked so hard to pull the house and yard together for the weekend.  We had all our immediate family in town and were so grateful they made the trip to Richmond! To top it all off, weather was PERFECT.  I was crossing my fingers for the weather because our house is not huge and we had 20 some adults and about 10 kids!  During the party, everyone was outside most of the time which was ideal.

Waverly seemed a little tired because she skipped her pre-party nap and a little overwhelmed by the party.  There weren't any tears, but also not a single picture of her smiling...haha. She seemed to love playing with all her friends though.  I set up some kids activities in the yard and she had fun checking them out.  She also LOVED her cake...her face went right into it and she ate a ton.

It was so fun to have everyone at our new house. We love to entertain and haven't had the opportunity very often. I really enjoyed planning, decorating, and cooking for the party!  Special thanks to my family and friends who helped!!

kids table with bubbles and crayons

birthday girl

some butterfly decor outside

notice the butterfly shaped pb&j's - courtesy of my mom and sister in law!

the butterfly cupcakes I made

she has changed so much every month!

diy birthday wreath. I plan to change out the number and reuse it every year!

i made this little cake!

my close friends from college and their kids who are Waverly's buddies

friends enjoying the backyard

fishing pond

with Aunt Shannon, Caroline, and Uncle Andy from Boston

with Granddaddy and Nana

we are so happy Tina could come from DC!

with Grandmom from Wilmington DE

with Mimi and Poppi from Philadelphia

One reason I love our blog is so that I can look back and remember certain times in our lives.  This might be a long update on Waverly, but I like to have it all saved!

Waverly is seriously so fun.  She is physically strong and is ALWAYS moving...there is no slow mode. It's either go-go-go or sleeping.  She is super curious and exploratory.  She's also not afraid of much, in fact she loves a good thrill!  Waverly also loves anything that makes a LOUD noise...shakers, cabinet doors, the vacuum and usually tries to make her voice even louder. She started fake laughing recently which is pretty hilarious and has some new dance moves.  Lots of hip action and bouncing while bobbing or shaking her head.  We get a kick out of watching her dance!  This summer at the pool we discovered that she really likes being in the water.  She seems to want to swim on her own already! Splashing, kicking and wading along the edge of the pool were a lot of fun for her this summer.  Although she seems to be having a great time, it was tough for me to hold onto a baby who wants to dive right in!  At the moment she is very close to walking...stands up on her own but only takes a couple steps at a time right now.  Once she's confident enough she'll be off for the races.

One thing I love is how much she loves books. She has gotten really good at turning the pages and has some favorite books like "the big red barn" and "brown bear" and "goodnight moon". It's pretty amazing how the classics are still favorites. It must be the rhymes and illustrations.  She remembers where things are in her books and gives the dog in the pictures a kiss or opens the flap to see what's behind it.  She'll sit for a while looking at her books and it's nice to see her sit still!  Every once in a while I'll put her in her crib with a bunch of books so that I can shower...gives me a solid 25 mins.

She is now saying a couple words: dog, dada, mama, yucky, balloon, bye. She babbles a lot, especially in the car or during a walk in her stroller.  I think she is telling us about her day or what she's been doing.  I try to talk back most of the time, but sometimes she goes on and on!  Quiet is also nice, haha.  Waverly is also using sign language. I'm going to do a separate post about this with more detail but right now she has 5 signs: more, dog, all done, eat, and milk.

We have been playing a lot of "where's Waverly" and she loves to find a little hiding spot.  Since she's kind of a rough and tumble kid, we have been working on learning to be gentle and not chucking toys across the room. I do not enjoy getting hit with a flying block.  Recently she has been putting things back inside containers (yay for cleaning up!) and handing things to me instead of throwing them or putting them her mouth.

I would say that Waverly's 2 favorite things (beside mama and daddy, of course) are her dog and food.  She really loves Cole and squeals with excitement anytime she gets to pet him.  She gets upset if I scold him or put him outside...the guilt!  Food comes very close behind. I swear she could eat all day.  I'm not saying she loves any food, because there are some vegetables and meats that get the immediate high chair toss.  But when it's something yummy she will eat A LOT.  "Shovel it in" seems to be her motto.  Now not only is the dog always begging for my food, but so is Waverly. What does a mom have to do to eat, pee or shower in peace??

Through all this fun and hard play, I savor her sweet side.  She loves to lay on my shoulder and give "huggies" and kisses unprompted. These are such sweet moments that I love.  I also love seeing her climb up into the glider and snuggle up to her blankie.

I may have just highlighted all the postives about my sweet Waverly, but make no mistake she has her moments too.  Small temper tantrums, hitting, throwing toys, books and food, HATES to have her diaper changed...nothing out of the ordinary for a toddler!


Love this belly laugh...

A future roller coaster lover...

Little hip wiggle and doggy love...

Love from Richmond!