Lana's First Word

Lana's first coherent word besides mamama and dadada is "baby." She loves her babies and I noticed she was dressed like one the other day. This particular outfit even has a hat so they could be true matching babies.

Lana is 1!

Lana is 1! We had her party last week and today we took her "official" 1-year picture. Her little smile--and those cheeks!--just kills me. In the past month she's gotten two teeth, is practicing standing up unassisted, especially loves stuffed animals and dolls, and still eats anything as long as there's a lot. (Except milk. and finger food.) She's even perfected the art of pointing to a food then pointing to the table in front of her to indicate she'd like to eat. She still loves being held by mommy and would probably become surgically attached if she could. When she's very upset she'll bang her head on the floor or sometimes throw herself on the ground. I'm not sure where she learned to be so dramatic but it is quite the show. She also gags whenever a solid piece of food touches her lips. Also very intense drama. She has a little quirk of crawling with fists sometimes and we laugh together in the morning when she's stretching on her changing table. She's a delicate little lady that also likes to be silly and giggle. We love our little Lana!

Looking back, here are the pictures from each month of her first year, from newborn-11 months.

New Year, New Clothes

Now that the holidays have ended I am pulling out the sewing patterns I bought on Black Friday. First one to make it onto the cutting table was this Submarine Pullover by ShwinDesigns. Clark could use a couple more long-sleeved shirts since it seems like we're having an exceptionally cold (for Houston) winter. Herringbone flannel made this one nice and cozy. 

All the while I was making the shirt Steve kept asking me if it was a jacket. No, it wasn't, but it gave me an idea. So I got my Southwestern on and made a jackety/sweatshirt version. It's funky, but Clark could not be convinced to take it off all day. He paired it with green pants and rain boots. I'm glad he likes it!

Christmas Crumbs

Before I get the last of Christmas put away I wanted to post a few little things from the month of December that didn't make it into any other post. First was that my parents came to visit us for 6 days (yay!). We were so glad they were here, especially Clark who got to open a present every day that Grandma was here. Next is a couple snapshots of the kids doing their work: Lana opening cabinets and Clark (aka Superman) raking leaves in the backyard. Third, Clark and I made Christmas cookies together (ones that he can eat). I let him operate the mixer, pour in the ingredients, and cut out the cookies. Last, we made some new ornaments for our tree. My favorites are Clark's painted works. Not pictured are the handprint ornaments of each child which were ridiculously frustrating to make but worth it since I'll treasure them forever!  

Lana's First Party

Since I was a bit buried in Christmas preparations on Lana's first birthday--two days before Christmas--we postponed her celebration until yesterday. It was a small party, with just our little family as guests, but still sweet. We started off with a little game, borrowed from Elder Perry, that we've done with each child so far on their first birthday. We place some food, a toy, some scriptures, and some money across the room from the child and let them select the item that most intrigues them. Lana waffled between the toy and the cupcake, but eventually chose the toy. According to Elder Perry's words, the toy represents the need to take time to add to one's personal worth.

Moving right along with our party we sang to Lana and had cake. I made carrot ginger cupcakes with orange buttercream frosting, allergen-free (recipe by Cybele Pascal in the Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook), so Clark could be included. Lana enjoyed the singing, but wasn't sure what to make of the cake. She dipped her finger in the frosting repeatedly and smeared it around awhile before trying any. She's not a real eat-with-her-hands kind of girl so I wasn't surprised at her dainty approach. 

And of course no party is complete without her famous crazy eye face (which I didn't notice she pulled until I uploaded the pictures!). Clark wasted no time in putting away his cupcake, then offered to help Lana enjoy hers by feeding her some. 

Even with help she didn't do much damage to her cupcake but she seemed to enjoy a few licks of frosting. Too bad she didn't eat more cake--they were delicious if I do say so myself! After cake we had a few presents and went on a walk. Happy first birthday, sweet Lana. We sure love you, little one!