Darby Hits the Big 1

1 yr olds know how to party! Saturday was the little shin dig to celebrate the all important birth of the Darbster! Let me tell you, she really scored on the loot. I thought she had a lot of toys before her party....now our house is like toy land or something. Thanks everyone for coming and celebrating with us!
Some of the party people


Checkin out some presents

Darby's new BFF...the giant smiley face balloon!

The classic 'noisiest toy' of all time. Yay! Thanks Grandpa and Grandma.... :)

Diving into the presents




Cupcake time!





More toy fun (for everyone)


Thanks everyone! Darby had a fabulous 1st birthday :)

Now for some throwbacks (not that this post isn't long enough already....)
Back in February 2008 we were waiting and waiting (and waiting....) and I kept getting bigger and bigger (and bigger....here is proof)

The due date came and went...until Feb 5th at 3am contractions started. A quick drive to Providence at 8am. Get told to walk around. Walk for a couple hours. Get a room. Get an epidural (wooo!!) Feel great for a long time. Make the whole family wait for HOURS! Start pushing around 10pm. After almost 4 hours Darby is totally stuck, face-up, and just chillin! Mister Doctor gives me the choice to A)go have a c-section, or B)use forceps and get little Darby movin! We chose option B, and on February 6th at 2:07am Darby arrives! 9 pounds 3.6 ounces of happy little baby girl. Some fun things happen which required Darby to move to pediatrics and wear an annoying little antibiotic boot for a few days...but then on Saturday morning we got to go home!
Was she ever this small?! Thanks for being born little Darby! We love you :)








We love you Darby Lee...keep growing up strong and healthy! I know the next year will be even better than the first :)

Super Bowl Sunday was spent with the Grandparents in B-Town!
Darby was in heaven when she found this....

And was then joined by the best playmate ever...

Awesome face


Never too early to start surfing the web



When laptop time was over...this was the result:

Fun times.

Also, today I took the scary step of joining a gym (again). My previous experience was not so good. So Mieko's Fitness it is.

They have a 'Kid's Club' and Im really curious to see how Darby does...hopefully she doesnt give them the old 'grab the leg and scream' bit she gives me (as seen in photo above).
Here's to (hopefully) leavin' the Big Booty Club, thank you very much! Now that Darby is basically 1 yr old, the old 'left over pregnancy weight' excuse is sounding lame. Come on Mieko's, work some wonders!

Who Needs Toys?

So I guess the whole pile of fun amazing baby toys are not up to the same standards as boxes and tupperware...? Ohhh the fun and excitement of everyday items.

Teddi Yaeger Photography

Teddi Yaeger is a wonderful photographer who was nice enough to photograph the Darbster last Saturday! She was doing Mini-Sessions in Greenwood at Playmatters (which Im seriously considering visiting again because Darby loved it there...check it out here)
Teddi was so nice and made both Darby and I feel so comfortable! It took Darby a few minutes to get used to the big camera...but she soon showed her true silly self :)
If you want to see the pictures, they are on a viewing website....so check it out :

I think all you have to do is enter your email address and it lets you sign in. After you sign in, either click on 'View Photos' or the 'Webshow,' and have fun!

Teddi really did a great job! She really captured Darby's famous baby chub, which I adore! Im glad she did, because now that Darby is walking like a pro (ahem, wobbly pro) she will probably lose some of that cute chubby chub. I am going to have such a hard (but fun) time picking and choosing pictures!
Also, please go check out Teddi's website, there are some absolutely gorgeous photos to admire! You can check out her blog, too, which is on the left hand side of my blog under 'Bloggedy Bloggers.'
Thanks Teddi, I love all of the pictures so much :)

Rock On

'Tis a good day!

And We Have A Walker!

A wobbly walker! Go little Darby!

Stop using my soap! And other squabbles...

My new favorite past time is reading up on everyone's love/hate relationship with passive aggressiveness. If you have ever a)had roommates, b)worked in an office, c)had a super annoying friend, etc, etc...I daresay you will relate to these little squabbles via post-its. Here is an example :

tilt your head upwards.
January 4th, 2009 · 70 comments
josh from annapolis, maryland says the first and last note in this exchange were apparently written by stephen, a college student at a school “known for it’s obtusely intellectual, chronically spacey student body.”

the notes were gone within a few days, but josh says the situation hasn’t exactly improved. in the meantime, he says, “i’m kinda worried for my own safety. i recently saw this kid chopping firewood in the backyard, so he definitely has an ax.”



I have seriously spent many an hour laughing and living vicariously through these notes...! So hilarious. Laugh it up here!

Have fun :)

PS
Props to Travis for the link on Facebook! Thanks a lot Travis, I was up til 1am reading these...

My rockstar daughter showing off her wobbly wobble (almost) walking skills on her 11 month old birthday! Rock on Darbster! We love you~

Prayers

I just wanted to send this website out to anyone who wants to take the time to pray for Malynda Skiff's new little baby boy, Hudson. He is quite the little fighter and needs all the prayers he can get! So get praying people! You can check out their website here to see his story, pictures, and updates on his health.

I haven't seen Malynda in over a year, but I just want to get as many yummy thoughts out to their family as I can! So onto thinking happy thoughts for cute little Hudson...

Merry Freakin' Christmas!

This picture is so funny, I just had to scan it and post it!
It was quite the ordeal...apparently Im not the scanning expert queen. Curse you Adobe!! But props to my mom for at least getting the pic upright and emailed back to me! And back to Computer Skills 101 I go....
Darby and Santa aren't BFF's yet. Maybe next year ;)