52 weeks and counting!

Hooray!  We made it!  We lived!  We are victors of year one!!  

Now cue the crying.  Just look at her.  She is basically a little person.  Nope, not a baby but a little girl.  She's tall and beautiful and talking up a storm.  Dang.  It still floors me that we made her.  Wild.  She also isn't a cake fan.  Or a fan of anything that requires chewing.  Icing and chocolate cheesecake don't require chewing, so this is how Ro broke the no-sugar lifestyle she has enjoyed up until this week.  The chocolate cheesecake was the biggest winner she kept wanting, "more" and then, "more" and then, "more".  Wanna know what else?  She says 'balloon".  How cute is that?  It's like this:  "ball-mmm".  Additionally, she has amazing chubby and soft cheeks.  They were made to be kissed.  And I do.
So let's get to it!  Because little kid's birthday parties are rife with camera snapping moments...
First stop, Reno.  The usually drab, ugly, dirty town was coated, dusted, blanketed in snow.  It was fantastic!  It was also Rosanna's first time to touch the stuff, so I was really excited for her!  She, however, wasn't really into it.  I had to basically force her to touch it and stay near it long enough to capture a picture.  "Look!  Snow!  Touch it...here it is!  Come over here- Rosanna, come feel the snow!  It's so cool!  Come here baby!"  Sooooo, yeah.

It was cold for this wussy Cali girl.  So cold.  And what is cuter than bundled up babies?  Not much.

Our hotel was pretty neat.  It had a bowling alley and an arcade.  Reese tore up the basketball shooting game (and got enough tickets to get a beach ball!) and we spent some quality family time shuffle boarding. 

For her actual birthday we splurged and got room service.  Nothing but the best for this one year old!  She got a kick out of it, and she also got a kick out of the huge mirror and the entire box of tissues that were installed at eye level. (P.S. The following picture might just be my favorite birthday picture we took of her)

Did I mention the chocolate cheesecake?  She was sure she could eat it all!

I mentioned before that I was persistent in capturing her first snow moment on camera, regardless if it was something she was interested in...well this theme continued with the application of the birthday hat.  The short story is: she didn't want to wear it.  

I tried multiple times to put it on her.  I even thought, "Ok, it's been a few hours maybe she'll forget she hates it..." but no, she hated it all day long.  Her family wore them though, we know how to celebrate!

And...frosting?  Maybe.  This girl won't eat just anything, a lot of investigation goes on first, and why not?  

One night Ethan and I got a little time to ourselves and things got a little giddy....

We couldn't help ourselves, we had $40 to burn on the Wheel of Fortune quarter machines!

And we were baby-less!  The upside of bringing two sets of grandparents along is that there is no shortage of anxious adults who want to snuggle and ogle at your wee-one.

Our drive home was interesting.  The drive takes about 2 hours and we made it home in 4.  Yuck.  Road closures due to accidents paired with an intensifying storm left us $75 lighter (chains, boo) and all kinds of crabby (if you are Ro).  Our heroes (Reese and Ethan) chained us up and got back into the car with blue fingers and a sense of accomplishment.  You guys rock!

It was fun, and I am almost over my disbelief that she has been out of me for a whole year now (did I mention that I got emotional in the cake store?  I did.).  Next post will cover her birthday party at our house over the weekend.  I'll leave you with a few more pictures from our trip because I can't help myself!

 (Can you even stand it?  I can't.  I am certain she was overtaken with mommy kisses shortly after this pic was taken)

Alphabet of Mel

To satisfy your burning need to know more about me, here's a little something to tide you over....(next up: Rosanna's birthday post!)


A. Age: 29
B. Bed size: KING!  Sleeping in the same bed as 2 others.  Touching no one.  
C. Chore you hate: Cleaning the shower. It's so awkward.
D. Dogs: Sad...makes me think of my oldster
E. Essential start to your day: Teeth brushed, baby hip-ed, perusing the cupboard for breakfast
F. Favorite color: Purple!
G. Gold or silver: Silver please.
H. Height: 5'11".  I used to want to be 6' soooo bad, now I know I'm just perfect
I. Instruments you play: In elementary school: trombone.  Now: guitar please?
J. Job title: Mom.  :):):):):):):)
K. Kids: One
L. Live: Roseville now, next AUBURN!
M. Mom's name: Tammy
N. Nicknames: Mel, Varmit, Melly, Melski
O. Overnight hospital stays: Probably when I was born, when I had my cyst removed, when our Ro was born
P. Pet peeve: Chronically late people.  Paying for gas.  When food burns to the bottom of the pan, grrr.
Q. Quote from a movie:  "You are!!!"
R. Right or left handed: Lefty.
S. Siblings: I consider myself to have three brothers and one sister.
T. Time you wake up: Usually 7, unless Ro wants to sleep longer.
U. Underwear: The usual?
V. Vegetables you dislike: I can't think of any
W. What makes you run late: IF I run late, it's likely because there was an unplanned diaper change
X. X-Rays you've had: leg?  arm?  Well, definitely teeth.
Y. Yummy food you make: What yummy food DON'T I make?  Hehe
Z. Zoo- favorite animal: I like watching the wolves at the Folsom Zoo howl


Stay tuned for Rosanna's plentiful birthday celebrations!  Here's a sneak peak..

Park day, baby

There she is.  My pretty, pretty princess.  She is modeling a lovely chunky pink multi-stranded necklace, worn in the style of the flower child.  Let me just tell you, she got plenty of kisses for that!  

In the spirit of the lifted weather, we headed out to the park.  The sun was out!  Hooray!  The air was cold.  Boo.  So we suited up and headed out, me and my little munchkin:

Notice the shoes.  Ugh.  It makes her look so old!  Why?!  This could be named the first official time she has used shoes.  She and I wrestled each other to get them on, a few tears were shed but we survived.  It is clear to me that for a first-timer, walking with shoes is a different sort of task than walking without.  She stumbled and fell over more times than is normal for her, trying to get grounded.  Clearly she is my child.  Shoes are dumb.  She even got her first skinned knee!  

Don't act like I'm crazy, it really is skinned a bit.  She fell over herself while walking to the park.  Ugh, it tugged at my heart and made me want to toss those nasty (albeit cute) sneakers into a fire.  Of course, she was barely fazed and was ready to take off when we reached the park.

My favorite new accessory has to be the ball cap.  It is too darn sweet!  

There were too many 'big kids' being crazy around the play structure (note to teenagers: please take your silliness and obnoxiosity (new word?) elsewhere and leave the playground for the babies) so we moved  on to the swings!  Always a hit with Ro, she becomes contemplative, giggly, observant, meditative.  

I am in love.  I can't get enough.  I sometimes long for the break of nap time and then feel lonely, longing for her to wake up and remind me of why I am the most blessed Momma.  

We didn't stay out long, the air was too cold for this family.  Rosanna agreed that she was done too.

Lastly, I leave you with this shot, because her cuteness cannot be denied and I'll never pass up a chance to spread the love.

Shout out to the hubs, who's camera skills captured some awesome adorableness on today's adventure :)

  

5 Days To Go

In only four days our tiny little baby, our little lump of love will be one year old.  I know, you think I must be mistaken.  I've checked the calendar a number of times because I don't believe it myself.  Then I think about all the growing that has happened and I come to the conclusion that yes, it has indeed been a year.

She walks,

without shoes....

 she has amazing hair,

she's opinionated,

and adventurous,

she's so very helpful,

already she has made friends for life,

not to mention she is so creative!

She's a team player,

and simply irresistible.

Love you, Rosie Posey