Mellany's 1st Birthday Party!!!

Even though we can't believe it, we had Mellany's 1st birthday party on September 29. It was held at her Nana Barrett's on a BEAUTIFUL Saturday and we couldn't have asked for a better time! Johnny and I had so much fun and we are pretty sure Mellany did too! We were surrounded by family and as always, it is so nice to see those we don't get to very often! You know it's a good time when the birthday girl falls asleep in her dress, shoes and cake in her hair! :) 

Anderson and Mellany playing/getting re-aquainted...

Baby Nick....doesn't he have the sweetest little face?!

Opening gifts

The baby doll was a HIT!

My Pal Violet

A recorded book from Grammy Jones

Hand-made Hat & Scarf

Clothes!

A singing teddy bear

Clothes and books

Mommy and Mellany matching aprons....such a cute idea

Tiger gear!

Leap Frog Fridge Barn

Puppy!

Her first cake....thanks Becky Treichel....they both turned out amazing and tasted GREAT!

The neatest cake eating I've ever seen

Visiting with Baby Nick and Nick (I LOVE this picture!)

Great Grandpa Hinshaw & Mellany

Hanging and drinking a bottle with Aunt Mae-Mae

4 Generations: Great Grandpa Hinshaw, Grammy Jones, Mama & Mellany

Sink bath the next morning....I think she was pretty happy to be cake & icing free

Osborn's Visit!

Joel & Audrey came to visit us a few weeks ago and we had such a great visit with them!! Joel is one of the coaches at Northwest; and UNK actually hosted NW for this year's homecoming game. Audrey made the drive up on Friday afternoon and stayed both Friday and Saturday nights while Joel was only able to stay on Saturday night. It was a great game (NW won of course!), the weather was beautiful and even Mellany did a great job!! We hadn't gotten to see Joel and Audrey in wayyyyyyy too long so it was really nice to have them at our house and visit (we hardly ever get to host friends being so far away from our hometown)! Sadly, we have no pictures of Joel from their visit, but we'll get them next time! :) 

Her very first football game!

Go Bearcats!!

~Happy Birthday Johnny~

We celebrated Johnny's birthday this past week! We didn't get to do much but we did order take-out BBQ and had Eileen's cookies (they are amazing!) along with a date-night at the shooting range and Applebee's on Thursday night. Johnny hasn't really been that "big" on birthdays in the past, so he's still getting used to my "big fuss" about them! All in all he said it was a great day/couple of days.....though I really think he just hates the thought of him being another year older than me....haha! 

Stealing some of da-da's icing....

Mellany's card for da-da

....she loved it!

Very intent on getting more icing...

My absolute favorite!!

{{Somewhat}} Wordless Wednesday (Friday)!

Loves the washing machine

Where's Mellany?!...

...there she is!

"Playing" with Bo

Mellany's first art project! (Created at the gym)

(had to get a close up to see the crayon marks she made lol)

Watching mama blowdry her hair (she will watch me the entire time--a good 15-20 minutes!)

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!

~{11 Months}~

It is so hard to believe it has been another month! Mellany is one month closer to the big birthday and I am so not ready. With each day, I (Johnny too) make a point to hold her just a little longer while she sleeps or get in a few more sweet kisses because we know that before long she isn't going to want to be held and the kisses will be few and far between. Life is so bittersweet isn't it?! 

Here's what she has been up to over the past month! 

• Her sleeping habits are pretty much the same from last month....about 30-60 minute nap in the morning, 2-3 hours in the afternoon, 30 minutes or less in the evening....in bed at 8/8:30 and up around 6:30....we are so fortunate that she has such amazing sleeping habits. I'm sure she gets it from her dad! :-) Sometimes though, she does put up a pretty good fight. 
• Mellany is really beginning to eat a lot of table food and is even less interested in the bottle. If we could just get her to drink water, I'm sure that we wouldn't even have the bottle at this point. She loves to be able to eat whatever you are eating and is trying all kinds of new things....way too many to list! She is totally a fruit girl though and will literally devour any kind of fruit you give her. Thankfully, she hasn't quite turned picky like her momma and that makes me very happy! Her pincher grasp is really good and she can feed herself quite well--puffs are her favorite
• Discoveries: Doors-She will swing a door all day every day if she could. She especially likes to look for the doorstop. 
• Accomplishments: Walking with the wheelie bug and walker.....she gets so proud of herself as she walks with them. Clapping! She loves to clap and does it often! She is really starting to make the connection between clapping and when it is "appropriate" to clap. 
• Places: Over the course of the past month Mellany and I embarked on a major road trip from Kearney, NE to Kansas City, MO to Columbia, MO to Branson, MO back to KCMO and all the way back to NE.....Mellany did AMAZING on this 2 week trip and we had such a fun time together! Thanks to Grammy, she got her birthday present early....a DVD player for the car.....so we enjoyed some Baby Einstein, Dr. Seuss and Lady and the Tramp, which definitely helped with the boredom of travelling. 
• Special friends: Anderson Thornton! She loved playing with Anderson; they did so well together
• New babbles: Finally!!!! Mellany says "ma-ma"!!!!!!! She drags out the initial mmmmm.....and then just breaks out ma-ma! I absolutely love it! She can also say "Nana". Really, she could talk your ear off. 
• She really loves music and has even learned how to "dance". 
• Her favorite toys are her bunny, puppy, rattle, truman blankie, her blanket, her leap frog table, her mini purse, The Very Hungry Caterpillar book and her photo album. She is really content playing with herself and can keep herself occupied for a long time. 
• Mellany is wearing mainly 6-9 month clothes as well as 12 month shirts. She is pretty long but slender...finding clothes to fit (especially pants) can be somewhat difficult. 
• She is developing quite the personality....she is very active, a studier/observer, literally always happy and excited, loves to read (and gets mad when you stop), loves to be in the car, loves the shopping cart, has the sweetest little grin when she knows she is doing something she shouldn't be, she really likes to put her hands in your mouth and nostrils (even better is when you "blow" out your nose....she just giggles and giggles)
• Standing unassisted is becoming more and more frequent
• She has gotten really good at climbing stairs but hasn't quite mastered getting down them
• She likes strings, especially ones on shirts and pants
• She really likes to go into her closet and go through all her shoes; she also loves to play with her diapers and our water bottles (or pepsi bottles) :-) 
• Mellany likes to "drum" anything she can
• She loves to play with junk mail or magazine or any kind of paper she can find
• Her legs are always crossed....in the tub, in the carseat, in the high chair, sitting in your lap.....always crossed...
• She always finds Johnny's pen/pencil in his shirt when he picks her up after getting home from work....it's like a nightly routine
• A fake laugh has developed....If we start laughing she usually chimes in with a real loud fake laugh....which makes us laugh harder. 

HAPPY 11 MONTHS MISS MELLANY! 

Definitely the hardest photo shoot by far....I'm sure you can figure out why! :-) 

Growth Chart!

If you remember one of my posts while I was pregnant, I found a growth chart idea that I really loved and wanted to make for Mellany. Well, about 6 months after Mellany was born, I realized it wasn't going to happen. But, I do happen to have a very artsy friend who I knew could do it! After asking her about it and telling her my ideas, she agreed and this is the result. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE how it turned out and can't wait to start measuring M's growth. Didn't she do an amazing job?! 

Thanks Kim!!!