Pancakes & Pajamas: Charlotte Turns ONE!

Charlotte turned one this past weekend and we threw her a birthday bash. I have been so excited for Charlotte's first birthday party. With so many little kids coming to the party we decided that early morning would be best. It turned out to be the perfect time and there was not one unhappy kiddo. It was so fun celebrating Charlotte with our friends and family. 

Since Charlotte is too little to tell me what she wanted to do for her party I decided on the theme Pancakes and Pajamas. I wanted the party to be girly and not too babyish. She is now a one year old you know?

The food was breakfast of course. Who doesn't love breakfast? The menu was mini buttermilk pancakes, sausage pinwheels, fruit salad, mini muffins, fruit & yogurt parfaits, and mini quiches with cake for dessert. 

I wanted to keep the decorations simple with just different color pinks with black and white patterns.

A tree of Charlotte pictures

You can't have a birthday party without a cake. Oh, the cake. It was fabulous and I may or may not be eating it every single day for the rest of my life because we have so much extra. Charlotte loved it too!

 Now for the fun pictures of the party.

Both Grandmas, Mia and Grandma

Rebecca and Taylor (9 months)

Thank you to everyone who came to Charlotte's birthday! It was such a fun morning!   

Happy Birthday Charlotte!

Miss Charlotte turned a year old this past weekend. We had a big birthday bash on Saturday that I will blog about later. So much happened this past month! The holidays are always a whirlwind and adding C's birthday in the middle has made it even more fun.  

Charlotte had her first trip to Colorado to celebrate Thanksgiving. She was a trooper through the 12 hour drive and enjoyed watching Yo Gabba Gabba and Toy Story...the entire drive. I bet you can guess what songs were stuck in our heads the following week!  

 We had a great time in Colorado and Charlotte loved it there. We have so much to be thankful for and family is definitely one of them!

First Turkey Trot!

Charlotte "talks" all the time. She has so much to say and I wish that I could understand her. She still says "mama" and "dada" mostly but I can tell that she understands so much of what I say. Her favorite thing to do is drop things on the floor. She understands when I tell her no but thinks that if she is looking me in the eye I can't see what she's doing. It's so hard not to laugh. Poor Bella (or maybe lucky Bella?) is going to get so fat from all the food Charlotte drops. It's like an all you can eat buffet for her at meal time.

We also took Charlotte to go see Santa this month. I fully expected her to be terrified (does it make me a bad mom that I was looking forward to it?) but $28 later she was fine!

Then the next week at school Santa came to visit and we got a FREE picture. This one made my day. I hope Charlotte will appreciate this when she is older. 

This week we take Charlotte to the doctor for her 12 months visit. I know she is a lot taller than her 9 month appointment. Most of her 24 month pants are too short now. Do they make baby pants in tall? 

Just look how much she has changed over the past 12 months.

The past year has been so amazing and wonderful and better than I ever could have imagined. I never knew how much I could love this child. I love her open mouth smile and her giggles that we have to work so hard for. I appreciate how she is a great sleeper and how much she loves her routine. I love that just coming around the corner fast makes her giggle and squeal. The simplest things make Charlotte so happy. She is most definitely a Daddy's girl and she has Dan wrapped around her finger. I wish that we could hit a pause button because time is going by way too fast. I have truly loved every second of this past year. Happy, happy birthday baby girl!

Glass Half Full

Tomorrow is an event that I have been looking forward to for over 4 months. Remember how I made it official that I was signed up for the White Rock half marathon? I put it on here so that it would be set in stone and out for all to see so that I would be held accountable. Well, it worked and I have been so motivated to run the half. 13.1 miles. Four months ago I couldn't even run 10 minutes, or even 5 to be honest. I found an awesome running group that made a HUGE difference in my training.  I have grown to actually enjoy running and I look forward to my long runs and adding miles each week. I have always worked out but running has by far been my favorite. 

These past 4 months I have been so paranoid about getting injured or sick and have taken every precaution to prevent that from happening. Last Saturday I completed my 12 mile run and felt awesome. Next would come shorter mileage to taper down for the actual half marathon the following Sunday. Well, life gave me a huge slap in the face Sunday and hit me with the flu. So bad that I passed out at the doctor's office which sent me to the hospital. Don't worry, I'm fine. Just the flu. We even got the flu shot in September!  After the doctor telling me that people die from running races with the flu, I knew that the race was out of the question for the next weekend. Totally out of my control. I was upset at first but I have moved passed it. There will be more races and more goals to meet. So why is the glass half full?

• I have found a new love of running
• I have met AWESOME women that I look forward to running with
• I know that I can run 13.1 miles because I ran 12! What's 1 more mile?
• I set a goal and even though it didn't turn out as I planned, I 95% met it.
• I'm 70 pounds lighter that I was a year ago today. Not all of that is due to running but it definitely helped me drop to where I wanted to be. 
• Also, I've enjoyed eating pasta the night before a long run. Something I try to avoid normally.

This training has been a family effort. Dan has enjoyed Daddy/Daughter times on Saturday mornings when I'm out running. He has fully supported me through this and has been my #1 cheerleader. He was so excited to take Charlotte to the finish line to see me cross. He has listened to me talk about my excitement for the event and my new found love for running and has been so encouraging. Hopefully he will still be as excited when I cross the finish line in February when the next half marathon takes place. Well, the half marathon that I plan on running, but who knows what will happen.