Happy 1st Birthday Tessa!

This post was long time coming. I started working on it the night of her birthday, but I didn't get it finished until today. A little late, I know, but better late than never.

The day finally arrived. Happy Birthday Tessa!!!!!! It was one year ago today that you came into our lives and made everything more fabulous than I ever imagined that my life could be! This year with Tessa has been the best year of my life. I always thought I knew what a mother's love was like, but I realized that I knew nothing about how a mother loves a child until Tessa came into my life. We have had a wonderful day celebrating Tessa's birthday. We started our day out with opening a few presents, including a new tricycle, Sleeping Beauty and the book Go, Dog, Go!. Then we had a birthday breakfast. I made blueberry muffins and we put a candle in one and sang happy birthday to our sweet girl. She tried to reach for the flame, but we pulled her back just in time. I let her go at it and eat her muffin how she wanted. She really loved it!

Then we all got ready and went to Mommy's school for the morning. Mommy promised her students they could have a birthday party with Tessa, and Mommy really wanted to spend as much time with her birthday girl as she could. The kids had so much fun seeing her and singing to her. Tessa enjoyed getting to see all the kids. She even got a special birthday crown with her name on it that all the kids get when they have their birthday at school. She spent a few hours with us, then Daddy took her home to get a nap.

When Mommy got home from school, Tessa was just waking up from her nap. We all loaded up in the car and went to Sonic for lunch. It was such a nice day that we ate outside on the patio. Our carhop came over and told us how cute Tessa was and we mentioned that it was her first birthday. A few minutes later she came out and said her manager would like to give her an ice cream cone for her birthday if it was okay with us. It surely was, so Tessa got a nice vanilla ice cream cone as a special birthday treat. She really enjoyed that. After lunch, we went home and Tessa played some more and just relaxed. She really had fun riding her tricycle outside in the beautiful sunshine. We really had a nice afternoon.

For dinner, we had a special picnic at our favorite park in downtown Oswego. We went there and met Grandma and Grandpa, Alissa, Chris, Jack and Cole, and Amy, Kyleigh, Karissa and Keaton. We ate then we went and played on the playground equipment. Tessa's favorites were the swing, the roller slide and the teeter totter. All the cousins had so much fun playing and spending time together. We haven't seen our Gibbs cousins since Easter! Then we went back to our house for presents and cupcakes. Tessa got so many nice presents. From Mommy and Daddy she got some more books, a swimsuit and a princess couch! Grandma and Grandpa gave her a walk-behind stroller and a baby doll! Aunt Amy, Uncle Kyle, Kyleigh, Karissa and Keaton gave her two dresses and fun phone that she can pull around behind her! Aunt Lissy, Uncle Chris, Jack and Cole gave her two sunsuits and some matching new bows! Then we sang happy birthday to Tessa and passed out her cupcakes. She really enjoyed being able to smash into her cupcake. She was very hesitant at first, not sure if she was really supposed to be doing that or not, but when we didn't stop her, she went to town and really enjoyed her cupcake.

This was the best first birthday for Tessa that I could have possibly asked for. I know she won't remember all that we did today, but I will remember it and treasure it forever. Celebrating her first birthday is our way of celebrating that we made it through the first year. We not only made it, but I feel like we soared through it. We may have had our ups and downs along the way but we more than just survived, it was fantastic! We lived the first year of her life, and we came through it with flying colors! I have loved every minute that I have spent watching my girl grow up to the beautiful toddler that she has become. She amazes me every day with all the things she is learning and doing. She is the light of my life and I can't even imagine (or remember) what life would be like without her. I LOVE YOU TESSA CHARLOTTE! Happy 1st Birthday!

How They Change

I am getting really excited for Tessa's first birthday and the big party that we're going to have. Alissa made gorgeous birthday invitations (which I showed a couple posts ago) and I finally remembered to get a few of them printed out as photos. I wanted one for my fridge and ones for all the grandparents. We didn't mail invites to everyone, just e-mailed, but I wanted a few printed out. I got my invitations picked up and took it home and stuck it right up on the fridge, and that's when it hit me. Where I put it on the fridge is right below her birth announcement which has stayed in it's permanent spot all year. Wow. That hit me hard. I don't know, it was just seeing her birth announcement right next to her 1st birthday invitation; I just feel like we've come full circle. We made it through the first year, and made it through with flying colors. Wow. I can't entirely explain my feelings at that moment, it was just, wow.

"Dut!"

As we are approaching Tessa's first birthday, I am seeing that she is learning and doing so much! The other night when we were at my mom and dad's for my dad's birthday, she shouted "Gampa!" when my dad walked in the room. We have never heard her say it so clearly. Last night, she learned a new word. She was in the bathtub, playing in the bubbles and having a great time. We have a rubber ducky thing that covers the water spout in the tub so she won't bump her head on it, and she noticed it and reached for it to touch it. She has done this before, and I try to tell her "duck" or "ducky" to see if she'll say it, but it always comes out sounding more like what she says when she says, "dad" or "daddy." But then last night, she reached up for it, and I said, "That's a duck, Tessa, duck." She looked up at me with wide open eyes, touched the duck and said, "dut? dut? DUT!" She kept getting louder and louder and more excited. I was so happy for her, I just kept saying, "yes, that's a duck!" She was so proud of herself and I was crying because I was so happy for her that she learned a new word. I can't believe how much she's changing. Yeah for the "duts"!

Almost 1 year...

It is only a couple of weeks until Tessa turns one. I am excited and dreading it at the same time. This weekend, when we were at my mom and dad's, I asked Alissa to take some pictures of her so that we would have a current picture to use for her birthday party invitation. We got a couple of really beautiful ones, then of course, she started to break down and I have a couple of funny ones where she is clearly not happy to be taking pictures. All in all, we got some pictures and Alissa was able to make a beautiful invitation for her 1st birthday party!!!

This is my favorite picture from the whole day!! I think it is gorgeous!!

And here is the invitation to Tessa's 1st Birthday Party!! Alissa did a great job on it, I love it!!!

Go Cubs Go! & Working Out

I have been looking online for months for a Derrek Lee t-shirt for Tessa. David and I both have Lee jersies. I did find a little Lee jersey a while ago, but I wasn't about to pay $58 for a jersey for Tessa that she will grow out of in a few months. Strike 1. I looked online, and I finally found the t-shirt I had been looking for, but they only had it in 12 mo size, the 18 mo & 24 mo sizes were sold out. Strike 2. Then a couple weeks ago, I was shopping with Tanya, my sister in law, (and Tessa, of course), and we went into The Fan's Edge in the mall and they had a whole new stock of baby Cubs stuff, and I found it! They had a Lee Cubs t-shirt that was in her size. I was so excited!!! It makes it even more fun that I have the exact same one, just my size of course. I wouldn't dream of raising my daughter any other way that to bleed Cubbie blue!

The newest addition to her Cubs collection came this weekend. David had to go to church on Saturday because he was on worship team. Apparently, he had made a few other stops on his way there. When we saw him after church, he had a surprise for Tessa. He found a soft leather Cubs baseball and bat. She loves it! She mostly likes to put them in her mouth, she chomps on the bat like a dog on a bone, and she likes to stick the ball in her mouth and just go. That's how she gets it around. She looks awfully cute. My sweetie pie!!!

Today, after I took the Cubs pictures, Tessa and I were playing upstairs in our den. It's a mess right now because when she's up there, she likes to pull all the books and dvds off the shelves, so I have given up putting them back up there because she just pulls them down again. Anyway, our treadmill is in the den also. After watching her today, I realized how much she really pays attention to what we do and I really saw how our healthy habits are going to rub off on her in the future. She climbed up onto the treadmill and she crawled on the track all the way to the front, then she turns around and crawled to the back, then would stop and turn around and crawl to the front, and so on and so forth. She did this probably 10 times, back and forth, back and forth. She was really trying to go on the treadmill. Keep on going baby!