Lavinia is 1! Happy Birthday!

My sweet little baby,Lavinia Ariel Sanders aka Stinky, Chewbacca, Lav, Lavi is 1 today.

I tried to post important pictures from every month of her life. We celebrated her every month with a cake. For some reason I can't find the number 8 cake. Number 7 is in my parents' pics so I have to get those and I hope they have number 8 as well.

Lavinia has been an excellent baby pretty much from the get go. She wasn't very fussy as a newborn, slept a lot, never spit up which (I thought was weird) and was very easy going. Around 3 months she started being chatty. At that point she was sleeping thru the night. She slept like that until she outgrew her bassinet and we brought her in bed with us. After that she started waking up to nurse more. Fine with me. I mean I wished I could sleep like before but it wasn't such an annoyance. We cuddled and that was fun. When my parents moved out in July their room became hers. I got it all painted and girly and moved the crib in there. From the first night I put her in there (7mo) she slept through the night. I was amazed as I was prepared for some major drama but thankfully I didn't have to worry about her. She took and still takes naps in her car seat. She loves that thing for naps and is still so little that I think she will be in there until 2.

She crawled really early; earlier than Dacian at 5 1/2 months and was walking right on her 10th month. She is not as easy going now as she has a velociraptor (sp) scream. Both my kids I guess are screamers. I don't know what to do but I know it gets better as they start talking.

She can by theway say quite a few words and knows the sounds of many, many animals if you ask her. Her favorite is the lion. She has the cutest roar.

She is normal for height (40%) but underweight (no longer on the charts) . She has never been a good nurser. She ate in a whopping 5 minutes and then was done. I tried to force more down her throat but she let me know in no uncertain terms she was done.

We are very happy to have her in our lives. Dacian loves her to pieces even though he gets upset when she so carelessly bulldozes over his toys.

We love you baby and wish that you will grow strong, faithful, nice, happy and healthy. May the Lord protect you and care for you always.

Love, Mom and Dad

P.S Her b-day party will follow next weekend so I will post more pictures of our fun.

at the pumpkin patch

11 months ( I love this sweater given by the bishop's wife at her shower)

First food (rice cereal-4 mo.)
One of my family's favorite cakes-seriously delicious)

3 months
2 months

The doll might even be bigger than her
Blessing day
One month
Sweet siblings. Dacian seems pleased as punch and look at how attentively Lavinia is looking at her brother.

An attempt at cool pictures. I wish I took these pics at a few days old not 3 weeks old. I really wanted to get the cool sleeping newborn look but she insisted on being awake for the photo shoot. I tried... The only time in her life she was chubby. She was born at 8lbs.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Yesterday was my big day, my leave your twenties behind day. Hmm... I don't feel any different than before of course. If I am to reflect on my twenties I would say a lot was acomplised. I have a wonderful husband, two cute kids, a house, we are healthy, I like my job even though I would prefer to stay home with my children. I hope my thirties will bring health and hapiness and that we will be able to go over any trial that may come our way. Trials we had plenty but if anything they made us stronger.

Shane was such a sweetie and decided to spoil me rotten yesterday. He got me a laptop notebook that I had wished for a long time ago. I am so excited to be able to do all my chats, FB, blogs, look up recipes right in my kitchen. ( no more printing stuff)

Aside from this fabulous computer he made the best fondue dinner. My parents were invited and we had a great time together. We had been rather sick so I stayed home from church and tried to get better. Lavinia had thrown up the night before, Dacian was also sick so we kept the celebration to close family only. We started with cheese fondue, then meat fondue in coq au vin and then chocolate fondue. The other surprise was this fabulous cake from Hoffman's, a great neighborhood bakery. They surely make the best of cakes. Shane took Dacian there to choose a cake and Dacian chose this martizpan cake called the Princess cake. I guess he chose their best selling cake. Doesn't it look pretty? On top of being pretty it is hard to describe how delicious it was. Dacian was so sweet. He sang Happy Birthday to me all day. He had us all wear these birthday hats leftover from his b-day party. He insisted we all put them on and he called them the Pricess Hats even though they looked nothing like a princesy hat. I guess he got into the whole princess thing because of the cake and mommy. It was sweet!
I had the best birthday and I really have to thank Shane for it. He made it really special for me. Thank you honey!

Just today I got the cutest gift from one of my best friends. It is beautiful and I thank you for it Holly. I can't wait to post pictures. Mission accomplished. :)

Also I got a call from my uncle from France and from my brother and other friends and family members, cards, calls, FB wishes, a fabulous sweater from my parents.
Now on to Lavinia's birthday tomorrow. Last year on Monday I went into labor with her at 7:30am as I was going down the steps to go to work. The contractions started fast and furious all 2 minutes apart from the get go. I having been induced with Dacian didn't really know what to expect and didn't know if this was real labor, if it would start and stop. I waited about an hour and when I saw that the contractions were not slowing down or stopping we headed to the hospital. I was a 5cm when I went it. Man was that painful. The baby would have been born at noon since I was at a 10 cm then but the baby didn't drop and I had to to see if my water would break on its own. It didn't. The midwife called the doctor and they broke the water. They were afaid the cord would strangle the baby if the water gushed too quickly and she was still so high up. I remember being so scared of the C-section they threatened me with. Thankfully after they broke the water the baby dropped right away and I was able to have her no problem. I am so thankful that I was at the hospital cared by good doctors. For some reason both of my births were not so normal so it was a blessing I was there.
Anyway, enough rambling. Pictures coming soon and a second post dedicated to my Lav, Lavi, Lavinia, my sweet little girl.

Last Year's Trick or Treating

I failed to post this last year but I really wanted to share. Too bad the sound is not the best. You might have to turn up your volume. This is Dacian last year, first year of real trick or treating. Enjoy!

Halloween fun

Halloween was fun or as fun as can be while trick or treating in the rain. Thankfully it didn't pour. Dacian had the best time of his life and Lavinia was a very cute ladybug who tagged along for the fun. Mom and I made her costume and I love how cute she looks in it. She is so tiny. Dacian also wore his jedi costume the day before for trunk and treat and we made that last year. The policeman costume came from Uncle Scott and Aunt Candice. (He was so happy to wear that)

For work the office ladies and our principal were pirates. It was fun to dress up.

Poor Shane was super sick and didn't get to join us at all. He was sad I didn't video tape the kids trick or treating but I simply forgot.