1st birthday party

Saturday we celebrated Delaney's birthday with a small family party. She had a great time (and so did we). She wore a birthday shirt, a birthday hat, ate good food, opened presents, played outside, ate cake and smeared it everywhere. All the makings of a great first birthday. I took a ton of pictures and here are a few of my favorites.

The birthday girl enjoying some good food.

Admiring her new bathing suit from Great Grandma Bell. You can also see her other birthday shirt in this pic.

Having fun opening presents.

I love this picture of the three Bell girls.

Delaney had such a fun time outside on the swing. Auntie Maddie kept her company on the swings and Delaney loved every minute of it.

All of the partygoers. Grandma and Grandpa Bell, Grandma Charlene, Great Grandpa Brown, Grandma McGuire, Great Grandma Bell and Auntie Maddisen. We missed those you couldn't make it, but you were there in spirit.

And one with Dan.

Just starting in on the cake. She enjoyed it, but I think she did wind up with a tummyache later on in the evening. She isn't used to that many sweets in two days. Between her birthday cake and the cookies that she took to daycare, she had more sugar than she has had all year.

Enjoying her cake.

This is what she looked like after cake. Poor little thing rubbed it into her eyes and they were a little swollen for the rest of the day. I was still wiping bits of it out of her eyes that night.

Playing on one of her new toys.

Happy 1st Birthday!

One year ago today, our lives changed forever. We welcomed Delaney into the world and it has been an adventure. She has brought joy that we had never known. We have spent the last year watching her grow and develop and have been busy teaching her things. Little did we know how much she would teach us. Here are a few lessons from Delaney: Labor is worth every second once you see that little baby.

Never take off one diaper without having another one right there ready to go because that will be the time they go.

Snuggles are few and far between, so enjoy those moments in the morning whey they snuggle tight.

Every book you can read will never prepare you. Oh, and babies don't read those books, so they don't know that they should be sleeping through the night and eating every two hours.

No-spill sippy cups can still spill when slammed hard enough onto the highchair or the floor.

Hugs and giggles are what make everything worthwhile.

Being quiet is not a good thing when they are playing. I need to find you and see what you are doing that you know is wrong when you are quiet. Usually it means you are trying to eat the cat food.

Toys are fun. Boxes and paper are more fun.

I never knew I could love anything so much in so little time. The love you have for your spouse is different than the love you have for your child, but both are what make everything so special.

You can never take too many pictures.

Finally, cherish every little moment because they pass by in a flash. One day you are a little newborn in my arms and the next you are getting around everywhere and don't want to be held.

Those are just a few of the MANY things Delaney has taught us. I'm sure she has millions of more lessons waiting for us over the next several years. Happy 1st Birthday Delaney!

p.s.- Happy Birthday to our niece Harper too! (She and Delaney share the same birthday).

Here are some pictures of the birthday girl and how she spent her day today.

Having a good time getting ready for the day!

This is the special birthday shirt she got from Aunt Karry, Uncle Mike, and cousins Harper and Ronan. She wore it all day today.

This is the birthday card that Delaney's teachers made her. I love the teacher crouching behind it! We brought in a special treat for Delaney to share. She had a good day at school.

Delaney and her friends at school enjoying the birthday cookies. Aren't they adorable?

Meow meow was waiting for her in the car which made her very happy.

Enjoying a good dinner at Joeseppi's. Delaney loves the pasta there, so Grandma Charlene and I took her there for dinner.

Playing with her new Elmo

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. We had a mellow day and relaxed and did some errands. Everyone is FINALLY feeling better again. After the last post, Dan came down with a horrible episode of throwing up for 24 hours. We thought that maybe he had caught Delaney's bug, but now we think it was food poisoning. We are all finally feeling good again, although Delaney has started teething again. She was teething for weeks and weeks before the her last teeth came in, so we will see how long it takes for these ones. Other than that, we are doing great. I absolutely cannot believe she is a year old on Friday. Where has the time gone??? Here is a picture of our beautiful little girl in her heart shirt on Valentine's Day.

Delaney has a new love in her life. No, not Daniel. It is her stuffed kitty, Meow Meow. It sings a personalized song with her name in it and she got it for Christmas from Great Grandpa Brown. It now goes everywhere with us. If you even mention Meow Meow she will go find it and lay her head on it or pick it up and give it a hug. It is adorable.

Loving meow meow.

This is what I discovered after I went looking because someone was being a liitle too quiet in the kitchen.

And the sickness continues....

Well, I spoke a little too soon in the last post that Delaney was getting over her cold. She was a little crab all week and just wasn't herself. She was still having trouble sleeping. I still am fighting this nasty cold and just can't quite seem to get rid of it. Yesterday was the first day that Delaney really seemed to be doing better and was back to her playful self again. We had a really good evening of playing and having fun and she didn't even make a stink when I changed her into her pajamas (that should have been my signal right there!). We sat down in the rocking chair for a bottle and she wouldn't drink any of it. She kept fussing and tossing and turning and sure enough, puke everywhere. I didn't know that little stomach could hold so much food. She perked up once we cleaned everything up and seemed to be doing much better. She came to bed with me and she woke up again at 10:15 and puked again. Poor little thing. I wiped her down and I think she was back asleep before I even laid her down again. That was it, but we stayed home today so she could rest. May I just say that putting in flooring and tearing up the carpet has paid for itself tenfold when things like this happen!!
She seems to be feeling much better today. We just got back from grocery shopping and she had fun getting out of the house.
On top of all of it, Dan has an inflamed disk in his back so he is pretty much incapacitated right now too. What a household we are!

January colds

Well, maybe I set myself up for this in the last post, but I officially caught Delaney's cold. I was up all night with a throat that feels like razor blades and a stuffy nose. Yuck. I gave Delaney a long bath last night and let the shower run for a while before I put her in so it was a little steamy in there and that seems to have helped her a bit. Her cold doesn't seem to have fazed her much and the last two nights she has even been able to sleep through the night. I could hear on the moniter that she was snoring all night long the night before last, but last night she seems to have slept pretty quietly. Hopefully she is on the upswing now and I am hoping that mine is as short as hers is. I guess we'll see...

11 months old

How can Delaney be 11 months old already? There is no way that she can be a year next month! She has been doing great and is such a character. Although, she did wake up with a cold this morning which means I should probably be getting one soon too. We went to the zoo again this weekend and an old friend of Dan's from high school, Anjel, was able to come with us and meet Delaney. This is how we actually got a picture of all three of us at the zoo (below). As for Delaney, she is into everything and we constantly have to keep an eye on her. She does new things every day it seems and had Dan and I laughing so hard this morning both our stomachs hurt. She is so very close to saying "kitty" which we knew would be her next word after "Mama" and "Dada". She is dancing at the moment to some music playing on the TV. That's about it for us right now.

World's best spit bubble blower.

This last Friday, I did fishy face to her and this is what I got in return. I don't know where she learned it, but now she does it all the time. It is the cutest thing!

Little giggly girl.

Helping with dishes, which usually involves grabbing whatever we have just put in the dishwasher and trying to take it back out. She loves getting to help shut the dishwasher door.

Sooo big!

We never get enough of those big blue eyes.

Showing some attitude.

More zoo pics

We took another trip to the zoo this weekend. Delaney has not been sleeping well the past few weeks and we were hoping a couple of hours in the fresh air might help (which it did a little last night). It was very cold, but the sun was shining and it was a beautiful morning to get outside. Dan's schedule has been messed up by the snow and flooding so it was nice to actually get out with all three of us.

We had to spend some time feeding the goats since that is Delaney's favorite part. She was giggling so hard when they would touch her hand. I love this grin.

Checking out the sea otters