13 months old

When did my baby turn into a toddler?  So I'm not sure when it happened but Greta isn't a baby anymore. 

Here is her top 10

1. Walking all over the place and rarely crawls

2. No more bottles

3. Says lots of words and can sign thank you and please

4. Love the outdoors, especially playing on her climber and going down the slide

5. Is a great eater - favorite foods are pizza, blueberries, and yogurt

6. Has the best squeal when she's excited

7. Is stubborn and throws things when she is mad

8. Still no teeth (but tonight I can see the white outline of one so it's close)

9. Graduated to the toddler side at day care 

10. Rides in a big girl car seat

I love watching her grow, learn and discover each day.  And she'll always be my baby - no matter how old or big she gets.

Happy birthday Boo Boo Ma

Remembering Boo Boo Ma today on her birthday and wishing she were here to meet her name sake.  I found this picture of the 4 generations.  From playing church and dress up to sewing and shopping at Jacobson's - she was an amazing grandma and I know my Greta will do her name proud.  We are all lucky to have her as a guardian angel watching down on us from heaven.  

Family photoshoot

Courtesy of our amazing photographer Misty Minna

These are some of my favorites.

Loves books

Greta loves books. This is her new book shelf and it's not uncommon for her to take every book off the shelf, look at a couple pages, bring it over to me.  I read a couple pages.  Then she's off to get a new book.  She even does this at day care.

She definitely has her favorites and we read them a lot.  Books I know by memory.... Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Hand Hand Fingers Thumb. The Foot Book.  Good night George (who is her favorite). I'm sure there are more.

She's a dancer

Karle - Greta Comparison

Karle - Easter 2006 and Greta - Easter 2014 - Sporting their John Deere hats.

Happy Easter!

Ryan and I decided to stay home for Easter weekend and took advantage of having Good Friday off of work.

Ryan got some work on the car down and painted his face a lovely shade of charcoal - lol.  Greta and I went to church and then a quick trip to Jonesville to pick up our prime rib for Easter.

Saturday - Ryan got his hair cut and then met Greta and I to pick up her new climber and slide for outside that Grandma got her for her birthday - thanks Grandma!  Then we enjoyed lunch at Applebees.  Greta was great and fell asleep on our way home and then slept for over 2 hours so I was able to get everything made for Easter.

Sunday morning we watch Greta explore her Easter basket with awh and wonder. Ryan enjoyed his too!  Then off to church to celebrate Christ rising from the dead.  What a beautiful service - with all my favorite songs!  Then home to enjoy family and food - two of my favorite things.

He is risen!  He is risen indeed!

Easter weekend one year ago

So it was an Easter blessing one year ago that Greta decided to make her grand entrance. And now that I've had a year to get to know her, I'd say it totally fits her personality. She does things on her schedule and no one else's. (Well besides God's).

She is truly my daughter and I love her so but I can foresee some challenging times ahead. 

But one thing I can tell you, when she looks at me with those big blue eyes, leans in for a kiss and says hug - I melt like butter. 

So when I rock this sweet angel to bed... despite the number of times I said no and she did it anyway, the tears she cried when I walked out of the room (yeah she does not like that), the hits she attempted on me, or her gummy bites in not so nice places... The world is right.

Birthday gifts

So as I wait for my thank you cards to show up and her 1 year pictures to include... Here are a couple pictures of some of her big gifts that are finally put together. I have almost found a home for everything and the clutter isn't driving me as crazy anymore.

Spring... Is that you??

Mother nature teased us with some warmer temperatures this weekend. It was quite windy but about 70. So we took full advantage and okayed outside in her car and chair. Took a couple walks. Played with the dogs. Raked stones out of the grass. Can't wait for it to be permanently nice.

Big girl car seat

Greta took her maiden voyage in her big girl car seat on Saturday. About 5 minutes in and she was sleeping! She seems to like it though and can see herself in the mirror and loves making faces and talking to herself. 

Arizona Getaway

We had a great time on our little getaway.  The weather was amazing and Greta did great.

Here are some of best pictures.  I think from the looks on her face and the squeals she was making, we are going to have to put in a pool soon.

Greta hanging out with me at the tradeshow.

Travel champ

Greta is a great little travel. We left detroit at 5:30 and she was raring to go. So she pushed the suitcase around for a while and made friends with lots of people. Then about 7:00, I nursed her and she slept the rest of the flight.

Then because we were delayed out of Detroit we had to run to catch our flight to Tucson. Luckily it was a smaller flight and he waited for us and a couple other people. 

Thank goodness! Again she played for a bit,safe friends with the older couple next to us and then some milk and out she went. 

Starting out to be a great trip!  Can't wait to enjoy some much needed sunshine!