Margo's Last Month in a Year has Brought us Cheer‏

So... I digress a bit and am revisiting Margo's 11th month because I was waiting on her stats from her 1 year appointment and want to keep these thoughts and memories stored on my blog. It's funny how much has already changed since I wrote this!

Margo’s little personality just keeps blossoming as she gets older and she is quite a hoot! She is the happiest child and laughs all the time. The last month in her 1st year has been awesome! It just gets more and more fun! She has become an expert hugger and there is nothing better in the world. She must crawl into my lap and wrap her arms around my neck at least 25 times a day. She also gives kisses now, but only when she really wants to—maybe I have bad breath. ;-) She has started crawling into the bathroom, closing the door and standing up in front of the full length mirror to admire herself. She smiles and laughs and kisses herself—it is hilarious! We have to be careful she doesn’t shut herself in there.

Margo has always loved books, but has recently started to get excited about reading. We read at least three times a day before her naps and at bedtime. She makes little excited noises when I pick up the book and she loves turning the pages. I am so glad we pushed reading very early and I hope this will help her grow into an avid reader.

At the end of month 11, Margo started getting braver and briefly letting go to stand on her own. She only does it for a matter of seconds, but I anticipate that she will be walking soon. Her favorite toy is the push walker and if she had it her way, that is all she would do all day. I have to hide it to get a break since it requires constant supervision. She is also dancing which is just adorable. It doesn’t matter the music, she hears it and smiles and dances. I am so excited to have a dance partner now. We have many moments of dancing and twirling around the room… she totally brings out the child in me and I love it!



Margo is not really talking real words yet except “dada” and she clearly understands what it means. She spent two days saying, “mama” about a month ago and then quit. I can’t wait until she starts expanding her vocabulary. We think she is saying dog because she said it once when a dog was walking by outside and then once when looking at a dog in a book. Funny because we don’t have a dog! She can make lots of funny noises like tootie noises and stick her tongue in and out making babbles. She also talks jibberish all the time… I wish I knew what she was saying! She loves to mimic our silly noises and tries to copy animal noises. She can definitely moo and has made many attempts at meowing. She loves to scream… maybe she is trying to be a screeching bird!



Margo also clearly understands what “no” means and can follow our commands, but also loves to test us. She often attempts to do the same thing over and over (like grab mommy’s pretties), but jerks her hand away as soon as I say “no” with a big ‘ole grin on her face. She has recently started laughing at my discipline too and only really cries at “no” when I take something away that she wants, like daddy’s glasses. It is so hard not to laugh back. I am pretty sure she is gonna be a bit of a stinker, but also has her daddy’s calmer side as well… a good combination!

Our biggest change this month was transitioning to the big girl bath. Margo was really not happy in her other tub, which was really big but she kept trying to stand and started having fits over being confined. This was unusual for my girl who loves the water. At the urging of my sister and best friend, we took the plunge and are using the big bath. It is a big pain because Margo will not sit still and slides all over the place, but she loves the freedom. She does cry when I lean her back to wash her hair and I am trying to establish trust in this area. She has slid face first into the water a few times which scared the puddin’ out of her, but she always recovers quickly. I hate having to hold on to her constantly and tell her to sit down 10 times in a row, but she is learning and is testing her boundaries and I consider that a good thing!

Margo was sick at her one year appointment with a bad sore throat and fever and had barely eaten for two days, so her weight hadn't changed. I am hoping it was because she is sick and not because she is getting too skinny on me. She is an awesome eater, but is incredibly active so she is busy burning calories all the time! Her stats were:

20 lbs. 15 oz. - 45% for weight down from about 75%
29.25" tall - 51% for height
14.21% for head circumference - Mom and dad have small heads too

She is my delight and my utter joy. I sometimes miss my little tiny baby, but am also excited for all the fun changes in the year to come!

Hip Hip Hooray for Margo's Birthday!

I had soooo much fun planning for Margo’s birthday, I could have spent a fortune! The theme was, “You are my Sunshine” which is close to my heart because it was my mom’s song for me as a child and I have carried that on to Margo. She truly is our little ray of sunshine and I don’t think the theme could have been more appropriate for our happy girl!

This year we did a family only party and included one of my best friends, Michelle, because she pretty much is family. I also read about a parent who invites one friend for each year of the child’s life and I liked that idea. We just didn’t want to make it too complicated and decided the family route would be best. I tried to keep all of the decorations yellow, white, orange and pink. To say that I am obsessed with ETSY is an understatement! The signs, banners and tissue paper poms were purchased there and assembled by me. Her dress, crown and the delicious sunshine mints were also purchased on etsy. I was so impressed with those yummy mints and would recommend them to anyone. They do all different designs and we got almond and butter mint. They were such a neat touch for something inexpensive!

The food was simple, cold finger foods and dips all trying to keep in the same color theme. We also rented a margarita machine from Houston Frozen Drinks. The cost was really reasonable and I thought it was easier than worrying about other alcohol. Of course, alcohol at a one year party is not really necessary, but I thought it would be fun and I think we were more celebrating that mommy and daddy survived the first year! They provided cups, straws, salt, lime, etc… and the price included delivery and pick-up. We even got to enjoy it until 6 pm the next day! I would rent a machine again and again and of course, it was a big hit with our guests.

Given the insane number of gifts that Margo received, we pretty much dove right into opening presents and Margo’s patience started to flounder about half way through. She did great though and was clearly excited about her new toys. We received so many nice things for her including lots of beautiful clothes, books and even college savings money. Margo is so well loved and we feel so blessed.

I was so impressed with how delicious, moist and flavorful Margo’s cake was, not to mention so cute! I had ordered cookies from Kari Roberson before and loved them. Her cake is just as wonderful and she uses almond which is my absolute favorite and was the flavor I had in my wedding cake. I was so excited to taste the almond in my first bite. It was fantastic and I would also recommend her to anyone. She can do just about anything you ask! Margo ate her cake outside to allow for easy clean up and she sat in her great grandfather’s high chair which was hand crafted by his grandfather. So… her great great great grandfather made it—so cool! I was surprised that she didn’t love her cake more because mommy and daddy are sugar addicts. She picked at the icing and I smashed her hand into the cake, but she wasn’t wild about the cake part. Fine with me, I am trying to keep her from loving sugar for as long as I can!

I also have to mention Margo’s one year photos that were displayed on the entry table. They were done by my super talented friend, Deanna Addison, and I really fell in love with some of the great shots. Margo was so in awe of her surroundings at the park where we shot the pictures that I couldn’t get her to smile, but the setting is beautiful and the photos certainly capture her one year old beauty in a perfect way! I am so lucky to have such a talented friend in Deanna and I am so proud of how awesome her business has done and blossomed in the past year. She most certainly deserves her success!

Margo’s big day ended with lots of love from her family and she was spent by bedtime. As I rocked her to sleep it was hard not to cry at my not so little baby anymore. The past year has been a whirlwind of emotions and Margo has brought so much joy to our lives. I remember how overwhelmed I felt those first few days after bringing her home and feeling so much pressure to be a perfect mom. As the past year has evolved, I am so comfortable in my new mommy shoes and feel that my life is truly complete with our sweet little girl. Margo is truly amazing to us and God has given us the most priceless blessing. Margo has a beautiful soul and such a sweet spirit. I hope we can continue to foster these wonderful attributes we see in her and I cannot wait to celebrate all of the years and milestones to come.

It’s true what they say about treasuring every moment because it does go by so fast. I have really tried to do that, but I still find myself asking, “What happened to my little teeny 5 lb baby?”. Gosh, what I would give to just hold that little newborn one more time or have her sleep on my chest, but at the same time I love our new experiences together and have so much fun with my big one year old! Thank heavens for little girls and thank heavens for our Margo Faye. I hope Margo will enjoy looking back at her 1st birthday party knowing she was surrounded by so much love, support and generosity. Hip hip hooray for our Margo Faye!