one year.

Yep.

It happened.

I think all of my monthly posts about Hollin start with how sweet she is. But she is! That's the first word that comes to mind when I think of Ha Bear. Oh, and happy! Honestly, she is happy 99% of the time.

Zane was a hard baby. Think colic, crying, never sleeping, more crying. I remember someone told me that all moms thought their babies were "high maintenance". False. Hollin is low maintenance. Low, low maintenance. I've even heard, "She's the best baby I've ever seen." Now, she'll probably sass talk me, and tell me "You just don't understand!", and give me gray hair and wrinkles when she's 13. And I'll forgive her a few extra times just because she was such a good baby.

At one year:

*Hollin still eats everything! We went to the Mexican restaurant in Hampton (yes, Hampton has a Mexican restaurant) and she ate a whole bowl of guacamole, refried beans, rice, tortillas, and cheese dip. She takes three bottles a day (morning nap, afternoon nap, bedtime). We followed the rules with Zane and gave him his last bottle the night before he turned one. We switched him to whole milk in a sippy cup. And then he fell off of the growth chart. So we're doing this gradually with Hollin. We are mixing whole milk and formula. I think we'll cut out the afternoon bottle soon.

*She has four top teeth, two bottom teeth, and two more breaking through on the bottom.

* She is crawling everywhere, but has no interest in walking. She does cruise around on the furniture.

* She goes to bed at about 730 or 8pm and sleeps until about 730am. Sometimes she wakes up in the night, but it's nothing that the paci can't fix! Sometimes she still takes a morning nap and an afternoon nap, but I think they are starting to merge into one.

* I think the only new word that she has added this month is 'bite'.

* She is wearing 12 month clothes, some 12-18 month clothes. Size 3 diapers.

* She patty cakes and now 'rolls it up'. Gives lots of kisses. She has started crawling up in our laps, laying her head on our shoulder, and giving us kisses. What a sweetheart.

Here are Zane and Hollin, each at one year.

 

 

 

Hollin's 1st birthday: her sweet party

Our little

Cupcake

turns

ONE

tomorrow!

What better way to celebrate the sweetest little girl I have ever met, than to have a cupcake-themed birthday party? How about having two parties?!

This is a combination of pictures from her party at my parents' house and at Matt's parents' house.

There was no shortage of people to love on this sweet girl!

And lots of sweets to eat!

She loved eating her cake!

Zane (aka batman) was concerned that she wouldn't wear her birthday hat.

She got SO many great gifts! She was so funny on this car. Her big toes barely touched the floor and she just kind of sat there in amazement, but would scream every time we took her off of it.

It's just crazy to me that we're already celebrating one year with Hollin Elizabeth. I'm so thankful for this little blessing. She and Zane keep me so busy, but honestly I'm not sure how I would've survived the past year in Wisconsin without them. I love them so much! And their sweet daddy!

A special thank you to Nana and DeeDee for helping with the parties. It's hard to travel 800 miles and plan two birthday parties!

Nana & I

My parents, "Nana & I", came to Wisconsin the last week of September. South Arkansas was experiencing weather in the high 80s and 90s, so I'm not sure that they were prepared for the little pop of cold weather that we got right before their arrival! It was 34° and raining the morning we picked them up at the airport.

We stayed pretty busy with activities. We went to the park and played a couple of times. We bundled Hollin in this snowsuit from last year. It was a little too small and wouldn't button between her legs! It kept her warm and cozy though! I love this picture of Hollin and my mom. They are twins!

I know this looks crazy because we are all bundled up and he's got on short sleeves. But this little toot head would NOT put a coat on! He had to "do it MY way!" I guess superheroes don't get cold?

Fun grandparents, huh? Wish we lived closer so that they could play more often. Soon....

The cold weather was the perfect excuse to light the fire pit. We cooked brats (like good little temporary Wisconsin residents) and made s'mores.

And Hollin proved that she looks cute in a hat.

We went to the zoo....

And to Schuster's Playtime Farm. We went last year with Matt's parents when Hollin was just 12 days old.

And then this little cowboy flew home with Nana and I.

 

Little sister wasn't too sure what to think about being an only child. One morning she found a picture of Zane and carried it around with her all day.

Daddy bought her some new outfits and she got some good snuggle time in with him.

Six days later we packed our bags! I think it was kind of obvious by the clothes that I packed that we were headed to Arkansas.

One random airport picture that I took during our trip home.