A Week With The Gilleys

We had a lot of company here for the past 9 days!  My Mom (although her visit was too short!), Shawn's parents and his 2 brothers, (one brought  his sweet girlfriend, the other brought his wife and son).  It was an eventful week and Lucy sure got lots of extra attention!  First, we had her 1st birthday party.  That was so much fun for us to have a lot of family here to enjoy us celebrate little Lu.  Then we spent time in Denver shopping, went bowling a couple of times (my sister-in-law, Whitney, and Christa- my FUTURE sister-in-law are dang good- they KILLED me!), did the arcade one night, went swimming, went to the Denver Zoo, and went out to dinner at a lot of yummy restaurants!  It was good to spend time with our family from Louisiana who we don't get to see very often.  Lucy and her cousin Peyton had fun getting to know each other.  In fact, on the first night she met him, she kept giving him BIG hugs.  It was very cute :)  She spent a lot of time in her Paw Paws arms and loved how he can talk like Donald Duck!  He made her laugh every time.  She was a trooper throughout the week, even though she got a stomach bug one day and hardly took any naps all week long.  One thing's for sure, she was extra spoiled and has been acting like she's starving for attention all day long since this is the first day in 9 days that she doesn't have 6 extra family members passing her around!  I guess Shawn and I aren't good enough for her anymore ;) 

She had a lot of fun with the Gilleys!

Lucy and her Uncle Bobby

Going in for a hug

Giving Peyton BIG hugs!

Loved the rides at Boondocks.  In fact, she threw fits when we took her off of them after her time  would run out.

Paw Paw and Grammy bought her and Peyton matching giraffe souvenirs from the Zoo and Lucy LOVED hers.  It is so sweet to see her really play with her toys now and use her imagination.

The Family at the Zoo.  From L-R: Christa, Matthew, Whitney, Peyton, Bobby, Mary, Lucy, Bruce, Me, Shawn.  A big group.  It was a fun day!

 We had a lot of fun and this is where I took most of my pictures.  Lucy would reach out to the animals while we were there and laugh at the monkeys swinging all around.  The closest we got to any animals were the giraffes and she was staring at them in amazement at their HUGE-ness.  We were only a few feet away and they were eating with their long tongues and just being awesome. I LOVE giraffes.  They were my favorite animal to watch that day. 

Peyton and Lucy playing with their new giraffes!

I was a little disappointed when I was looking through all of my pictures from the week.  I can't believe I didn't get any of us bowling, swimming, or "sight seeing!"  I bring my camera everywhere but I guess I didn't take it out of the case enough.  Dang.  But the pictures I DID get were pretty cute :)

Thanks Gilley's! We love you!

Lucy Turns 1!

This is the oldest she's ever been, and the youngest she'll ever be.  As Lucy hit her first birthday, I had mixed emotions about how I was feeling...I was SO excited for this new milestone and exciting part of her life, but I was missing my soft, sweet smelling newborn baby.  

The night before her 1st birthday, I snuck into her room and took her out of bed and held her in my arms for a long time.  I was just feeling her warmth and that total sweet surrender that sleeping babies give, and I just cried and cried.  I was thinking about how it was the last night she'd ever be "months" old.  The next day she'd be a big 1 year old!  I went to bed that night with a heavy heart, just missing the new days when every little squeal and snort and coo was the best thing ever!  But I woke up on the morning of her birthday energetic and excited about the day ahead!  I made her french toast with lots of syrup and fresh blueberries.  She got some awesome presents and a brownie for dessert.  She had balloons to play with, she Face-Timed with Ninny and Papa and talked to Nana and Pops Smidt on the phone.  She had video messages and facebook messages from her Aunts and friends.  She got to spend time with her Grammy and Paw Paw and Aunt and Uncle from Louisiana.  It was a very exciting day! 

And once again, late that night, after her bath, her story, and her night-time milk, I picked my sleeping baby up out of her crib and rocked her and cried....It reminded me of the story "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be."  It was truly a scene out of the book.  I even whispered that little phrase to her as I held her warm little body in my arms.  It was my baby girl's birthday and my mind was replaying the 1st year of her life.  She is growing up so fast and I love each and every minute of it, but it is just so crazy how fast the year passed.  I still can't wrap my head around it!  It seems like we brought her home 2 weeks ago, not a whole year ago!  I don't know....I am a total "reminiscer."  (I just made that word up, haha!), but I am.  I am always reminiscing about the past, so of course I couldn't resist.  I re read her baby book on her birthday about the day of her birth and looked at all her newborn photos.  She was, and still is, the most precious part of my world.  I am so thankful for her. 

I hope she had a perfect birthday. 
Welcome to toddler-hood my sweet baby.  I can't wait to watch you grow and hold you every night on your future birthdays until you're too big for me to pick up, and rock you while you sleep, and cry because I love you. 

Lucy loves her new sand/water table.  Pink sand for the birthday girl!

What a stinker face :) Her birthday breakfast :)

Lucy's new red wagon.  All her birthday money was pooled together and she LOVES it!

The BEST present!!! She found out she was going to be a Big Sister!!!

What a sweet moment it was to let the family know we're adding to our "nest" :)

Cookie Monster, Elmo, and her personal birthday cake :)

Sharing cake with Daddy

 =

Dig In Baby!

 Can't believe you're all done with your monthly stickers.  It flew by, Lucy!  Sadly, I know the next 18 years will fly by as well.  I love you more than all the leaves on all the trees. 

Happy Birthday sweet Lu.

 

Lucy's Birthday Party!

Just wanted to post this cute video of Lucy's birthday party.  She got some great presents and this video shows her opening her 1st one (well, with a little help from Ninny) :)

There will be a longer blog post later when I have time to sort through all the cuteness of her party pictures.  For now, please enjoy this short video of our little sweetheart :)

Turn Computer Volume all the way up. Wish I was smarter with the computer so I could post GOOD quality videos!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO!

The Best Mother's Day Ever!

                           

Ah, Mother's Day.  A day I have waited for my whole life.  Correction- a day I have waited for until it was "my turn" to celebrate; a special day with MY kids.  Today was that day.  If you read my blog, you're well aware of my obsession with Lucy. So you might understand my feelings toward a day all about a Mother's sacred bond with her child.  I grew up knowing that Mother's day was a day we spent showing thanks for all our Mom's do for us.  I know the importance of today.  I used to wake my Mom up with breakfast in Bed, pick her Lilacs, and just spend the day in general telling her how much I truly love her.  She is such a strong, beautiful woman, and such a perfect example of what a Mom is.  So naturally, I was ecstatic about my first Mother's Day.  All I asked for was a day spent with Lucy and Shawn.  These 2 are the reason that I am a Mom, and all I wanted was to embrace the day with them.  I wanted to squeeze and hold and kiss Lucy all day long. 

Here's what I will always remember about today:

I'll remember my breakfast in bed made by Shawn because Lu stole my utensils and tried to eat all of my french toast.  She got butter in her hair and all :)

I'll remember getting Lucy dressed for the day because she had a "Mom" shirt on that made me smile from ear to ear. 

I'll remember the new shirt I received from Shawn because Lucy ripped the tissue paper that it was wrapped in, in a hundred pieces on the bed and giggled the whole time.

I'll remember the hike we went on because it was Lucy's first hike and she was in heaven!  And I'll remember how sweet she was when she fell asleep going down the trail even though it was such a bumpy ride in her pack.

I'll also remember being surrounded by so much breath-taking natural beauty and feeling the Spirit in that way that spending time away from the world enjoying mother nature can allow you to feel.  I silently gave thanks to Heavenly Father for all my blessings and for giving me a perfect baby girl to mother.

I'll remember getting smoothies after our hike because Lucy LOVED the whipped cream on top of mine.

I'll remember hanging out on the couch after our hike because Lucy was putting golf balls in her mouth and popping them out.  Shawn and I would laugh so hard, so Lucy would join in and fake laugh out loud with us. 

I'll remember the night of my first Mother's day because I kissed LuLu's rosy cheek before bed, and once again, marveled at the beauty this little girl brings to this world, and the utter joy she brings to my heart.  

I'll remember my first Mother's Day because it has been a long time coming, and it was absolutely perfect.  I am a Mom because Heavenly Father has given me a Princess.  And I am eternally thankful for her.

Our family hike in Eldorado Springs

Lucy's shirt says "Mommy is my BFF."  It was a perfect Mother's day gift!

Couch time with Lucy after our hike :)

Yep- that's a whole golf ball she stuck in her mouth! HAHAHAHA!

Got the action of her spitting it out when it would make the "popping" noise she loved.

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She was giving me looong slobbery kisses.  I LOVED them.  Such a precious memory.

These pictures are so beautiful and precious to me.  They don't have anything to do with Mother's day but I really wanted to post them.

Here are her 11 month old pictures that we gave to the special Mom's in our lives

 

 And one last collage that I put together of Lucy in her Super Hero shirt that I will send to Jess on his mission.  He loves Super Heros, so I'm sure he will smile at some of this cuteness!

I hope all the Mom's out there had their Best Mother's Day Ever today as well.  I love you all and miss you all every single day.  

XOXOXO

Britt