Christmas Eve at Nana and Papa's.

After a long day, we finally arrived at Nana and Papa's house on Christmas Eve. As soon as we arrived, we had to change Hannah out of her beautiful Christmas outfit because she had spilled milk all over it and was completely drenched... Due to our tardiness, everyone had started opening their presents by the time we arrived. 

Nana and Papa got all of the girls a Cabbage Patch doll for Christmas. Alyssa was so entralled with her doll and the box it came in that she asked Nana to put her in the box her doll came in. It was so cute!

Hannah loved opening and playing with all of her gifts.

Here, Dominic and Hannah are helping each other open a present.

Dominic and Hannah love each other so much.

Aubrey is so happy to receive all of her presents!

And a smile from Damien...

Hannah also got another doll in her stocking from Santa. She seemed to really like it! Although we were incredibly late, Christmas Eve at Nana and Papa's was wonderful. Hannah had such a wonderful time playing with all of her cousins and opening presents!

Thanksgiving.

Our first Thanksgiving adventure this year was to Nana Candy's house. Papa, Uncle Ryan, Auntie Ashley, Aubrey, Uncle Ricky, Auntie Liz, Damien, Auntie Emily and Alyssa were all there! Unfortunately, Uncle Chris wasn't there because he had to work. Nana Terri, Auntie Tiffany, Julien and Emily were also invited. That was quite a treat for Hannah to get to have both sides of her family there!

Unfortunately, she was quite hungry before dinner was ready and ended up eating this most famous family dinner alone. She didn't even get to try out the turkey because by the time it was ready, she had filled up on chex mix, tomatoes, olives, and milk.

She did, however, get to enjoy a delicious piece of pumpkin pie!

The following day, we went to Auntie Zo and Jon's house for Thanksgiving dinner. There, she got to play with Julien and Emily some more as well as Auntie Anne!

This was actually her first time eating a Thanksgiving meal. She seemed to pick at everything while completely avoiding the Turkey. For a lot of the time, she could be seen conversing with Auntie Anne and trying to share her food with Auntie Anne and trying to take food off of Auntie Anne's plate. It really was quite cute! The meal was really delicious! Everything was cooked perfectly and there wasn't a thing missing! At the end, Hannah and I each had a piece of homemade pumpkin pie made by Auntie Zo that was absolutely phenomenal! And, the Cranberry pie that Auntie Anne made looked gorgeous!

It was really great to get to spend time with the family. It was really good to see Ma and to see her having such a good time holding Emily and Julien. It was also really nice to finally get to meet Bernie. He's been such a support to her and an important part of her life through everything that I was glad he was able to share our Thanksgiving with us. Jon really seemed to enjoy playing with Hannah and that was great to see as well! Uncle Dave really seemed to have a good time getting to hold and feed Julien.

I am so grateful to have such a wonderful family. Hannah is so lucky to get to grow up knowing such wonderful people and to know that they love her. She will be able to build amazing memories with amazing people throughout her life and for that, I am grateful!

Stroll across the living room.

Hannah's finally conquered her uncertainty and has started walking! Her first stroll across the living room was as exciting for her as it was for the rest of us. We all started applauding her efforts and she broke out in a huge smile and sense of accomplishment. It was so amazing to watch her walk across the room like a little, smiling, Frankenstein. At the end of her little stroll, she was so proud of herself!

Finally... A tooth!

On Tuesday night, Keith noticed Hannah's first tooth. We don't know when it actually arrived, but, it's here! Finally. We are so proud of her and glad to know that she actually has teeth in there and that they're going to arrive. She was thirteen months and two days old when her first one arrived. Hopefully the rest will be soon to follow!

Acton Arboretum.

We had such beautiful weather yesterday that the thought of being stuck indoors while Hannah was napping was unbearable. Luckily, Jessica called me up and we decided to get together for a walk at Acton Arboretum. It was so beautiful! The air was crisp, the breeze was cool and Hannah napped. With Alex leading the way, we walked through the winding, leaf-covered paths and chatted.

Although my favorite part of our trip to the Arboretum was the walk, I'm pretty sure that Hannah and Andrew enjoyed playing with the dog the most! Andrew was pretty adept at handing off sticks to Alex and Hannah even tried a couple of times. Someday I hope that we are able to have a family dog too.

If not for the smear of grease on the lens from Hannah's fingers, I would love this picture of Hannah staring at Alex. It is just too cute! We all had fun. It was a great day to be outside!

Sick.

Hannah was sick for the last few days. She's better now. The doctor said it must've been some bug she caught. He even called me on a Saturday from his personal phone to let me know that the results came back and everything looked normal. I'm so thankful for that. I hate when she gets sick! I hate that there's nothing I can do to help her. I also hate that it seems like it takes so long for me to notice. It makes me feel like such a bad mother... She's back to her normal, happy self now though! She's eating well, drinking well, sleeping well, and smiling as much as she usually does! Maybe that's just because Daddy's home now though. Hmmm... Never thought of that, she was sick of me!

The Park.

Yesterday I took Hannah to the park with my friend and her son. I don't know why, but I never think to take Hannah to the park on my own. She had a blast though. She loves chasing around all of the older kids! She also loves the swing! She kept laughing and laughing as I was pushing her. It was so much fun for all of us!

 

Walden Pond.

I finally took Hannah to Walden Pond. She was having difficulty taking a nap today so I thought a walk may help her drift off to sleep. Wouldn't you know, I was right. She was grumpy until she was finally able to drift off to sleep and then we were both able to enjoy the walk.

Happy Halloween.

Because Hannah already dressed up two days in a row for Halloween, and because she's only one, we decided not to take Hannah trick-or-treating tonight. Instead, we went to Concord and walked around to take pictures. Unfortunately, I was pretty late getting there, so I was only able to get a couple of pictures before it was too late. This is one of Hannah posing with her daddy on the sidewalk in the cemetery. Creepy right?

And, this is one of her playing in the leaves in the same cemetery. Even creepier right??? Oh well, it was fun and it makes a good story for her to tell her friends when she gets older!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Halloween Parties.

Yesterday was an exciting day for Hannah. She had two Halloween parties to attend. She's such a social little one-year-old. Her activities calender is jam-packed! She has so much more to do than mommy and daddy do on any given day. Yesterday, her first Halloween party was with all of her friends from her Friday playgroup.

We tried, unsuccessfully, to get them to all pose together on the couch with their costumes. We have the beautiful ladybug, two monkeys, a pirate, and a toddler. They're all dressed up but it was pretty difficult to get them to all look at the camera, or even in the same direction at the same time. They all looked absolutely adorable in their costumes though and were real sports!

Her second Halloween party was at The Little Gym. She goes there once a week for classes and Ms. Jenny is her teacher. She LOVES Ms. Jenny. It was really cute that they were both dressed as ladybugs. Hannah took her first steps for Ms. Jenny on October 1. It was really cute. Hannah had so much fun playing with all of the older kids and trying to complete all of the activities. Her favorite activities were the balance beam and the "haunted house". Both of which she did about five times!

Trick-Or-Treat.

Tonight, we met up with some friends in Maynard and took Hannah Trick-or-treating for her first time. She seemed to have a blast looking at all of the other people in their costumes and collecting candy from all of the stores.

One thing was for certain though, there was no getting her pumpkin pail away from her!

Family Day in the Fall.

Every Sunday, we try to spend the day together as a family. This last Sunday was so beautiful, we decided to spend the day outside taking photographs of the amazing fall foliage. We walked all around West Concord and Minuteman National Park in Lexington. Like usual, Hannah made the most amazing subject! She had so much fun playing in the leaves...

...and walking around with Daddy. Unfortunately, Mommy hurt her foot crossing the railroad tracks so our expedition ended in the car rather than on foot. We all had a great time though. It was a wonderful and relaxing way to spend family day this week!

Pumpkin Picking.

Not too far from where we live, there's a pumpkin patch where you can pick your own pumpkins. Seeing as how Keith and I had never done that before, we decided that it would be a good way to spend family day.

It also turned out to be a great day to take pictures. I think Hannah had more fun playing with all of the big pumpkins than she did picking pumpkins!

Hannah's Birthday Party.

Hannah had so much fun at her first birthday party. She absolutely loved opening all of her presents.

But, even more than that, she loved being the center of attention. She is so lucky to have such a big family and so many people that care about her. Thank you to everyone that was able to make it and show your love and support. We really appreciate having you there!

When she got her first "block" of cake, she didn't really know what to think of it... She tried to push it off of her tray and was pretty upset that we had taken away her raisins. So, we ultimately gave in and gave her back the raisins.

She finally ended up eating her cake. Only because it was stuck to the raisins though... I guess it's good to know that we're raising such a healthy eater!!!!

Hannah's Birthday Cake.

On my first birthday, my mom made a cake for me out of building blocks.

So, for Hannah's birthday, it was important to me to make the same kind of cake. Sort of a way to try and carry on the tradition.

It took two days of work. Candy, Hannah's Nana, taught me how to decorate the cake and stayed up with me until 1:00 A.M. to ensure that it was finished in time for the party.

The little blocks were made out of chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and raspberry jam, and the big cake was a Pink Lady cake with Swiss Buttercream. Thanks to my friend Susie, I got the recipes off of SmittenKitchen.com.

I am very happy with the way the cake ended up looking. But, I don't think I will ever try that again!

This was my favorite block! I think it had the most even sides and I liked the heart on top. We gave Hannah the one block as her birthday cake.

One Year.

I can't believe my daughter has already turned one. This picture was taken on her birthday. Kim, from Nashoba Brook Bakery, gave her her first chocolate chip cookie to celebrate. Hannah loved it! She had chocolate all over her face and stockings.

It's been amazing to watch her grow over this year. And, in celebration, I decided to start a blog. Perhaps I should've started it sooner so that I could document all of her achievements over the last year. But, it's better late than never, right?

I love her so much and I think that she deserves the world. I hope that future years hold as much wonder for her as her first did and that she always enjoys life as passionately as she did during the first year of her life.