Nathan, Samantha, Blake, Nicole, and Kiersten: Nicole's First Birthday

Warning: This post contains a lot of photos! But the way I see it, your first birthday only happens once :)

Nicole's 1 year stats:
Weight: 19lb 10oz (25%)
Height: 29.5 inches (65%)
Head: 17.75 inches (50%)
(At 1 year Blake was 17lb 6.5oz and 28.5 inches tall)

Nicole has mastered walking. She loves animals and tries to make animal noises...she has moo and a growl down pretty good. She loves books, but she likes to be the one to turn the pages :) Nicole can wave and say hi. She loves to greet daddy when he gets home from work!

Nicole and Blake are starting to play together more and it is so fun! Yesterday they were playing peek-a-boo around the fish tank and making each other laugh- it's a lot of fun!

Over the past few weeks Nicole has grown more attached to her blanket. She loves the swaddling blanket my Mom gave her when she was born...Nicole would carry it around all day if I let her. Nicole also likes her binki but she only gets that when she is going to bed for the most part.

A week and a half ago we made Nicole cry-it-out at night. She was getting up several times a night and expecting me to feed her. After just 3 nights she started sleeping through the night for the first time since Sept...I keep waiting for my luck to run out! She goes to sleep for the night around 7:15pm and then doesn't wake up until 5:50am or so. I nurse her when she wakes up and sometimes I can get her to go back to sleep for a little bit but not usually. She also takes 2 naps a day (morning and afternoon). I have lucked out because she and Blake take an afternoon nap at the same time (more or less)...unless Blake has a no-nap day, that is.

Nicole has 6 teeth. 4 on top and 2 on bottom. She is a really good eater. She loves cheese, oranges, bananas, cheerios, peanut butter sandwiches, waffles, chicken, beans, noodles, juice, applesauce, and most anything we are eating. She is not sure about cow's milk right now. I bought some for her yesterday and so far she won't take more than a few sips at a meal.

We sure love our little girl! She brings such a sweet spirit to our home.

Well, on to the photos of Nicole's first birthday!

Nicole waking up the morning of her birthday:

Nicole had a diaper problem shortly after waking up so she got to open her gifts on Mommy and Daddy's bed with no Jammies on.

Blake had to help Nicole.

The birthday girl with her loot from Mommy and Daddy (and Blake):

Unfortunately, the day of Nicole's birthday we went to a funeral for Nathan's Great-Uncle Dick. The kids played with my Mom during the funeral service since my parents live just a few miles from where the funeral was. After the service, Nathan went to the cemetery for the grave-side service while I picked up the kids and then we met up for the family luncheon. One benefit to the funeral was that we got to see Nikki again :) Blake was so excited to see her (for the first time since she moved out before Thanksgiving)!

That evening we went out to a diner for burgers and shakes with my parents.

The next day we celebrated Nicole's birthday with my parents, Olivia, Paula and Grandma and Grandpa Davis. Nicole was a pro at opening gifts by this point :)

The cake I made was made out of cupcakes. It was strawberry cake with vanilla icing.

Nicole with Aunt Olivia, Blake and the cake:

Mommy and Nicole:

Nicole digging into her cake...kind of. She didn't care for the cake. I don't think she liked the icing on her hand. I tried to get her to eat some cake and she just spit it out, so she wasn't that exciting to watch.