12 months!

This is the best blanket shot I could get this month! Geneva is not a big fan of laying down on her back for any length of time. Her favorite things to do are play with her walker toy and have mom and dad read her books. She loves walking along furniture and walking holding hands, but she's not too good at balancing on her own yet, so walking independently may be a little way off. She has recently started pointing at things (especially in books), giving slobbery kisses, and waving bye-bye. It has just been so fun to watch her learn and grow over this past year! Geneva weighs 18 lb. 6 oz. (10th percentile), and is 29.8 inches long (75th percentile).

Walking

Family portrait on Father's Day

Daddy and daughter

Cute baby

Mid-scoot. It's hard to get a true smile picture, but I think I caught one here!

Birthday presents! She does have some more toys from a garage sale that I have yet to clean... but I made that doll! Maybe I'll write a blog post on that sometime.

Playing with some new toys. That green ball is in mid-air, being tossed to the side because she was done with it.

Riding in a wagon at a birthday party! She loved it, even though you can't tell from this picture

Walking at the park. She also loves to scoot at the park, which means she gets bark all over her legs.

Geneva now stands when she wakes up from her naps. She won't make any noise, she'll just stand there waiting and watching the door until I happen to check on her.

Waving bye bye!

Reading books.

Making cute faces

At the beach! She shrieked at first, but she ended up liking the water.

Well, I think this will be the last of the month posts. I'll still post lots of pictures of Geneva (because she's the most exciting thing in our life), but I'll try to talk about other things too! Feel free to comment so I feel validated with the effort :)

Birthday Party!

We had a little party for Geneva yesterday and it was great fun! Here are some pictures to prove it.

Pre-party backyard

Kids mask-making and bubbles.
Birthday sign (made by sis-in-law) that will probably be at every birthday party.

I got an idea from a blog to print out oversized pictures of the birthday girl! Fun, easy, cheap ($1.65) decorations!

Another 18x24 print. As soon as we put these up in the kitchen, Geneva kept pointing to them. It seemed like she was saying, "Hey! That's me!"

The food

The table

Birthday girl!

This is the only picture I took during the party (except cake pics, of course).

Geneva and her cake. I wasn't actually too surprised that she didn't get messy. She's just our dainty little girl.

Birthday song, Dad blowing out the candle, and a taste of frosting.

Geneva eating her cake like a lady. She just used a pincer grasp to eat little bits of cake. Ladies don't get messy.

11 months

For this month's blanket shot, you get a series...

This month Geneva has gotten more and more wiggly. She is still bum-scooting, but she is now bum-scooting everywhere! She also loves pulling herself up on everything. She recently learned how to sit down, and at first it was in major slow motion, which was pretty funny to watch. It was like an intense crunch workout. Geneva finally got her first tooth this month! She was noticeably more fussy and liked to chew on her hands a lot. The first one to come in was the lower left, followed by the lower right a week or so later. Here's a picture to prove it!

Geneva is such a little chatterbox. She says "mama" and "dada", but it's really just mostly babbling those sounds at us. She makes this funny squinty eye smiley face. It almost looks like a fake smile, but it sure is cute. She loves to read and play with books.

Introductory Calculus. She'll move on to the real stuff after her birthday, don't worry.

She loves her peekabo books.

Reading with daddy. She's a pro at turning pages, we just have to get her to slow down enough so we can read the story. I guess she's a speed reader.

Learning Russian - she found a dictionary just her size :)

 

 A more complicated bum-scoot. 

Standing and sitting.

Clapping while swinging.

Baby playdate

Just hanging out in the pantry.

Swinging!

This is how Geneva rides in swings. We've tried and tried to get her to sit back, but she insists this is better. Maybe it's more like flying?

Fancy new toy (for free via Craigslist)

Yogurt mustache

In the slow-motion sitting phase. She held this for a few seconds, now her thighs are ripped!

10 months

Happy 10 months, Geneva! I think this is my favorite age so far. She makes us laugh every day. She is a gorgeous little chatterbox. She makes funny noises all day long. Geneva is a certified scooter -- she can get around pretty well now, even if it is pretty slow (not complaining). Not sure if there is any "crawling" in sight, but she now has started inching her way across the furniture. She is just starting to get her first tooth, it's still a bump, but maybe by next month! She started clapping this month. She does it most often when we sing songs that she likes. Now for pictures and videos!

So I'm putting a lot of videos on here because I take a lot of videos... Don't worry, they are short.

Scooting.

Scooting. Talking. Going for the camera.

 Swinging and babbling.

Giggling with Daddy before bedtime.

Just babbling.

Excited about the penguins at the zoo. Sorry for my loud voice and finger in the shot...

Can you find the cute baby? She loves standing there and looking out the window.

Beautiful face

At the zoo with friends

On a walk with Daddy

She loves kneeling in her crib after naps

Discovering grass and sunshine

Another "can you find the cute baby?" Don't be confused by the  weird ceramic hat guy we inherited from the last owners.

Discovering flowers (and when I say flowers I really mean weeds)

Being entertained by cousins. We took a trip to Utah! More on this in another post.

Wearing the hat with the family crest

Another "real" blanket shot

Hanging with mommy, sticking out the tongue.