The real fun began Saturday when Kelsey was christened at St. Kenneth's at noon. Kelsey was dressed in a simple, white linen dress with white sandals. She had many special visitors for the occasion, including her godfather Nick and godmother Suzanne, who also brought along her husband Doug and twins Erin and Justin. (The twins are seven months old and are so adorable!) (Nick and Ken have been close friends since high school, where they swam together in Plano. He now lives in Virginia Beach with his wife and two adorable sons. Suzanne and I have been best friends since elementary school. She lives in Columbus, which is one of the few pluses to us living this far north!)
The ceremony was short and sweet. The priest made the ceremony family-friendly, which we particularly appreciated since Ryan wanted to wander instead of sit. At the end of the ceremony, Brendan moved up a couple of pews to be next to his sister. He kissed her and said, "You are as beautiful as anything I've ever seen."
Afterward, Kelsey took a nap in preparation for the birthday party. We were nervous the weather wouldn't cooperate, but by early afternoon the clouds had moved on and the sun was shining bright. It was rather windy, which made it a tad cool, but we decided to party outside. A good decision, indeed!
The dozen or so children ran wild in the open green space behind our house and didn't seem to mind the cooler temperatures. We enjoyed yummy BBQ from Famous Dave's (easy option - no cooking for me!), had a delicious chocolate and white cake from Baker's Rack in downtown Plymouth, and the children colored a book titled, "Kelsey's birthday party."
The party's theme was books, and we had requested that if guests wanted to bring a gift, that they bring books. What a fabulous idea. Our friends picked out some beautiful, fun, creative treasures that we will enjoy reading over and over. Much better than the dozen or so dolls we would have received otherwise! We also received a children's bible and a toddler bible stories book that the boys wouldn't put down last night. (Her grandparents and aunts and uncles sent many, many cute outfits for her wardrobe.)
And Kelsey had her first taste of sweets. She happily tasted her birthday cake and enjoyed most of it. She wasn't too messy. I was thrilled as neither Brendan nor Ryan tasted cake on their first birthdays. They had no interest.
So, Kelsey at 1 ...
- Her primary means of transportation: crawling. She prefers the army crawl, which is adorable when she pushes her little bottom in the air. In the past week, she's been crawling more on her knees.
- She points at objects and says, "That." Today, she got a paper cut on her finger and I had put a Band-Aid on it. Ken came up to see it, and she pointed to it with her other finger. "That."
- Last week she checked in at 21 pounds and 4 ounces and was 29 3/4 inches long.
- She stands now and particularly likes standing at her kitchen.
- She can pull herself up to the standing position if she has something sturdy to grab.
- She loves engaging Brendan in a game of I-drop-you-pick-up. It happens most often at meal time, when Kelsey will drop a toy or sippy cup and wait with anticipation for Brendan to notice and pick up. Ryan, meanwhile, laughs from the other side of the table.
- She loves eating table food now. We went to Compari's for dinner last week, and I ordered a penne pasta dish. I thought she'd have a noodle or two. She ate nearly half of my pasta!
- She's no longer nursing. My goal was to have her weaned by 12 months, and we made it ahead of deadline by one week. (That's quite impressive in the newspaper world.) She seems as happy as can be and actually was as much a part of the decision as I was. We've skipped the bottles and moved directly to sippy cups.
- She loves to turn around and give us a mischievous smile when she's about to get into something she shouldn't.
- She takes 1-2 naps per day. She seems to be slowing losing interest in the morning nap, but this weekend, she definitely needed it.
- Her bedtime is between 7-7:30. During the warmer months, it's always harder to make 7. We love evening walks and popsicles after dinner.
- Her hair has grown thicker but there isn't much there. It's still blondish.
- She is generally a happy, easy-going baby. I can put her in her room to play for 20-30 minutes, and she won't cry for me once. The boys were never this way!
(Pictures to come if I can figure out how to use Grammy's fancy-pants camera!)
1 comment:
Happy birthday, sweet Kelsey! I hope to meet you this summer!
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