Birthdays, and Babies, and Bunnies, OH MY! So the grand finale of Avery's first year came to a culmination on May 18th. Avery had a wonderful birthday weekend which included her first birthday bash, lots of friends and family visiting and some really fun presents.

On Saturday, May 17th, we had a backyard barbecue to celebrate little Miss turning one year old. We invited a lot of our mommy friends and Avery's little baby/kid friends and a few of Joel's coworkers too. Of course Granddad and Grandmom Bullock also were able to make the trip down and stay with us from Friday through Sunday.

As I was planning Avery's party I had a hard time thinking of a theme, but later decided that her "lovey" a cute, pink bunny blanket would be perfect. This is her favorite thing, (besides mommy and daddy of course,) she always sleeps with her bunny and sometimes carries it around if she's sleepy or sick too.

So, I started getting all of the decorations, necessities like cups, plates, and favors. We got the cutest little favor bags for the kids, I was lucky to find them after Easter and thought all that stuff would be sold out. I stuffed those with a bunch of different things, one with candy for the older kids and baby snacks for the smaller kids. They each had bubble and stickers and a cute bunny squirter ball too.
The barbecue party turned out great, most everyone showed up, Avery had a good time, no tears and Joel and I weren't running around like crazy too much, thankfully we had a lot of help from his parents, otherwise I would have been up till the wee hours in the morning on the day of the party.

As for Avery's smash cake, again she really didn't care for it, just like in her photoshoot. She ate a little bit of frosting and was over it. I think she just didn't really like being so sticky. You can see her signing "done" in the picture below.



Avery got a bunch of great presents and toys. They were all great but I only have pictures of a few of them. She also has a great new wardrobe, a fun and diverse library, and some cute smaller toys too. We're thankful for everyone that brought a tasty dish and gave our little girl presents.

We also got Avery a bunch of clothes and small toys, but she's mainly been enjoying the swingset we got her. She loves to swing and slide so it was a great purchase.


On the day of Avery's birthday Grandmom and Granddad had to make the 6 hour drive home. We all decided to go out to breakfast where Avery had a few pieces of pancake but really just enjoyed hanging out with us.

All in all we had a great weekend and loved watching our little girl turn one year old.

As far as growth updates go Avery is getting taller and reaching things on the table and short counters, yet another thing for us to watch out for. At her 1 year Dr. visit they said she's only in the 10th percentile for her height, but hopefully she'll continue to grow and be much taller than me!

Our little daredevil loves trying to climb everything, standing on her chair, her toy cars, and any books or toys that she can use. She also has her calm moments too. Avery loves reading and brings books to us to read to her. She also likes lounging on the floor on pillows too.

New things that she's been up to include eating her new favorite snack, Gerber fruit strips (very similar to fruit roll-ups, but healthier,) pointing at everything saying, "us dat," (what's that), says her version of ,"clap" and "Diego." Avery also says a few words very clearly including, "hi," "ball," and "book."

Avery's very social and loves to give high 5's and is learning to blow kisses but is also a ham when she puts things like hats and glasses on and goes to her mirror to check herself out. I honestly don't know where she gets all the faces she has but she is constantly amusing me with her funny, crazy faces.

I don't know where all this time went, but our little girl has finally turned 1 and we are so lucky to be her parents. This first year has been a blast and we can't wait for the next year and the next! Thanks for watching our baby grow with us.