Real Food!

I cannot believe it! Shelby has eaten "real people" food all day! Here's the run-down:

• Nursed around 7, then some multi-grain / rice cereal (ok, that is not real people food, but oh well)
• Animal Crackers in the nursery at church
• 1/2 a Banana and Sweet Potato Pie at the church potluck for lunch
• Macaroni Chicken Dinner and a plum after her 2 hour nap (yippee for the nap!)
• Saltine Crackers while I fixed dinner
• Teriyaki Meatloaf, Rice, and Broccoli for dinner just now!
• Dessert - at lunch was some really yummy Oreo pie and at dinner was Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars.

Amazing! And here is that little sweet girl now...

Ponytail... 13.5 months

Shelby likes to play in the bathroom with my make-up and all sorts of things. Today she kept grabbing a ponytail holder, so I put it in her hair. She looked so cute! Sorry about the droopy eyes, she was just about to blink.

And Shelby thinks she is good to go with one nap a day. So we are having lots of fun adjusting to that. Not really! She is so much happier when she takes two naps a day, but trying to convince her of that is impossible. Oh well.

Crawling

Ok Grandma, will this suffice? She has not perfected the art, but she is crawling! And she is hard to catch on camera because she just wants to look at the camera and not do anything. Oh how I wish her Great-Grandmother could see this! I think she would be happy and relieved. :) We are very happy with Shelbs! We love you, Shelby!

Progress

Shelby has made some substantial progress over the last 24 hours. Take a look...

On her own...sort of

Shelby is getting better at walking on her own and we caught her on tape! Yes, she is crawling forward a bit...we'll try to get that on tape, too, as she crawls with her toes. :)

So proud of this big girl!

Sand/Water Box

Grandpa and Grandma got Shelby this sand/water box for her birthday and we finally have sand for it! Shelby played in the sand this afternoon and loved getting her hands dirty.

Happy Independence Day!

A huge THANK YOU to all of the people who founded our country and to those who have served to keep us free! And THANK YOU to all of the people serving today to protect us. We love you and are ever so grateful for your service.

A special Thanks to my Daddy ~ I love you!!! Mommy and I are so proud of you!!!

Now that Shelby is 1

Shelby's 12 month check-up went well!

Weight: 21.62 pounds (55th percentile)

Height: 29 inches (45th percentile)

Head: 18 1/4 inches (80th percentile)

She did get four shots, but they didn't seem to bother her too much after the initial poke.

Shelby loves to walk while she holds onto one finger of yours in each hand. She also loves to cruise the furniture and walls. On Friday, June 25th she took four steps on her own!!! She did it several times, but now when we try to let go she just sits down. She is still in stage 2 baby foods, but she will occasionally try whatever we are eating. She does like bananas, crackers, golden grahams, bread, bars and cereal. She breastfeeds just two times a day - morning and night. She usually takes two naps a day and she sleeps around 10 to 12 hours at night. She likes to say "da" a lot which can mean several things, including Daddy. She is getting better at saying "ma" for Mommy. She loves watching dogs bark and run around. She likes to read. She still enjoys her stroller and taking walks every day. Our trip to Colorado brought out her crawling skills!!! She is now trying to crawl forward - very exciting! Also, Shelby has started to give Mommy and Daddy kisses and loves other babies to whom she gives kisses too.

It's raining, it's pouring...

...little Shelby is snoring. Yes! We brought back some cooler weather with us here to Texas!! It has rained off and on all day yesterday and today. Right now it is only 72 degrees. I love it!!! But poor little Shelby has a slight fever. She is finally taking a nap so hopefully she can sleep it off.

We had a great time in Colorado and Nebraska on our nine-day adventure!!! We didn't take very many pictures, unfortunately, but everyone that did take pictures at the Hamilton Family Reunion can load them onto this one site for all to see: HamFam Reunion 2010. Thanks for setting that up, Grandma Mary. And thanks for organizing the whole thing - loved it!

We spent a few wonderful days in Colorado - enjoying the weather and family. Tuesday we went to the mountains and hiked, then got some ice cream in Estes. It was a beautiful day! Wednesday we had doctor appointments and that evening we had friends over to visit - so much fun! Thursday we met with Pastor Craig and had a great meeting! Then we headed to Nebraska for the Hamilton Family Reunion. We stayed with the Wahlgren's again and loved it! Because we got into town early we were able to spend some extra time with Grandma Mary, Uncle Isaac and his girlfriend Trisha. We love Trisha!!!

The Reunion was a lot of fun! Saturday, after family pictures and brunch, we got to spend the day at Jeffery Reservoir. Shelby enjoyed the pool on the deck of the lake house. Josh and I got to ride on the tube and we had a blast! After dinner we all sang songs and had lots of laughs.

Sunday we headed back to Colorado and spent a little more time with the Griffins before we headed back to Texas. What fun!

Shelby and Mommy in the baby pool on the deck at the lake house.

Uncle Isaac and Trisha - so cute!

Brady is the boy on the left (Josh's cousin's son)...he is 7 months old and weighs 24 pounds where Shelby is 1 year old and weighs 21.5 pounds!! Brady is a sweet baby boy!

Here we are in our Twins shirts.

Mallory (Brady's older sister) and Shelby had fun together. Shelby enjoyed being pushed in this baby stroller. Sweet girls!

Believe it or not...the house is pretty much back to normal! Laundry done, bread made, bills paid...just need to sweep and mop. Home again, home again, jiggity jig.