Sunday, February 27, 2011

CHEESE!

Hi Again!
For cutting 3 more teeth, I had a pretty great, happy week! When mom says "cheese" I know just how to ham it up for the camera, so that's what this week's post will show you:)

I am still SUCH a good eater and I love meal time! I'm drinking milk from a sippie like a champ, and I've completely forgotten all about the bottle- that's for babies, and last time I checked, that's not me anymore!


Lately I stand and walk along anything I can! I will 'walk' down the entire hallway in our house just by holding on to the wall. 

As I mentioned I'm currently cutting 3 more teeth...it took me nearly 9 months to get my 1st tooth, and in the last 3 months I've acquired 4 more! I currently have 5 teeth that have cut through(2 on the bottom, 3 on top) and I'm cutting 2 more on top and 1 on the bottom (that mom and dad can see anyway!) This picture with my granny kind of shows my teeth:) 

I still LOVE bathtime and I play until I get pruny, or sometimes longer if mom and dad let me:) We got some new bath letters and numbers today so we decided to try them out in the tub tonight...


The bath was tons of fun like always...but we also had a new experience!
My parents knew it would happen one day...

Mom just wastn't prepared...

When she got up to get a towel for me out of the cupboard, she came back to a surprise...


***WARNING***

*Some of you may not want to see this*


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Yep, floating amongst my new foam letters is POO! 

Mom was pretty much in shock and didn't even know what to do in the moment...so why not delay me in the poopy water a little longer and get the camera:)

I got out while she cleaned it up, but then of course I had to get back in to have a 2nd bath to get clean, again!

"Hi Mom...I'm so much happier now that I got that out of my system!"
What a kid!

The only time this week that have really gotten crabby is when mom or dad leave a room, or when dad leaves for work in the morning. Apparently 12-18 months is the peak time for seperation anxiety, so unfortunately, it's totally normal!
Usually, mom and I leave near the same time as dad so we're all rushing around to get ready, but on Tuesday, mom had parent teacher conferences that evening, but no school during the day so we got to hang out at home.
What wasn't so great, was having to send dad off to work:( I crawled over to the door when he left, stood up, and started pounding on it...trying to get him to come back! It didn't work:/

Eventually, I got over it and found something else to entertain me, but I do love spending time with my dad:)
Well, off to bed for me to get rested for another busy week! Hope you all have a great week too!
Love, Danika

Monday, February 21, 2011

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to! (but I didn't:)

Hello Friends and Family!
Sorry I'm a day late, I'm still recooperating from my fun party festivities!
One of my most exciting changes this week is that I finally get to sit facing forward! I'm not a fan of the carseat at all, but now that I can actually see what's going on, that's gotten a little better.

Saturday was party day! I had about 20 of my closest family at my house to celebrate the big O-N-E! Grandma's and Grandpa's, aunts and uncles, and cousins all came to party wtih me:)
I was ready to have some fun...

Let's back up a few hours- I was ready to party only because I was out cold for a good, hard, long nap before the company arrived!


Here's the kid table:)
6 of my cousins enjoying the foods I love!

And the Great Grandparent table!

After we ate some lunch, then it was time for opening presents! We didn't get too many pictures of this because mom was helping me open them. Here's one of me opening the doll Auntie Heidi gave me. I got so many wonderful gifts and I'm so thankful to everyone! I got books, a ball, puzzles, a wheely bug, a jack-in-the-box, savings money, and other great gifts.

Then the best party of the party, of course was cupcake time! If you recall, on my real birthday I wasn't too interested in my cupcake...my party, however, was a different story!
Here I go...let's get this heart on top out of the way and into my mouth first!

Taking a little break to digest my first few bites!


All I can say is YUMMY! Why did I not know about delicious Dessert First red velvet before?!?!?!

Time to wrap it up and be done...I don't think there was much of the cupcake left- We had frosting from head to toe, and from the floor in front of the highchair all the way flung back to the carpet!
Another big THANK YOU to all my family members that made the trip to my house to spend a wonderful day with me! I appreciate everyone being there, and the wonderful presents (and presence!) Looking forward to more cupcakes and birthdays with you in the future!

One of my favorite toys in my new jack-in-the-box (but Jack is a teddy bear instead of a scary clown:) I love to listen to the music in anticipation and then scream when he pops out of the box!

So, I'm officially a 'toddler'!!!
(ouch...so hard for mom to write that word- what happen to my baby?!?!)
Being a toddler has it's perks! I am drinking cold, milk and I LOVE it! The bottle has pretty well disappeared (except the middle of the night here or there when I'm screaming bloody murder and it's all that will comfort me!)
I also have discovered that my little legs aren't so useless anymore and I am a sprinting crawler! I go so fast mom and dad have to look twice to find me, when I was next to them seconds before! My legs also are gofor standing and nearly walking...I want to go so bad and just the last few days I've started to walk when someone holds onto my fingers, even just one handed! It's clear from the pictures below that Mom and dad have some more babyproofing to do!
A few of my favorite new places...
I threw out all the towels from under the sink and decided I wanted to crawl right in! Of course I got upset when couldn't figure out how to get back out! Once again, instead of helping me right away, mom grabbed the camera:)

I think that Sophie's cage is a mini playround for me...her toys squeak and she has a ball too, which I love!

And the pantry has been a favorite place of mine for a while, but now I can actually stand up and pull the food off the shelves...the other day I threw a bag of powdered sugar off the shelf...good thing it didn't open or we would have had a mess! Mom and dad are hoping it's a while before I figure out how to open Sophie's food container- I like to lean on it, but that's it (for now!) Doesn't everyone try dog food once in their childhood?!?!

I just want to go, go, go!

I love you all so much and hope that you had as great of a weekend as I did! I'm still recovering from being such a party animal:)
Have a great week!
Love, Danika

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Surprise...An extra mid-week Post!

(For all you non-facebookers)
Here's a Sneak Peek of Danika's 1 Year Photos:)





Monday, February 14, 2011

Look Who's One Year Old!!!

Yep, you guessed it, it's me! Can you believe it? Well, I can't...and neither can my mom and dad. It's been the fastest year of our lives (well, the only year of my life!) I've grown and changed so much in just 12 short months. It's been the most challenging, and at the same time most absolutely amazing year for my mom and dad. What did they do with all their time before I came along?!?! Life couldn't have been nearly as fun or exciting, or fulfilling (although I'm sure they were much more well rested!)

Here's what I've been up to this week:

I LOVE getting tickled by my daddy... I've become super ticklish and I giggle a lot when I'm tickled!

 This picture doesn't have a lot of significance, but mom just loves the way the camera capture the lighting and my stunning blue eyes (and yes, the milk dribble on my chin as well:)

It's my birthday...here's a little look at how I spent my day today...
I woke up and what else is there to do, but open a few presents! I was more interested in the paper than what was inside, but I had fun opening the bags;) 

Mom catching me right as I woke up...really? That woman is always all over me with that camera! I still have bedhead and even a little redmark on my head where I was pushing into my crib because I was sleeping so hard! 

Here's the best 12 month shot you're going to get...I'd rather turn over and crawl away as fast as I can than have to lay still for a picture! 


After a long day of Valentine Fun at daycare and celebrating my birthday with my friends, mom and dad took me to one of my favorite places for supper, Culvers ( no judging my mom and dad here...who doesn't like Culvers now and then?!?! I'm no exception!)

"I'm #71...please hurry, I'm hungry!"

"This butterburger is delicious!" 

Stopping for a quick picture with my mom...the only one we'd get today! 

After Culvers it was time to head back home and get naked to dive into my cupcake... 

Have I ever mentioned how I hate getting my hands dirty and having things stick to them?!?! That's what the frosting was like and I wasn't so sure about it...rather than licking my finger, I kept trying to flick it off! 

"I don't know about this thing...I'd rather smear it on my body than put it in my mouth!" 

"I've had enough already!..." 

"...Oh wait...there's still a piece of cake on my arm that I want to eat!" 

My big party is next Saturday so I'll have more birthday festivities to report on then!
Thanks for being a part of my life this year in one way or another...looking forward to many more years of memories, laughter, tears, stress and fun with all of you!!!
Valentine Love and Hugs,
Danika

Sunday, February 6, 2011

To Iowa We Go...

Happy Sunday! I'm giving up a few minutes of watching the Super Bowl to give you my weekly update, so I'll try to keep it short and sweet!
I've been a bit of a sick kiddo this week...at first mom and dad thought it was just due to teething, but soon realized it was more than that. We stayed home together on Wednesday to give me some time to rest and relax at home and they took me to the doctor. I've had a horrible, deep, cough that won't go away, but the Dr. said I don't have strep throat so that's good...of course it's just a virus that has to 'work it's course'! On the plus side of the crabbiness from teething, both of my top front teeth have finally broke through!

This is how I spent most of my week...filled up with tylenol to comfort me and out like a light! (well, let me clarify...I've taken pretty good naps, but I have kept my mom and dad up at night this week! for 3 hours on Thursday night...not fun for any of us!)

Just practicing on the piano...I think maybe mom and I will be taking lessons together:) 

We spent our weekend in Ames, Iowa to visit my Auntie Lisa and Cousins Connor and Madeline. It was a long 4 1/2 hour drive (really a 6 hour trip by the time we made stops to eat, and to drop off the dog at the farm) The ride down on Friday night went well because I slept pretty much all of the way (as well as dad!) The way back today actually went pretty well too- I slept the 1st 2 hours and then dad kept me company in the back seat most of the way... I tell ya though, I'll be WAY more excited to go on a long car ride when I can finally face forward in my car seat! (Only 1 more week:)
I LOVE to play with my cousins...We had all kinds of fun together:)

We made a fort in the living room.... 

I got to test out some of Madeline's toys (I even rode this fun 'bike', with the help of dad, while Madeline hung out in the basket in the back:)


We cooked up all kinds of fun with their play kitchen... 

Havin' fun on the bike!

Uncle Daren was good for piggyback rides, wrestling, and all the other 'rough housing' fun! 

On Saturday, Mom, Dad, Auntie Lisa and Connor went to an Iowa State basketball game, while me and Madeline stayed at the house with a babysitter... she told mom and dad I was a 'little' crabby, but otherwise a good girl, but mom and dad hope she wasn't just being nice and I wasn't too much of a handful!

It was a good exciting basketball game, but unfortunately, ISU lost by 1 point! But we still had fun:)
Go ISU! 


Mom and dad don't get to see me with other kids too often to know how I interact with them, but I am a much happier kiddo when I'm around other kiddos. I LOVED playing with Connor and Madeline and I seemed so much more active and talkative.

Once in a while my mom or dad will hop in the tub with me, but the 3 of us in the tub was a 1st for me...
and I loved it! 

Splish-Splash we were takin' a bath!!! 

As I mentioned at the beginning of my post, for those of you living in a cave, today is SUPERBOWL SUNDAY and my Green Bay Packers are playing! In true packer fan spirit, mom, dad, and Connor wore their green and gold so we took a few pictures before we left Ames to head home
(Auntie Lisa, Madeline & I would have too, but we don't own any packer gear!)



Can you believe everyone is actually looking at the camera?!?! 

What a fabulous weekend! It went by way too fast and we wished we could have stayed longer to keep them company and spend more time together, but back to the grind for all us here tomorrow!
Thanks so much to the Percy's for hosting us! We love coming to visit, and we hope to do it again soon!

OK, enough already (I know, I said I'd keep it short and sweet...what happened to that plan?!?! It's already the 4th quarter of game- I better let mom go watch it already!)
Go Pack Go!
Love, Danika