[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0ABiRr43J0[/video]

This weekend we had family over to celebrate Lily’s First Birthday (a few days early)! We had a duck themed party (largely pulled off with the cake decorating expertise of Kory!) and Lily had fun smashing cake into her face (and a little bit into Daddy’s too!). For her first birthday, Lily got a special gift from Mom. All summer, I have been working on a special present for Lily. I wrote and designed a book featuring Lily and her lost duck and had it printed through MyPublisher. Be sure to check out a copy of the book at: http://www.mypublisher.com/bookstore/book_viewer.py?order_id=M389379&sp=x

Check out the all-new BIRTHDAY PARTY FOLDER under the Pictures link at the top of this page.

I love long weekends…. we got to do so much this weekend with all of the beautiful weather! We went to the pool everyday and packed nice big picnic lunches so we could hang out all day. We met up with our friends, Jen and Avery (and baby #2, who we won’t get to meet for another few months!) and the girls played in the big pool this time!

Lily also learned a new trick. When she has her Dora bathing suit on that her Grandma Pat bought her, she will point to Dora when you say, “Where’s Dora?”. She has really got pointing down now…. which I know is soon to be followed by “What’s that?” to just about everything.
We also went to “foam park” with Aunt Lynn. Foam park is a park with a floor made entirely of bouncy rubbery stuff. This was the first time Lily was actually able to play on some of the equipment.

Check out her 12th month folder on Flickr for more!

Lily’s brain turned on in the past two weeks and we have had lots of new “tricks”. In the past two weeks Lily has learned lots of new things. She hugs everything, including a hug for Mom from her crib in the morning. She even hugs remote controls… like father, like daughter. She can say: Kitty, Mama, Dada, Baby, Yum (whenever she sees pictures of food), Elmo, Ogre, and Duck. She likes to chase the cats and scream Kitty to them. When she does finally catch them she now knows how to pet (we are still working on the gently part). She drinks out of her sippy cup, she can feed herself with her spoon, brush her hair (video of that to come… it is freaking funny!) and brush her teeth (also known as suck the toothpaste off the toothbrush).

Proud Mommy much?

I just can’t believe how quickly she is learning new stuff! She is getting so OLD!

Lily is 11 months now and I can’t believe that time is flying. This past week we have been busy. Mom is back to work and Lily is learning some new words. So far she has mastered Mama, Dada, and now Kitty whenever the cats come in. This weekend we are in NJ to go to the Fair Haven Fireman’s Fair. Lily had a blast hanging out with Grandpa! We even go to go on a train ride.