happy birthday, libby!

Just wanted to publicly wish our little Olivia a very happy first birthday. This has been the best year of our lives, thanks to you, darling girl. We love you!

libby's take on laundry

our toshie girl

I was not expecting to make another one of these so soon, but here's my tribute to our little toshie girl. We miss her so much already.

first steps!

This must be the week for firsts.
Libby took her first steps tonight!!!

first word and blowing kisses

Here's a quick video of Libby showing off her skills at using her first word, "cat" and some advancing attempts at blowing kisses.
I love her.

pool time!

One of my big yard sale finds this year was a Mr. Turtle sandbox that we decided to use this year as Libby's kiddie pool. Now that we finally have some hot weather (and no rain) we pulled it out yesterday to see what she would think of it. This was also her first chance to wear her first bikini -- thanks Aunt Susan! Here are a couple of photos and a short video from her day at the pool.

two new videos

I know it's been a while since I posted any new videos, but I think these might be worth the wait. Here you get to see two distinctly different sides to Libby's personality. Enjoy!

first word!

Aside from the universal "mama" and "dada," which I don't think really count, Libby has spoken her first word: Cat.

We spend lots of time identifying Toshie and Gilmore, so this isn't a big surprise, but I personally thought "dog" would come before "cat." A few weeks ago we asked Libby where the dog was, and she pointed to Gilmore. Then she started making a "doh" sound. But that was about it.

Then, this weekend, Toshie walked into the room, and she pointed and said "cah!" The next morning, she was looking at a book and made the same noise; sure enough, there was a kitten on the page. Then she pointed to a vintage poster of 2 cats in our living room and said "cah" again. And the deal was sealed when my mom brought her a tiny little Gund cat that meows when you push its belly Saturday night (she's holding it in this week's chair photo). She loves this feline friend and now goes around saying "cah" all the time. And she's still working on "dog."

With our love of animals, I guess it's pretty fitting that our kid's first words would be "cat" and "dog." We'll try to take video and post it soon. It's too cute!

happy birthday daddy!

Kevin's birthday was yesterday, but we're celebrating all weekend, starting with an ice cream cake and yummy take out last night. He and Libby just left for the mall and a little retail therapy, and we're going to a party tonight (Nonnie is babysitting Libs). And Libby and I plan to indulge his love of going to open houses tomorrow. Happy birthday weekend!

finally caught up

We've been running way behind on getting our pictures edited, sorted, captioned, and uploaded to our gallery, but I've got it all caught up. Take a peek at what we've been up to when you have some time.
Here are a couple more recent shots for a preview.

Libby & Mommy at Grandma & Grandpa Whitman's

Libby wearing the jacket and hat that I wore as a baby.

Swinging at Aunt Katie & Uncle Matt's.

A little practice walking at Grandma & Grandpa's.

Happy 4th of July!