Ready or Not...12 Month Update

Well we made it to the one year mark and now its time to celebrate the big O-N-E! Whitley is not only standing on her own this month but also started taking steps a couple days before her birthday.

What a busy month! We headed to Louisiana to see Granddaddy and Nana and all of our cousins. Whitley started standing on her own and was so excited to do so next to her cousins.

After a fun couple of days in Louisiana, we then headed to Gulfport, MS so Whitley could walk on the beach. It was a quick trip but she loved the waves and sand.

Hanging out in Mississippi...

Then the big birthday arrived...we celebrated with a crib full of balloons...

A breakfast fit for a queen at IHOP...yummy bacon!

Continued on with a day at the zoo where she met Mayor Betsy Price.

And finished the day off at the Children's Museum.

 Then it was time to really party...

The theme was Ice Cream and #ONE...

We had a lot of fun making ice cream themed desserts to include ice cream cup cakes, ice cream rice krispy treats, and ice cream nutter butters.

The Birthday Girl...

Time to try the cake...

I think she liked it...

A baby no more...

 This has definitely been the fastest, but best year of our life.  I hope you all have enjoyed keeping up with Whitley on this blog as much as we enjoyed documenting it. I am going to take a break from blogging for awhile but will continue to post updated pictures on instagram @tmwhitley Thanks for all the kind words and support over the last year +9 months. Until next time...

11 Month Update

Summer is in full swing and Whitley is having a blast...especially at daddy day care. She is really turning into Miss Independent...tear...and developing her own unique personality.

She shows her creative side by finding new ways to use her baby toys...

She has also found the perfect hide-n-seek spot in the TV entertainment center (note...thanks to Whitley, the cabinet door is no longer attached).

She loves to hang out with big brother and can now say "Monk."

She loves making funny faces in the window...

She is enjoying her books...Mother Goose rhymes and the Puppy Boo book are her favorite "go to" books right now.

After a very busy day, Whitley and dada wait for mama to get home.

Whitley has also been having lots of fun outside of the house...

She still gets to spend lots of time with Kate.

Salt n Pepa at Little Gym, Water Table Fun, Mellow Mushroom and the Zoo

We enjoyed a fun family outing to the Fort Worth Zoo.

Checking out the animals, feeding the birds, and riding the carousel

Whitley also enjoyed swimming, train rides and concert in the gardens with her cousins and a petting zoo party for her sweet friend Elle!

Last but not least, our favorite new thing Whitley loves to do is give hugs and kisses...melts our heart every time.

Hugging Kate...or trying to physically remove her from her chair...

Until next month...when we celebrate the 1st Birthday!! Can you believe it?!?!

10 Month Update

Grammy got her this dress in Hawaii.

Whitley hit the 10 month mark this past week and finally started to get some teeth....3 to be exact. Whoah! We are excited it is summer time and Whitley is most looking forward to music class, little gym, and of course spending time with her daddy while he is off. It is still a challenge to get her to want to sit in front of the chalkboard...I remember the days where I would snap about 40 pics of her in the same position and had plenty to choose from...now the first photo I can get without it being blurry from her moving is the one! I was only able to get this one because I gave her my glasses and took the photo blind. Fun times =)

Whitley loved swinging at the park so much that her daddy installed her very own swing in the back yard.  As we walk to the back yard she gets really excited knowing she is probably going out there to swing.

Whitley likes to go over to Kate's house and play with her new kitchen...acting silly with Kate and stacking blocks in the window has become her favorite things to do.

Her other favorite thing to do is unload the dishwasher. I sure hope she likes to help when she gets a little older.

 Whitley was double booked for birthday parties this month. She first went to her friend Emma's 1st birthday party. They had such a good time although you cant tell from their shy faces.

We then finished off the day celebrating Layla's 4th birthday with a swimming party. This was Whitley's first time swimming and she loved the water. We are ready for summer so we can swim some more!

By the end of the day, the poor girl wore herself out.

 We will see you at 11 months. Sweet dreams!

9 Month Update

We have hit the 9 month mark! At her 9 month check up Whitley weighed 22lbs 14oz and was 30 3/4 in long. Still an off the chart baby!! The chalk board pics are also getting harder and harder to do as Whitley is on the move! Crawling all around and pulling up and very close to standing on her own.

See...she is bored with me and my chalkboard =)

Whitley really enjoyed visiting the Easter bunny.

On Easter Sunday we went to church and then came home to see what the Easter bunny had left Whitley. Whitley also got to help make her first bunny cake. My family has made this cake every year and I am so glad I get to share this tradition with Whitley now.

We ended the day with a little Easter egg hunt in the back yard. Whitley loved the plastic eggs the most.

Boiling crawfish is something her mama and daddy love to do this time of year so we were excited to have our first boil with Whitley. Of course no babies were harmed taking this photo but I cannot say the same for the little crawfish.

Big brother Monk also celebrated his birthday on March 31st. He was 10 years old...and he still is not a fan of me putting the party hat on him. Whitley is starting to love interacting with her puppy dog more and more. She even makes a grunting noise when she hears him bark or sees him.

Whitley also got to find her inner artist at Sydney's 2nd bday party. She had such a fun time.

Whitley also finished her first semester of music class. It was so fun to see her go from just starting to sit up at the beginning of the semester to ending it with crawling all over the place. This is such a fun class and we are looking forward to the summer session.

 Last but certainly not least...Whitley began sleeping on her stomach...which has resulted in her sleeping through the night. AAAAAHHHHH! Well see you in a couple weeks at the 10 month check up!

8 Month Update

I know I say it every update but I CANNOT believe Whitley is already 8 months! Quickly turning from a baby into a pre-toddler right before our very eyes....make sure you check out the update to the update below!!

Someone with baby fingers decided to add their own touch to the chalkboard.

We rarely get together for a family photo so I plan to make more of an effort to not care if I look like I havent slept and have baby spit up stains on my shirt, we MUST document more pics as a family. Special thanks to our CF7 buddy Andrea Kirk for snapping this photo.

Whitley is up to all kind of new tricks. She loves to play patty cake and peek-a-boo. It cracks us up because for about 2 weeks, Whitley would clap her hands together everytime daddy would walk in the room...and speaking of dada...that was her first word but she now says mama too!

Whitley also enjoys disassembling and pretty much destroying all her toys. Here she is after she flattened her little universe mobile...looks like we have a Whit-zilla on our hands.

We also went to the park with Nana and Granddaddy and got to swing for the first time. She loved it...mama also decided to make a fool of herself by sliding down the slide. Such a fun day!

With all this fun, we decided to put Whitley to work. First, it was to fold some laundry but as you can see from her reaction, she wasn't a fan of this task. Whitley also tried her hands at being a tele-nurse but quickly decided she was much better suited for going on a relaxing walk.

Speaking of working hard...Whitley has been really trying hard to crawl around. She seems to be able to go a few steps...or crawls(?) but quickly loses interest and gives up. It is amazing how she still seems to be able to go where she wants by stretching and scooting.

As you can see below, she continues to find herself in sticky situations...help, Kate!

After a close call with the entertainment center, she finally said forget this crawling and started driving. Beep Beep!

Her most recent fun trick is she is starting to pull herself up on her toys and furniture...time to lower the crib dada!!

In other news, Whitley continues to be a good traveler. We recently went on an 8 hour trip to visit Nana and Granddaddy. We got lots of laughs from the other patrons when daddy let her stretch her legs in the back of the truck at a gas station along our way.

We finished off the month with celebrating mommy's...ahem...33rd birthday. Other than Meme making her wear silly birthday hats, we had alot of fun celebrating.

Alright, I couldn't help myself...can you handle the cuteness?!?!?!

As another update comes to an end, I must say we are very much looking forward to celebrating our 1st Easter together with Whitley this weekend. Check out her face when I told her about the Easter Bunny! Chocolate bunnies, oh my!

 

****UPDATE TO THE UPDATE****

I had already written the blog earlier today and just needed to do the chalkboard and take the photo. Well while I was drawing on the chalkboard, I guess Whitley decided she wanted the chalk bad enough to crawl across the floor for it. I kept moving her back further and getting her to crawl to the chalk over and over...there is no stopping her now. It is crazy how it just clicked all of a sudden...needless to say it was a little more difficult to take the blog pic of a baby who just learned to crawl. We luckily got one shot where she is looking straight at the camera, but forget worrying about capturing a smile now. Here are some of our bloopers.