Delaney's First Birthday

 HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY DELANEY!!!

We had a party for Delaney's first birthday tonight.  It was so much fun and little girl was VERY excited about her party!!!!

MOMMY AND BIRTHDAY GIRL

DADDY AND BROTHER DAVID

THEN IT WAS TIME FOR CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS:

After cake it was time for presents.  We were really worried about how David would handle the new experience of NOT getting things when Delaney did but he turned out to be quite the helper for her and it was sweet to see them share (sort of :-)

Helping Delaney open a present

LOVING her new cell phone.....Thanks Aunt Emma and Uncle Matt!!!

MOMMY got me a DOLLY!!!!

And then the GRAND FINALE:  A COZY COUPE CAR!!!!!

David did have a little difficulty letting this one go by

But after a bit he jumped right into the spirit of things!!!

My sweet little Delaney has made the transformation from baby to little girl.  As with most things this is a somewhat bittersweet transition.  I miss my little cuddly baby but I am enamored with Delaney as I see her little personality start peeking through.  She is so much more social than David and after accomplishing something (like her favorite activity:  climbing on the coffee table) the first thing she does is look around to see who is watching her.  Then a BIG SMILE and frequently a clap.  She eats very well and is now walking freely on her own.  She LOVES walking!!  Despite my best efforts she is every bit as much of the "blankey baby" that David was so frequently they roll around together on the floor wrestling blankets.  It's too cute!!!  Delaney and Tim have a bond I can't even begin to describe.  All Tim has to do is walk in the room and little Delaney just LIGHTS UP and Tim will spend hours contorting his face just to make Delaney giggle.  It is precious to watch the dynamic that Delaney has brought to the family develop.  She is such a gift and we love her so much!!  Happy Birthday Sweet Delaney!!!!!

P.S
It seems that Blogger has updated it's site and made things a bit easier so I am going to renew my efforts to keep the blog updated.  Having said that we are off to the Beach for much needed R&R so look for a beach update in a week or so.

Random Update

It's been a while since we posted....the kids grow and change soooo quickly it is hard to take time out from watching them to document it :-). Our days continue to be full, busy, and hectic with growing and playing. It's impossible to exactly show how our lives are filled but this picture shows alot: David is ALL boy (see him 3 feet off the ground?), Delaney loves being with people. She has to be touching or cuddling someone at all times....she grabs mom and smiles and has recently started "screaming". She screams then smiles and patiently wait to be "screamed" back at. It's a fun game guaranteed to bring smiles (and headaches) from all involved :-)

One of our favorite times of day is bath time each night about 7:00. About a month ago we started bathing the kids together which they both seem to love......David LOVES to play in the water and Delaney loves to be with her people:
DAVID

David is becoming quite helpful and has earned (?) his first "chore". He unloads the silverware rack from the dishwasher for Mom every morning. It's a great exercise in matching and he seems to think it is fun :-) He's very good at it and has stopped licking every piece before putting it away so it's actually helpful now :-)

On Sundays after unloading the silverware he gets to help mom make pancakes. Not quite as helpful there:
DELANEY

Delaney is such a happy child!!! She is forever watching David and trying to interact with him. This does from time to time lead to tears as he likes his space but generally she takes his rebuffs in stride. She started standing the day she crawled and I suspect it won't be too much longer before she is walking. She has two beautiful bottom teeth and we had almost given up hope of getting any more when POP! two days ago two top teeth made their appearance. This is one of the last pictures of "two-toothed Delaney" we got :-) She's displaying one of her favorite activities.....waving bye-bye.
Delaney LOVES to feed herself. She is lukewarm to baby food and really couldn't care less about formula but put ANYTHING she can pick up herself and put in her mouth and she's happy. This is dangerous as she crawls around the house as I am not as good a housekeeper as I'd like but so far this is the most dangerous thing she has found :
NOT THEIR BEST LOOKS

David is still challenged when it comes to eating neatly. Part of the problem is that he LOVES anything that is messy to eat. This is him after a GIANT bowl of my grandma's famous hamburger soup: Not his best look!
And Delaney has this weird habit of running around with a circle puzzle piece in her mouth like a pacifier. Don't know why she does it as she really doesn't eve like pacifiers but if she finds this puzzle piece she puts it in her mouth and will crawl around the house with it for as long as we will let her: Not her best look!!

Grandma and Grandpa Visit!!!

It's been a while since we blogged....we went on an amazing Beach vacation in May to Ft Walton Beach, FL.....we will post those pictures very soon... but we wanted to share Memorial Day Weekend while it is still fresh :-)

Grandma and Grandpa Hertz came to visit David and Delaney. We all had a WONDERFUL time and we completely wore them (Grandma and Grandpa) out!!! Grandpa seemed to have endless energy for swinging......

But the real highlight of the week for Tim and David was FIXING things with Grandpa!!! The guys must have spent hours and hours fixing various un-working mechanical devices we have around the house :-) David was in little boy heaven!
Grandpa even bought David his very own socket set and taught him the ABCs of tools. It was probably the most amazing weekend of David's little tool loving life!
Delaney refined her flirting skills with grandpa.....
And Grandpa, Grandma, and David managed to find something very interesting on the internet to watch together:
While Grandpa and the boys were fixing things, Grandma was reading with the kids and spending time with mommy refreshing her :-) Grandma read about 100 books with David:
And spent girl time with mommy and Delaney enjoying the Mississippi shade:
It was a wonderful weekend and we enjoyed their company very very much!! I always get refreshed by time with my parents and the kids always enjoy the uninterrupted attention and energy they give them :-) Plus Dad fixes everything :-) Thanks Mom and Dad!!!!

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day Tim did all of the yard work and mulched the front yard Saturday to get our home looking.....well, looking like home :-)

David was on his best behavior for Mother's Day weekend and even smiled at the camera (see daddy in the background pushing the mower?)
Delaney came closer and closer to crawling (we think she's within a week from crawling) and of course, she smiled about it:-)
And the kids gave mommy cards.....some a little less eaten than others :-)
All in all it was a WONDERFUL Mother's Day and I can't believe how blessed I am in my husband and kids!!!!!

Happy Easter!! and Stuff......

Happy Easter Everyone!!
We have learned to "smile" for the camera:
Beautiful Little Girl!!! ...with 2 teeth if you look closely.
Grandma Shedd is visiting for Easter and she brought eggs for David to find. NEVER has he had so much fun!!!
And expended so much energy!!
The week Grandma was visitng was nothing short of wonderful!!! Her ceaseless attention and energy for the kids was amazing and we all loved having her here!
There were hours and hours of reading stories:

And when the storms finally passed, the weather turned beautiful and we were all able to go outside and enjoy Grandma's visit:
Also this week, Delaney made BIG progress in her efforts to crawl. Her movements tend to be backwards, but look.....her little tummy is off the ground......she's almost there!!!
So all in all we had a good week.....with ONE exception. Delaney had pneumonia :-( ...it was discovered after multiple Dr. visits, yucky tests, and a scary fever. We believe she is getting better thanks to everyone's prayers. David did not take well to the bad news.
Does this look like the face of pneumonia????
I knew something was wrong when she stopped laughing and smiling. She didn't get terribly irritable....she just wasn't herself. After some shots of antibiotics and much love and attention, she is back to her smiley self and we are soooooooo happy to have her back!!!

Random Spring Update

There is really no reason for this post per se....Life has settled into a pretty good, hectic, fun routine for the little Shedd family. The weather has turned pretty and we are happily making the most of our ability to enjoy the outdoors. Tim has worked sooooo hard to make the back yard beautiful and it has really paid off :-)

While we all enjoy the outdoors NOBODY enjoys it as much as David:He's also pretty happy playing inside:

Delaney is, quite simply, happy all of the time (unless you try to put her down for a nap):

In the evenings we let the kids watch their only 30 minutes of TV they get for the day. They get to watch "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and it is a HUGE hit each night:
Then Bathtime:
This is David showing Mommy all of his artwork from "school". He's really starting to take pride in his paintings:

And Delaney is very proud of her new skill--SITTING UP!!!

PURE CUTENESS

CAUTION: Unabashed, Prolific Parental Pride!!!!!!!!!! You have been warned!!

For the record, I think my kids are the most precious, cutest, little ones in the world!!!! and I am sooooooo proud of them!!!

Today, they took the first step to actually playing together (David played and Delaney happily watched him). It warmed my heart because it was like a glimpse into the future when they can play together. I am sooo thankful they have each other!!!
Little Delaney is showing more and more personality each day......Do you see personality here??
She is still working on mastering solid food. Some days she will open her mouth and some days she wants nothing to do with it....but she ALWAYS thinks sitting with the family at dinner time is fun:
And if you notice.....she is SITTING.....not slouching, not being held up...she is SITTING!!! I am soo proud of her!!!

This is Delaney after dinner (wearing most of her sweet potatoes and rice cereal on her shirt) playing with her favorite toys....notice the sitting??? This is a new skill as of today!!!!! Did I mention I was proud??