Charley's 1st Birthday!

I can't believe my baby girl is 1! Where did the time go??! I LOVE holidays...especially celebrating my baby girl's birthday, so I had a LOT of fun planning her birthday. We weren't doing a huge birthday party (just a few family members) but we were still going to celebrate.

Charley and Great Grandma Grow have birthdays 1 day apart, so we started the weekend celebration by visiting Grandma. We even brought her a birthday crown to wear for the occasion.

Trying to get these 2 to both look at the camera and smile at the same time was impossible LOL.

 I took a few days off from work so I could make Charley's birthday cake. I took a cake decorating class many years ago for this VERY purpose...so I was really excited to make my daughter's cake!

 I had SO much fun making this cake (even though I knew Charley wasn't going to eat any of it.) But that's okay...everyone deserves a birthday cake!

I made cupcakes for everyone else

Charley looked SO cute in her birthday outfit!

Charley and Grandpa Gardner

Charley and Grandma Gardner

 I don't know why I didn't get any pics with my family...I'm bummed about that. But they were there!

When we brought out the cake, Charley immediately reached out for it...so I had high hopes that she would at least want to play in it!

 

But she took one little finger to it and as soon as she touched the frosting...she didn't want anything to do with it. So Mom and Dad had fun getting her "dirty" and tasting the cake.

This was when she started to "gag" because I got cake in her mouth LOL

She didn't think it was so funny LOL!

 Charley got some fun toys to encourage her to sit up and play. We discovered a few days before her birthday that she CAN sit up on her own...she just doesn't WANT to, the little stinker!

Charley loves to stand and uses her feet for almost everything she does! She started waving a few days ago and now will wave back to us. She loves to sit on the couch with Mom and Dad and even has her own "spot". She is starting to understand "mama" and "dada" and instead of just babbling, will say our names when she sees us. She loves to talk and will tell us stories all day long. She gives slobbery kisses to Mama but unfortunately doesn't like Daddy's facial hair, so he hasn't gotten any from her yet. But we keep trying!

She adores her puppy and laughs at her all the time...especially when she is barking at us because she wants to play. She loves music and will stop whatever she is doing to look to see where the music is coming from.

She still struggles with eating solids. She doesn't quite know how to use her tongue to move her food side to side in her mouth, so we are working with her by doing some exercises to get her to use those muscles. She is starting to grab food from Mom and Dad when we are eating, so we hope that is a sign for good things to come! The good news for Mom and Dad is that she is OFFICIALLY off formula! YAY!

 We ADORE our Charley and are so glad she joined our family!