Having Fun

A few of my cousins - Cami, Adam and Caiti, are in town (Darby's 2nd cousins!) for a few weeks and so far we've been having a great time. They all love Darby, and of course she just loves them too! Here are a few pictures I snapped on Sunday when we were over at my parents for dinner ...


... and here is one of Darby 'laxin in her new livingroom chair! She loves sitting in it while drinking her milk (cold, from a sippy cup - big girl!) and watching Elmo, The Wonder Pets or Yo Gabba Gabba! She even pretends to fall out of it and then lays on the ground and (fake) whimpers. It's a crack up. I need to get it on video!

She is walking all around the livingroom now, but still prefers crawling since it's her faster form of getting from one place to another.

This last week has been busy, as I'm sure you might have guessed from my lack of posting! Darby had a few days of miserable constipation and Eric had Lasik done. Between him and Darby it seemed like I was always doing something or helping someone! Eric is healing great, goes back to the Dr tomorrow to get his bandage "contacts" removed (his lasik surgery was different then normal, he has weird corneas I guess!) and hopefully he will be seeing 20/20 in no time!

In other news, Julie continues to do better by the day. She is moving right along with her physical therapy and getting stronger. We celebrated her birthday (on Aug 1oth!) and watching her blow out her candles - without oxygen - and with her new lungs was fantastic!

Gymboree

Darby loves Gymboree, and so do I! It's a great change of environment where I don't have to pick up any messes and Darby can do whatever she wants without hearing NO! We have been going to the Play and Learn Class a few times a week for the last month.

The class incorporates free play with a small weekly curriculum - this weeks is Depth Perception. We sing songs, play, and have a great time. The teacher even blows bubbles during every class! Darby is always pooped after which is another plus! I don't know how long we will continue to go (it is so expensive!) but we plan on doing at least one more month.

Another thing that is so great about Gymboree is that they have classes everyday, even on the weekends! We have gone a few times on Sunday so Eric is able to come too. Of course Darby loves having her Papa around and it's double the fun being at Gymboree with him! There are even "open play gym" times everyday during the week for a few hours a day. So far we've just been sticking to the classes (the open gym is during her nap) but I'm sure she would love that too!

Darby's favorite boyfriend crush Jackson loves Gymboree too. The cute thing is that Darby and Jackson periodically hug and kiss each other all through the class. It's adorable. Sometimes Darby just randomly puts her arm around Jackson. I love that she has a good friend already!

On Sunday I brought my camera and took a bunch of pictures! Jackson was still napping so he didn't make it to class, but of course Darby still managed to have a great time. She did however ask for him both on the way (saying "Jack, Jack, Jack?") and in the middle of class at one point.

I know, it's about time!!

So I have FINALLY gotten (almost) all of the pictures from Darby's 1st Birthday Bash, up on my Shutterfly site! I'm sorry it took so long, I had uploaded them, but then just didn't get around to organizing them and putting them into a folder on the site.

Things have been busy! For her birthday, from her Grandma and Grandad (Finken) she got a months worth of unlimited classes at Gymboree! I have been trying to take her there as much as we can - and she LOVES it. I will be sure to bring my camera today when Eric and I take her to the Play and Learn class at noon.

Darby CAN walk. She just decides not to. She takes about 5 steps now and then plops herself down. When people ask us if she is walking, we say no - because really she isn't - I don't think taking steps and walking are exactly the same thing. She is close, I think probably by September we will have a full fledged walker on our hands. I am in NO hurry for it!

She is talking so much, here is a list of her vocabulary to date:

• hi
• uh-oh
• book
• buh (for Billie our dog)
• Mama
• Papa
• Jack
• Baby
• thank you
• see (she usually says "oooooh see?" and points to something)
• this (when she is showing you or handing you something)
  
• what's that?
• num num (seems as though we taught her this for food and she tells us when she's hungry now - or points to food/pictures of food and says it!)

I think I covered it all. She does the baby sign for "all done" and I have been working on "milk" and "more". I haven't been as good with the baby signs as I wanted to, but I just have a hard time remembering to do them!

Darby is growing by leaps and bounds. She is definitely turning the corner into toddler hood. Here is a video I took the other night of her talking on her cell phone (an old cell phone we had lying around). Sometimes she even talks to her friend Jack on the phone (pretends to) and it is hilarious - she will blabber and then say "Jack,Jack, Jack", it's so funny! She is such a ham, enjoy!

Snoozy

On her birthday, I had to go in to wake Darby up from her afternoon nap - she was sleeping away the afternoon and I needed to get her ready to go out to dinner! When I have to wake her up, I usually just go in and she pops right up. On this day she was so sound asleep, she didn't even move! I turned on the light, turned off her rain sounds and she still didn't even twitch! I love how she either lays ON or snuggles her doll and just had to snap a few pictures -


Even after the taking pictures, she was still sound asleep!

Now if she could just sleep that good during nap time EVERYDAY!

Updated Slide Show!

I finally added Darby's 1 year old picture to the slide show!

I guess this means it's time to start a new one for this year. I still can not believe how quickly this year went and that Darby is now a toddler! I am working on uploading all the pictures from her birthday party so stay tuned! I promise to have them posted ASAP!!

I can't live without ...

... Disposable bibs!

I know I am not alone when I say I forget things. I feel like I forget MORE now then before and it's rare when I actually get out the door with everything I need. On several occasions it was a bib - which is a VERY important accessory because I don't plan on changing Darby's outfit after every meal! So, I decided to pick up some of these -


Now I keep a pack (sold 20/pack for $5) in my diaper bag all the time! What's even better? They are friendly for our environment! You can even turn the bottom up and make a little pocket to catch the food that doesn't make it into your little ones mouth.

A package of green convenience, what more could you ask for!?

Quick update on Julie -
She came home from the hospital on July 19th with new antibiotics to help with the infection in her lungs and trach. Since then she has been resting and eating (her weight dropped to 95lbs, the doctor has told her to eat for her life!) and just trying to heal! Her physical therapy sessions started yesterday. She said it was really hard work and has a long way to go. We are all cheering her on!! It is a long journey and your continued thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated!

DJ Darby

For her birthday Darby got a Sing & Discover Piano from our friends Josh and Angela. She has always loved music and dancing, but now she can sing too! She picked up on it right away. Here is a video I took this afternoon, it still cracks me up! Enjoy!