Hope is 1!!!

I couldn't resist doing this side-by-side when Hope fell asleep in the car the day before her birthday. What a difference a year makes!! You can see that her cheeks have only gotten chubbier and more kissable since birth. :)

Last weekend we celebrated Hope! Her birthday was Saturday the 24th, so that was the day of the big festivities. Both sets of grandparents came to town for the occasion, which was so nice!

We basically celebrated all day. :) With Hope's birthday being in the fall, what better theme for a birthday party than "fall" right? Easy. And Hope loved it/really had no opinion about it.

I just used fall decor I already had plus other things in yellow. I made the "Hope is One" banner, got some balloons, made some cupcakes and decorated them with orange/yellow frosting and leaf sprinkles! And we were good to go.

In the morning on Saturday, we let Hope (and her "helper" Jeremiah) open presents!

Get out of my way, brother!

Checking out her new clothes from G & G Wissink!

She actually figured out the present-opening quite quickly!

Off to the grocery store with her baby (from G & G Wiers) and her new shopping cart (from us)!

New ride from G & G Wiers! Took her a bit to realize that it doesn't go anywhere, it just rocks.

After presents, we headed out for an "early" lunch. For a fall birthday party, what better place to eat than Crane's Pie Pantry?? Unfortunately we were not the only ones with this idea, so we had to wait a bit longer than I would have liked. But, the food was delicious as always! 

Hanging out in the old-fashioned highchair at Crane's.

The afternoon involved a nap for Hope, and J took the opportunity to enjoy some time with all his grandparents to himself. :) After Hope woke up, we went for an early dinner at Crazy Horse (it really was early.... 4:45, had to be done with the table by 6:15 per the reservations girl!). The food there never disappoints!!! But we had to leave room for cupcakes and ice cream when we got home!

Why are you people singing to me?

A little help to blow out the candle!

What IS this?

Hmmmm. Not bad.

I LOVE IT!!!

Happy birthday sweet girl!!!

And the evening ended with a bath for the birthday girl, of course! Then bedtime stories- J read with Grandma Wissink and H (with her favorite hat on) read with Gradma Wiers.

We had so much fun celebrating Hope, and can't believe she is already ONE! In the last week she has become a full time walker, too. Amazing how fast that happens!

You wouldn't know by looking at the b-day pics, but Hope also had a 101.7 fever that day. :( Poor girl has had a rough few weeks! Fever and diagnosed with ear infection on the 17th, so she got 10 days of amoxicillin. Then a few days later, worse congestion and coughing, which the nurse at the Doctor's office said probably had nothing to do with the ear infection and was probably a new virus. Yippee. Then Saturday (her birthday!), a new fever and crabbiness (not pictured). Then Tuesday morning she woke up covered in a terrible rash!

Top left was Tuesday morning, top right was Wednesday morning (rash was a bit lighter on her body, cheeks were super red!), then bottom pic is from this morning (still a bit red but MUCH better)! Now you can hardly even see it anymore, thankfully! She had a VERY rough night on Tuesday night (therefore Adam and I also had a rough night). She was so uncomfortable, and we're still not 100% sure why. The rash was itchy? I don't know. She wasn't really scratching, just rubbing her face, rolling around her bed like she just couldn't get comfortable. Her longest stretches of sleep were from about 1:30-3:30 and 5:30-7. Other than that she was restless and fussy and crying- we felt so bad for her and helpless! :( I of course was on the phone ASAP to the Doctor's office, and the nurse recommended Benadryl if the rash itchy and was bothering her. Thankfully that seemed to help and she was able to get 3 good naps in, to catch up from the night before! Last night she slept WAY WAY better, and woke up acting more like herself! We're so thankful to have our happy girl back! So, the poor girl has had her share of illness this fall- maybe that will be it for awhile?!?!?! I sure hope so.

Sleepy baby snuggling with her baby doll!

Up next- Halloween! Can't wait to get my elephant and storm trooper all dressed up! :)