So Allyssa is already one year old today, and from the looks of it, she is really enjoying her first piece of birthday cake! Mom made the cake and dad made the frosting, all from scratch so you know it was from the heart! Ok, enough corniness, it’s time to tell you all about how the day went.

We decided to hold the party at Laura’s Dad’s place in Holmen since that is the area were most of the family lives. We drove down Friday night so we would have all morning to prepare the 20 pounds of BBQ Ribs and the 20 pounds of Taco meat for the lunch. Laura had a bit of running to do before the party and I stayed at the house to make the food and frost the cakes she had baked the night before. We were expecting 42 people and wanted to make sure nobody left hungry.

The party started at around 2:00 as relatives started showing up. The house quickly filled with people who know and love Allyssa. Turns out we weren’t as prepared as we had hoped. Where to put the presents? Where will all these people eat? What about the decorations? Oh well, the party started and we were all enjoying just being together for such a wonderful occasion.

I wish I could say the whole thing went off without a hitch… oh, wait, I can say that! As far as I know, the only problem we had is that nobody wanted to sing Karaoke out in the garage. I had my youngest brother Shay bring his equipment hoping that someone would enjoy it. But the weather didn’t cooperate. It was so cold and windy that we had to keep the garage doors closed and the volume a little lower. There is also something funny with the electrical in Holmen because every time Shay does a show there, his best amplifier doesn’t work right. Oh well, at least the younger kids enjoyed some music.

Allyssa received a lot of wonderful gifts even though she wasn’t very enthusiastic about opening them, Hey, give her a break, she’s only 1 and every new toy brings a new level of excitement. Her favorite so far seems to be the Purple Mini Van my sister Shawna found. She carries that thing around all the time. Not that she doesn’t enjoy her other toys, she just has her favorite, for now.

And then came the cakes, yes, I said cakes. A Black Forest cake, a white cake with pure white buttercream frosting, and a peanut butter cake with fudge frosting. That Black Forest cake, two layers of devils food with cherry filling and a rich fudge drizzle frosting, seemed to be the favorite, and that is what you see Allyssa eating in the photo above. Surprisingly though, that peanut butter cake Laura found a recipe for was very good, and one we will surely add to our normal list of recipes.

All in all, the day went very well, and Allyssa seemed to enjoy it, though we know someday she won’t have memories of it – but there is always video! If I can ever get the footage from my brother Scott maybe we can share some here. I also learned a lesson about cooking – 40 pounds of meat is too much for 42 people. Anyone want some of the 10 pounds of leftover taco meat we have?

This weekend Laura and I spent a wonderful few days in Red Wing, Minnesota on our first of what we hope will be many mini-vacations. With the new job and a little extra money coming in, it’s nice to be able to get away, even if it is on a terrible, rainy weekend in a city only a half hour away from home.

The picture above doesn’t really look great, because the lighting in the pool area of the hotel was not very bright, so getting a good picture was hard, and even though I pointed her out, Allyssa just wouldn’t look at mom or the camera. This picture was taken just minutes after we got in the water, and though it took her a little while to adjust to the water, she really enjoyed swimming. We did learn that that modesty at her age isn’t as important as comfort. In the photo she is wearing a shirt which we quickly found made her feel cold when the cold shirt was out of the water. The next time we took her she did not wear a shirt.

This won’t be the last time we take her swimming, but unfortunately we haven’t found a public pool in the area so we will just have to go swimming in the St. Croix River. It’s so clear and inviting we can’t wait for the weather to warm up some so we can enjoy the river. I don’t think we will be purchasing a boat any time soon though – gotta get a better car first. Driving this full size van we have is just too much on gas. Until then we can enjoy the river from one of the two beaches in town.

Someone once told me that Allyssa should have her own place to keep her things to help her build her independence. So we decided to give her the bottom two shelves on the book shelf in the living room to keep her toys. Of course, they don’t usually stay there and she hasn’t yet learned to put things away, well, except for herself.

The other day we saw her trying to crawl up onto the toy shelf for some reason. We didn’t get a picture then and we wished we had. Then today she did it again. For no reason, she clears off the bottom shelf then climbs in. I love my daughter and I love playing with toys, but even I think this is going too far! At least she is starting to put things on the shelf – maybe we should teach her that toys go on the shelf, and the baby belongs in daddies arms where he can love and protect her forever.

A world of firsts lies ahead of Allyssa and our family as she approaches her first birthday next month. We’ve already had so many, the first Thanksgiving, the first Christmas, her first booster shots. Here we have another first, her first Easter – and there she is on the easter egg hunt with dad with her first easter egg – imagine that, it’s purple! We are at Grandma’s today with the rest of the family for easter, even if it is only Saturday. We’ll spend tomorrow with Laura’s family.

And Allyssa is really getting into it, reaching out for eggs that she finds. Ok, daddy found it and pointed it out to her, but she was having a ball trying to get it. It was also fun to see Allyssa find all of her eggs first (with daddy’s help). At mom’s, she has these plastic eggs filled with money and candy, and each grandchild gets the same number of eggs, each with their own color. It’s not really a contest to see who finds them all first, but NYAH, Allyssa won!

Of course, it wasn’t all fun and games, she also took some time to hang with her cousin Heather. Look at her expression – “we come all this way only to have you ignore me and talk on the darn phone?” Come on Heather, hang up the phone and have fun with the family. Your friends will see you on Monday!

No, I am not looking at a new job already, this post is about Allyssa. While visiting with Grandma today Allyssa found a new toy that she doesn’t quite understand. For those of you that can’t make it out, it’s a toy level that actually works – we’ve used it to hang pictures! It is such a joy to watch Allyssa learn by exploring, building her brain to be as smart as mommy and daddy – or maybe smarter.

I wouldn’t say my daughter is a genius, though wouldn’t that be cool, but she’s walking already which we haven’t decided if that is good or bad. I know, lot’s of babies walk at 9 months, but if you are a parent then you know the joy of seeing your child take her first steps. The glow in her face as she realizes she is no longer a rug-rat, but a toddler. Of course she doesn’t know what those words mean, but at least she can get around. And so the journey begins…

Well, here we are, 9 months old and finally getting mobile! Yes folks, these are pictures of Allyssa standing on her own taking some of her first steps. That grin on her face makes me think – is she saying “YES! Finally, I am free”, or “What, you didn’t think I could do it?” It’s times like this when I realize how wonderful it is to be a dad – or maybe how terrible it’s going to be having to chase my daughter around the house!

No, actually, I look forward to this – taking her for a walk in the park, the joy she will have as she realizes how much mischief she can get into, and the stress off my back of having to carry her around all the time. Yeah, I know, she’s still young, but hey, a man can dream right? Until those dreams become a reality, I will cherish every moment I have to carry her – and miss it when she’s too big to be held by her daddy.

Yes, it’s Christmas. As Shane has said we have had a lovely quiet family Christmas, just the three of us. The 2 1/2 hours of travel it would have taken to be with family on Christmas Eve would have just been to hard with Shane having to work yesterday as well. While we both missed seeing family, having this morning with Allyssa in our home to open her presents made it extremely special to us.

Of course this day has taken it’s toll on Allyssa. Playing with her new presents has tired her out as you can see here. But look how angelic she looks while she sleeps. (Okay, all children look like little angels while they sleep, but to me she is the most precious little angel.)

I have to agree with Shane in that this is the best Christmas, I’ve ever had. While it may have been lean in material things it had the things that matter most, loved ones and joy. Thank you Shane for the wonderful words, and thank you for being you. It may have taken us a while to find each other, but I’ve never doubted that your my Mr. Right.

Allyssa is crawling. She’s been doing it since early December. And strangely enough, I don’t recall seeing her crawl backwards first. Of course that could be to the month we spend in the hotel, were we didn’t let her down on their floor. We kept her up on the king sized bed or in her walker, or in her pack ‘n play. I just had no way of knowing what kind of chemicals they may have used on their floors or how clean they actually were.

She is growing so much even if she’s remaining on the petite side of things. On the 19th when she had her second flu shot, she was 16 lb 3-4 oz and 26 3/4 in. She enjoys drinking from a glass, but still has problems figuring out a sippy cup. She also has liked everything she’s been given to eat, from beans to spaghetti (yes we pureed it for her). She loves ice cream and Red Vines licorice. She is also a big fan of potatoes, any way she can get them.

A few days ago, we felt the rough edges of her first tooth cutting thru. For the most part it hasn’t bothered her too much, or at least not yet.

We look forward to seeing family for a late Christmas when we are next in the Holmen area. It looks like it’s going to be the first weekend in January, but while we couldn’t be with them in person, they were in our thoughts on this beautiful first Christmas with our daughter.