Happy Birthday, Emily Kay

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010.

8:18 am.

8 lbs 3.7 oz 19 inches. Perfect in every way.

Happy Birthday, Emily Kay. Having you in our lives is such a gift. We love you so much, sweet girl.

You are 1 year old today, Emmy. How can this be?!?

At her 1 year check up today, she weighed in at 23 lbs 8 oz {exactly 15 lb weight gain from birth} which is in the 75th percentile. And measured in at 30 inches {11 inches grown since birth} which is in the 80th percentile. According to our pedi, she's a "beautiful, healthy, and obviously happy baby girl." Music to a Momma's ears.

Emily is still doing great STTN for at least 10 hours, if not 12. She's been on vitamin D cows milk for about 3 weeks now & loves it. Our pedi recommended starting the process of eliminating the bottle & moving towards the sippy cup, but to do it gradually over the next 3-4 months. I shudder to think about her reaction to stopping the bedtime bottle. Eek.

She LOVES feeding herself now. Goldfish crackers, graham crackers, & banana Gerber puffs are favorite snacks. She also loves tiny pieces of hot dogs & any kind of beans. It's downright adorable when after every bite swallowed, she says "Mmmm guuuh". *good*

Em is also starting to repeat things we ask her to. She's a pro at Momma, Dada, & Sissy. When I ask her for a kiss, she opens her mouth wide & just lays it on my lips. Her babbles are precious, I can't wait to hear what her little voice sounds like. I can't wait to hear her & Brooklyn converse.

She isn't walking yet, but homegirl can crawl at the speed of light. She isn't even really crawling on her knees anymore, more so on her feet, kwim? (that's 'know what I mean' Mom, not kay-wim.) She loves to pull herself up to stand & cruise around the couch & coffee table, but is perfectly content with her tush on Momma's hip.

She's in size 4 diapers, size 4 shoes, and mainly 12-18 clothes with some 12 months & 18 months items able to fit.

She absolutely loves Bubble Guppies & Yo Gabba Gabba. She could jump in her jumperoo with her arms raised for hours. Whenever she gets super excited, her hands & arms go 100 mph in circles like little pinwheels. When Brooklyn laughs, Emily laughs.

She's a year old. My baby girl is a year. What a bittersweet feeling. I feel so incredibly blessed to be the Momma of such a beautiful child.

How 'bout a vote for sappy Momma's (ohh yes, a tear or 20 has been shed) and for birthday girls! =)

P.S....Check back here soon. My very 1st giveaway will be announced shortly!

Emily's 1st Birthday Bash

Welp, Emily's 1st birthday party is over. And it was fabulous. The weather was gorgeous, albeit insanely hot (as in food is melting, solids are liquifying hot), and it was so nice seeing friends & family gathered together to celebrate the 1st year of an amazing little girls life.

My MIL once again did an amazing job on the birthday attire front. All I told her was that I wanted a giraffe print & hot pink halter style outfit. She came up with this.

Absolutely adorbs, right?! {You may notice the orange polka dot shoes were a no show. It was just way too darn warm for her to be wearing socks & shoes. But don't worry, they won't go to waste. Dustin's already pointed out that she's ready for Dolphins football season.}

Did I mention MIL also made big sister's dress as well? Equally adorbs.

Party decor. I took some help from Etsy & Big Dot of Happiness, but I did alot of it myself {with the help of party blog stalking & Hobby Lobby. Oh & summer shandy after the girls & hubs went to bed while I was downstairs crafting away.}

This was probably my favorite idea. I got a shamazing deal on these water bottle labels here.

"Make Your Drink Orange or Pink" with pink lemonade and tangerine mix in's.

Simple banner of construction paper chain links with wooden giraffe figures from Hobby Lobby hot glued on. And then a banner of her month by month pictures. 6 pieces of giraffe print scrapbook paper, whole punched in each corner with a long piece of ribbon lined through.

Food wise, we kept it pretty simple. {See the strawberry milkshake whoppers & orange slice candy? Melting...yeah...}

Sub platters from Subway, fruit kabobs, veggie pizza, and chips.

Sweet tea & water. {Iced sugar cookies? Melting.}

Side walk chalk, bubbles, and giraffe masks for the kiddos.

That highchair was mine when I was a baby. I had my first piece of birthday cake in it too =)

Presents! And our official party guest greeter. Brookie fondly named him Big Guy.

Flowers from Hobby Lobby. 4 bunches on sale for 69 cents a bunch. And my most favoritest picture of her ever & maternity/newborn session photo album for everyone to reminisce.

Party favors. I got the bags here and filled them with iced animal cookies from the Dollar Tree. 3 bags filled 28 bags.

The kiddos!

Fun with the bubble machine.

Time for presents! This was the only picture I got of the girls together. {Heck, I didn't even eat a bite of anything until well after the party was over. Who has time to eat when pictures need taken, people!}

The cake! Cake lady Emily did a FANTASTIC job putting together my thoughts & rambles and turning them into this. Dontcha love the giraffe "1" on her smash cake? Gah, too cute!

Lemme tell you...this girl loves her some cake. She was not shy about diggin in.

{Party hat & highchair banner from here. And personalized bow bib from here.}

So there you have it. I can't believe her party is done. That her birthday is tomorrow. That my baby is going to be ONE.

We've got her 1 year check up at the pedi's office this morning. I'm anxious to see how much this chunkaroo has grown. =)

Changing Things Up a Bit

Alright ya'll, whatcha think?!? Becca at Jumping Jax did a fabulous job spiffy-ing up the Shenanigans. Nice & clean, colorful & organized, everything my house isn't...but hey, at least my blog is up to par!

I highly suggest using her help if you need any blog work done. Seriously, it takes a sweet & patient woman to keep up with my need of seeing multiple fonts. Thank you Becca!

Notice something else different? We've moved! The Stauffer Shenanigans is long enough without having to also type in 'blogspot.com'. So from now on, we are located at www.thestauffershenanigans.com.

If you have us in your blog roll, please remember to update it {wouldn't wanna miss a post about Miss Emmy Kay's birthday party, would ya? :) } And also, if you enjoy my rambles & overabundance of pictures of, in my opinion, two of the most cah-utest girls, follow me!!

One last thing?
How 'bout a vote?

Thanks you guys! If I could share leftover delcious birthday cake with you all, I totes would.

Steppin' Out Saturday 6.25.11

It's party day! I cannot believe today we are celebrating our sweet girl's 1st birthday with all our loved ones. A birthday post will fo sho be posted asap. Until then, it's time for..

I gotta admit, I love these posts. Look forward to them every week! This week is in "I Do" date night style.

Yesterday my good friend from high school & fellow Momma blogger, Lindsey, married her high school sweetheart. 10 years & 3 beautiful children later, they made it official! My Momma had both girls spend the night at her house (Brookie absolutely adores sleepovers) and it worked out great. We got a lil date night & plus we'll have time this morning to set up for the party. Win/Win.

::My Deets::

Dress & handbag--Target

Belt--Forever 21

Earrings--Macy's

Shoes--Candies @ Kohls

--I know some of you may remember I wrote about a new dress I bought for the wedding. Ya, well, it doesn't fit anymore.....it's too big =) Before you get all jealous & whatnot, it's too big in the chest. My boobs must have a serious beef with me *le sigh*

::Dustin's deets::

Button up--Aeropostale

Khaki's & belt--American Eagle

Shoes--not sure. Kohls I believe....I'm not gonna go snooping through his stinky shoes ;)

I tried something new with my hair tonight. Those who know me (and I'm sure you've all noticed in pictures here yourself) my hair is either up in a ponytail/sloppy bun or just laying down. I've got a beastly thick mane, so curling irons really do me no justice. Big barrel curls just fall from the weight of my hair. So I decided to try & pull a Tori Spelling/Taylor Swift move and go for a messy side bun.  

Easy.Peasy.Lemon.Sqa-weezy.

 I just teased the bejebus out of the mane (it helped alot that it was day old hair with hairspray), gathered it in a side pony, used an elastic band to make a bun, then pulled & bobby pinned wherever. Add in a lil side bangage & a lil oomph pouf on the side, and presto! It got a lil bird nesty by the end of the night, but it's definately my new go to hairstyle. Ya dig?

Congratulations to Nick & Lindsey on such a gorgeous day!

Now off to celebrate the last amazing 361 days. Let's Party, Emmy Kay!

How 'bout a vote for wedded bliss & awesome par-tays?