Perfecting Play

The amount of changes in a baby between birth and their first year is staggering, as any parent knows. This time last year Belen was just eating, sleeping, crying and pooping. Now she is a full fledged little child who plays like there is no tomorrow! She even started walking last week, although we haven't been able to capture it on film just yet. Just take a look at all of the fun she has been having.

Practicing walking on our driveway.

Rocking at Bell's house.

Ready for a driver's license for her Cosy Coop.

Playing where she isn't supposed to be playing.

Playing Peek-A-Boo with Mommy!

Tricking Mommy is so much fun!

Playing in the box for her birthday present from Aunt Julie.

(She does like the tent that came in the box too! hahaha)

Riding on a carousel with Mommy!

I will be posting more pictures again soon.

Love,

Dawn

Happy Birthday Belen!

Our Little Girl turned 1 on September 9, 2010. To celebrate we had a picnic birthday party at Shady Oaks Park in downtown Houma. It was a little warm (which explains why my baby is not wearing clothes in her birthday pictures. How embarrassing!) but the party was lots of fun.

We were all too busy having fun to take pictures, but Colt helped out by taking pictures of her first bites of cake (over 60 pictures!!! Thanks Colt!) These are the funniest pictures anyway!

Belen's first bite of cake.

She's not too sure what to make of it.

In this pic, it looks like she doesn't like the cake too much, but feels obligated to keep eating it since we went through so much trouble to make it. (It is a magnifying glass looking at ants, in case you couldn't tell. Get it? Ants at a picnic? Maybe the concept is a little too abstract for a 1 year old's birthday! hahahaha)

This was the point where she quit eating, and started smearing the cake on herself!

The aftermath.

The birthday party went well, but Gavin and I are just ecstatic that our little girl has made it to 1 year old. She is such a blessing in our lives that we thank God for every second of every day! Thank you to all of you who joined us in celebrating and thanking God for her as well.

Love,

Dawn

Fun with Family

Recently we have been blessed to be able to spend a good amount of time with our families having fun. Here are some pics.

Back in August, Julie and the kids were able to come back to Houma for a visit before everyone had to start school. It was a great trip! We all played together, Julie and I got pedicures, we went shopping, visited the Aquarium of the Americas and the Children's Museum in New Orleans, ate alot and had tons of fun. Praise God that they have moved closer and we get to see them much more often!

Jimmy and Belen chillin' at Sam's. (I love the double grocery carts!)

I guess Julie's suitcase as a comfortable a place to sit as any.

Belen fearlessly touches a stingray at the Aquarium.

Belen keeps her smile despite the ominous-looking situation with the shark.

If this picture doesn't make you smile, your heart is made of stone!

Lauren and Jimmy are the cutest sea creatures around!

To celebrate Ashton's 6th birthday, Gavin, Belen, Blair, Heidi, Ashton and I spent the day at the Audubon Insectarium. It was awesome! I know I sound like a big kid, but I had the best time! We all did. If only we had a picture to document the fact that I actually ate crickets and meal worms!

Ashton and Belen are riding in a VW Love Bug.

Taking a closer look at mudbugs with Aunt Heidi.

Posing in the Japanese Butterfly Garden.

Ashton made a friend!

We are so happy to have good family and to be able to see them pretty often. We love you guys and hope you enjoy the pics!

Love,

Dawn

Happy Orange Day!

Our happy orange family!

This was completely unintentional, by the way. I didn't even realize it until Gavin got home and I said, "Look how cute! You and Belen match." and he said, "We all match!"

On a more serious note, our little girl is 11 months old today! Hooray!

Love,

Dawn

A Message for Maw Maw and Paw Paw

Belen has learned how to blow kisses!

Love,

Dawn

Happy Birthday (Just a Little Early!)

Gavin and I are worse than kids!

Last week I bought one of Belen's birthday presents early because it was on sale. We could not wait to give it to her! Her birthday is just over a month away, but we had to give it to her now!

The good news is, she loves it! She is getting proficient at creeping along on the furniture, so we thought it was the perfect time to get her a walk-along. Lucky for us, it converts to a ride-along, so we won't have wasted our money if she starts walking on her own next week!

I thought MawMaw and PawPaw would appreciate video of their little girl walking so well, so here it is.

We love you all!

Love,

Dawn

Thank you Babygarten!

Belen has found a new favorite pastime .... reading!

She loves to go in her room and pull every book that she can reach off of the bookshelf. Then she looks through them to find her favorites. "Where is Baby's Bellybutton?" is currently on top of the list.

Our little reader!

Love,

Dawn

Skin Issues

1 trip to the pediatrician. $90.00

2 tubes of Nistatin cream for rash. $8.00

1 bottle of Aveeno advanced care body wash. $6.00

1 bottle of Cutivate lotion prescribed by the dermatologist....

Practically priceless

or $384.00 (!!!!!!!) but who's counting.

At least the Cutivate worked and after about a month and a half the rash on Belen's neck is finally going away. I guess I will just lock the bottle in our safe until the next rash!

Love,

Dawn

Daddy's Girl

Belen and I have a favorite time of the day: When Daddy gets home! We always wait expectantly as soon as 5:00 comes for Gavin's car to pull in the driveway. Belen's biggest smile of the day is when the door opens and he comes inside. What can we say, we love Daddy!

Her shirt may say "I love my mom," but it is no secret that Belen is her Daddy's girl!

Daddy gets "stuck" following Belen through the door!

Gavin didn't want Belen to be the only cow at Chick-Fil-A's

Dress Like a Cow day! Luckily there were lots of cows running

around. But Belen was the only calf that we saw!

Love,

Dawn

New (To Her) Toys

We are so blessed to have family and friends that think of us when their kids outgrow toys! Aunt Julie and Uncle Jeremy passed on a few of Lauren and Jimmy's toys when we were visiting them, and Ken Levett, Belen's Chappy, gave her an outdoor playset his grandkids have outgrown. Belen loves them all! New toys are so fun!

We were able to fit the house toy inside.

Belen loves to play with it while I am fixing meals

(or cleaning after them. hahaha)

She is finally big enough to play outside on her playset!

It is our favorite thing to do in the afternoon when it is a tiny bit less sweltering.

Thanks again for the great toys!

Love,

Dawn

America, Sweet America!

This year I was reminded why the 4th of July was my favorite holiday as a little girl. It is a celebration not only of our blessings in this country, but of family and of summer. We worshipped well, ate well, played well, and them slept well!

Holidays are always better as seen through the eyes of children. Lauren and Jimmy, and Belen (even though she had no clue it was the 4th of July) all had the best time playing at the park, in the back yard, running under the sprinkler and lighting sparklers, the whole while with steaks sizzling on the grill! After putting the babies to bed, we set off fireworks (my favorite) and noone lost any fingers or blew up their faces (although some of Jimmy's toys were casualties).

Thank you God for such simple pleasures!

Love,

Dawn

Vacation Bible School Firsts

I just love writing about all of Belen's firsts!

While we were visiting our family, First Baptist Church of Thorndale, where Jeremy is pastoring, was having Vacation Bible School. We went both nights for a while, and so Belen attended her first VBS (of many I'm sure). We all had such a great time, especially the second night, which was family night. The night was filled with bounce houses, face painting, snowballs, and, the best of all, horse rides for everyone! It was wonderful! I always say, now that I have a child I can start having fun again, and that was definitely true at family night. I even got to ride Queso the horse with Belen. Here are some pics.

Bounce houses are so much fun!

Feeling tipsy in the best possible way!

Jimmy was bouncing around like crazy and making Belen laugh and laugh.

Riding Queso!

I was smiling this big, too!

Queso was so gentle and didn't even get mad a few seconds

later when Belen grabbed his nostril and pulled!

Belen's fist taste of snowballs (or really, shaved ice with almost no cherry syrup at all!)

Ducks really are soft Daddy!

After such a fun night, Belen had another first on Saturday morning. She threw up! My biggest nightmare had come true! I got through it, though. Thank goodness that Gavin was there to help me, and that my Mom and Julie were around, too. Praise God that Belen only felt bad that morning, and was better and ready to go by lunch time.

Love,

Dawn

Visiting the Shepherds

Belen and I were so happy to be able to visit with Aunt Julie, Uncle Jeremy, Lauren and Jimmy over the 4th of July weekend. They recently moved to Thorndale, Texas, just outside of Austin, and this was our first time visiting them at their new home. Gavin even surprised us by coming on Friday morning, even thought we though he had to work the whole while we were gone.

We had such a great time! It was so wonderful to see everyone and visit. The kids all played together and had a blast. Belen even liked Bilbo (their pet pug). We got to see some sights in the area, went to every park within a 45 mile radius, and even went to Vacation Bible School. True to Wilson vacations, we packed in as much action as possible into 4 days.

Love,

Dawn