Sunday, February 13, 2011

My Baby Girl Turns ONE!!!

It still blows my mind how much time flies! It seems like it was just yesterday that I was in the hospital looking at Nixon for the first time. It was the first time I truly experienced love at first sight, and my love has grown stronger and stronger everyday. Now a year later we are celebrating Nixon's first birthday!

It has been an incredible year, and I have tried to capture every facial expression, every sound, every movement that she has made in the last year. It is amazing watching your "heart" grow up through their first year. She has developed so much and loves discovering new things every day.

She has been an amazing blessing to our family, and I wanted to make sure that her first birthday was as special as it could possibly be. (I know, I know, she won't remember it. But at least she will be able to see pictures!)

Thursday, February 10th, Nixon's Grandpa & Grandma Peters flew in to celebrate the special day. It only took a few minutes, and Nixon had already warmed up to them. On Friday, the 11th, we started the day by singing "Happy Birthday" to Nixon. She heard that song from me about 100 times the remainder of the day! We went out that night and celebrated with dinner with Grandpa & Grandma Mack, Grandpa & Grandpa Peters, and Uncle Ty. She enjoyed mashed potatoes, applesauce and raspberry ice cream. She LOVED every single bite! :) When Saturday, the 12th rolled around, she definitely realized that something special was happening when everyone showed up for her birthday party!

The birthday party was themed in Lady Bugs. Nixon wore the CUTEST lady bug outfit, and the whole place was decorated in Red, Black and White. She was a perfect social butterfly, and just like it was at Christmas, Nixon was showered with LOTS of gifts! She had a blast.

Here are the pictures of the birthday girl! Hope you enjoy!


February 11, 2011: Nixon turns 1 year old!


All ready for her Lady Bug Birthday Party!


A year ago, Mommy and Nixon were looking a whole lot different than this shot!


The start of Nixon's presents....Yes, there were more!


All the party snacks!


Lady Bug Cupcakes! :)


Nixon is the social butterfly!


Opening Presents


The Peters Girls


This is one of her favorite presents. I haven't been able to get this guitar out of her hands since the party!


Mike has been in training and wasn't able to fly out for Nixon's birthday. However we had him on FaceTime for the majority of the party so that he wouldn't miss out. THANK GOODNESS FOR TECHNOLOGY!!!


She really couldn't figure out what she thought of the candle!


She was being so dainty and delicate with the cupcake. I was expecting her to destroy the thing and make the biggest mess. But she kept taking small little bites!


FINALLY!!! We started making progress on the cupcake and getting it all over her face! :)


Birthday Girl and Mommy


The cutest Cake Face I've ever seen!


I absolutely love this girl! I still can't believe that she is already one year old! But I look forward to watching her grow each new day. She is my world and I couldn't imagine life without her! I love you baby girl! Happy Birthday!!!

Nixon Growing Up! Volume 2!

I may not have been 100% dedicated to blogging, but the one thing that I was dedicated to, was taking Nixon's picture every time she turned a month older. Here are pictures of my sweet baby girl for the last 5 months.


September 11, 2010: Nixon is 7 months old!


October 11, 2010: Nixon is 8 months old!


November 11, 2010: Nixon is 9 months old!


December 11, 2010: Nixon is 10 months old!


January 11, 2011: Nixon is 11 months old!

WORLDS WORST BLOGGER!!!!

Ok, it is official....I am THE WORLDS WORST BLOGGER! It has been months since my last post, and obviously we have had A LOT of things happen with our little family.

Since my last post, we left off with Mike graduating boot camp. From boot camp, he had 12 weeks of A-school training to become a Hospital Corpsman. His A-school was located in Chicago which was 6 hours away from Nixon and I. It was still really hard being away from him, but we were able to talk every night on webcam and Nixon and I made the road trip to Chicago about every 3 weeks. It was also really nice having him somewhat close when the holidays rolled around, and he was able to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with Nixon and I.

Mike graduating A-school December 18th and officially became a Hospital Corpsman with the United States Navy. We were extremely proud of him, especially since he graduated as the leader of his class. He has done an amazing job in the Navy so far and has a lot of recognition already! :)

From A-school, Mike was assigned to FMTB (Fleet Marine Training). Since the Marines do not have a medical unit, they depend on the Navy, and the Hospital Corpsman have to go through Marine training as well. He is currently in Camp Pendleton, CA completing his training. It has been a lot more difficult having him that far away, especially with the 2 hour time difference. We still get to see him on Webcam, but Nixon is now limited to only seeing him on the weekends since she is in bed before he gets done with Training. It's also been hard having to be away from him in person longer than 3 weeks. We were definitely spoiled being able to travel and see him as much as we did. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel! Mike is scheduled to graduate FMTB March 24th! At that time he is free to finally live with Nixon and I again, and we have been assigned to live in San Diego, CA! (I see MANY beach days in our future!!!)

As for right now, I have LOVED watching Nixon grow up! Since August, she has crawled, talked, walked, and is now into EVERYTHING! But she is still the best baby that I could ever ask for! I am also doing a little schooling on the side, so that I can get a job out of our home and still enjoy watching her grow everyday! :)

We are looking forward to the next month. We will either be living back with Mike or we will be getting REALLY close to it! Until then, we will stay in MO until the middle of March. At that time we will make the move back to Arizona where we will patiently wait to find out when our home is ready. IT CAN'T COME SOON ENOUGH!

Hopefully everyone is doing well, and I will TRY and be a lot better at the blogging!

Here is a few pictures from the last five months! Hopefully it gives you an idea of what we have been up to!



Visiting the "Pumpkin Patch" in Chicago! :)



Nixon is my "little monkey", so it is only fitting that we dressed up like a monkey and a banana! Happy Halloween! :)



Nixon's first Thanksgiving! :)



Mike is officially a Hospital Corpsman! Way to go, honey!!!




BEST date night EVER!!! At first Mike did not think that it was going to be his cup of tea. But in the end, we both REALLY enjoyed the show! One word...AMAZING!





Nixon's first Christmas...and may I say, She was a VERY good girl this year, and Santa left her LOTS of presents! :)