Walk and Roll

Tess is walking!

Yesterday, August 18, 2009 at 7:12 p.m. Tess took her first steps. She took about six steps from the fireplace towards the couch. It was so cute to see her tentatively take each step — she looked like a little Frankenstein.

Watch out world!

Belated Birthday

Finally — here are some of our favorite pictures from Tess' birthday party on June 14, 2009. We got through food, cake and presents just in time for a torrential downpour and hail storm. Luckily, no one can rain on my little girl's parade and she had a wonderful day in spite of the weather.

Opening presents

Ready for cake!

Floppy baby after a long day ...

Tess' One-Year Photos

Tess turns a year old on Sunday (can you believe it?!), so I had her pictures taken today. They turned out pretty well ... here are some favorites:

Busy Bee

Little Tess is all over the place now. She pulled up for the first time on April 16 and since then she's been crawling faster and faster, and getting in to everything! Just this week she started to walk around the furniture while hanging on; I have a feeling it won't be long until she's walking for real.

Her birthday is a little over a month away. I'm planning a party that's simple and nice , just like her. Can't wait to celebrate her big day, but I'm left wondering ... where did the last year go?

Happy Easter

Aloha

Tess really enjoyed her trip to Hawaii. What a lucky baby she is to have traveled to such a wonderful place at such a young age.

The flight to the island was probably the worst part of the trip for us. She didn't sleep at all (seven hours) and bounced on our laps the entire flight. Exhausting. However, once we were settled at the hotel, she was a perfect angel. She slept in the crib, took her naps, enjoyed meeting lots of new friends and was a generally happy and content baby. Sadly, the water in the pools and the ocean was much too cold for her. We took her in once and she absolutely hated it. We didn't get much swimming done, but Hawaii sure is a nice place to hang out and relax! The flight home was a dream; she slept six of the seven hours. I'm so relieved the trip was a success and we arrived home unscathed.

Busy Bee

Miss Tess has been a busy girl! Starting on March 12, she learned to:

• Crawl! And has been motoring around the house at an astonishing pace.
• Get to a sitting position from her stomach.
• Roll over left and right.
• Pull up on objects (just to her knees right now).
• Wave and say "Hi". (It's more of a sing-song kind of "ah" than "Hi", but she's got the idea)

I can't believe how much she's changed in the last two weeks. It's like everything happened all of a sudden.

At her nine-month checkup on March 19 she weighed 14 lbs and was 27 inches long. Still not on the charts for weight, but is in the 25th percentile for height.

Sorry I don't have pictures to share this time. Will have plenty on the next post because we leave tomorrow for Hawaii. Can't wait to get Tess in the pool for the first time. Fun!