One Year!

Amazing that it has already been a whole year since Summer joined our family!

Sunday, we invited our friends and family to join us at Southlakes park for a celebration. Yes, it was hot, but everybody had a good time in the shaded pavilion we reserved. The kids didn't seem to notice the scorching temps as they ran up and down the playgrounds and slid down slides that could cook eggs.

Summer was a little on the shy side from feeling overwhelmed at the crowd. She's been going through some stranger anxiety lately and was not sure what to do about all the attention from so many people, some of which she doesn't get to see often enough.

The ice-cream cone cakes were a hit! Several kids thought it was ice-cream and were trying to like the frosting instead of eating it:)

When it came time for her cake, Summer enjoyed being sung too, but didn't dig in to her cake until Bill took her out of the high-chair and held her. Then, she covered her face in icing and cake and loved every minute of it.

Summer got some really neat new toys to play with (Brooke is busy testing them all out for little sister), and a TON of ADORABLE clothes!! We've never seen so many clothes for one little girl! We were all feelin' the love:) Summer wasn't really sure what to think of the present extravagance and seemed mostly unimpressed.

After cake and presents the big kids got to pick out a small bank to paint and take with them. It was a great activity to get them out of the sun for a bit.

So, at one year old, Summer is just barely off of formula. Last Friday, she threw a toddler-sized tantrum after nap when she didn't get a bottle. It only got worse when I tried to give her whole milk in the bottle. So, thinking it would take some time to completely wean her off of formula, we bought a couple more cans since we were out. And of course, the next day, Summer acted like it was no big deal and downed an entire cup of milk after nap...go figure. Guess those cans will be going to a table at the next JBF sale:)

She eats like a champ and is eating all table food now. Sometimes, however, she still isn't satisfied after a full meal so she'll get a jar of baby fruit which she still loves! Just this morning (which I know is technically AFTER her birthday so she didn't do it in her first year) she fed herself a bowl of cereal with a spoon. Her hand-eye coordination is astounding!

In a short two weeks or so, Summer has cut 4 teeth and has two more close behind! That explains a lot of the recent fussiness...or so we hope!

She is also taking just one nap now, unless of course she falls asleep in the car. For the most part, she is handling the change well but the hour or so before lunch is the hardest time for her. Usually the paci helps, but we're trying to break her of the need for that except while sleeping. One thing at a time I guess!

Summer is a full time walker and has been for a couple weeks now. She loves to play outside just like Brooke and squeals when we get her shoes out!

Some other things Summer has been doing for quite some time are waving, dancing, and using the sign for "more".

Summer just had her 12month checkup today and is doing well. She is taller than Brooke was at this age, but doesn't weigh much more so she still seems pretty tiny. I guess we just grow 'em petite around here;)

So, without further wait, here is Summer at 12 months....

Oh, and because they're just so cute...here are some pictures of Summer stylin' some of her new diggs.

Dunn Family 2009

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Month Eleven

Well, we're a little late in getting this up here, but we have all had a busy month. Especially this adorable little girl here!

Month eleven has been a BIG month for Miss Summer E. She is growing like crazy from all the food she eats. She just LOVES her food (see below)!

Summer had several firsts this month.

She had her first taste of ribs. The girl likes her meat! She was so sad when it fell on the floor:(

She also had several opportunities to go swimming and visit splash parks. Here, she's not so sure about this life jacket business, but she LOVES the water! In our little family size pool we have outside, she just can't stand it if others are playing in it and she isn't. And she wants to be free in the water for sure! She loves to splash and kick as much as she can and doesn't care how wet she gets in the process. And the last time we visited the splash park, she was getting right under the fountains getting completely drenched and LOVin' it.

In just one day Summer learned how to push buttons to make the characters from her toy appear, AND, she also worked and worked at figuring out how to put two nesting cups together. She would get so frustrated with them but would eventually come back to them and work at it again until she finally got one inside of the other. She is so proud of her new skills

Her biggest achievement this month has been her first steps! A few weeks ago she took her very first steps. She still crawls quite a bit now, but is walking more and more. The video of her very first attempts is really too dark to see online, but this video was taken about a week ago when she really started walking good distances all on her own without being prompted. Her friend Mollie is happily cheering her on in the background.

A cute story from the month is a recent attachment Summer has formed with her Cabbage Patch baby, Christa. We have a toy net holding all our stuffed animals and dolls that hangs above Summer's changing table. When she's being cranky during a diaper change I'll grab one down for her to play with. Well, a few weeks ago during a pre-nap change Summer was especially cranky and I grabbed Christa down from the net. All was fine until I tried to put Christa back and lay Summer down. Now, Christa is a regular in Summer's bed and during other cranky moments.

About the only thing Summer hasn't done this month is cut any teeth. Poor girl still has only two teeth to chew with. She's now got three that I can see just below the gums but they aren't coming through yet and they've looked the same for several weeks now. There is no telling when they will actually come through.

As cute and sweet as our Summer is, she has a wicked temper this girl. Hopefully as she gets older we will be able to help her control it a bit, but right now there is no reasoning with her.

We can't believe our baby is almost a year, but we are so excited for the next phase of babyhood!