Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Party Time!
Sydney had quite the birthday extravaganza on the party front. She partied hard and enjoyed all of it!
The weekend before her actual birthday, we had a small party at our house with Sydney's grandparents. Her Uncle Brent and Aunt Catherine also came. We had a cookout (Blake enjoyed having an excuse to use his new grill) and I made a cake.
We enjoyed spoiling Sydney with our gifts and watching her take her first bites of cake. I must say, she was rather clean with the cake for the most part. I think this is a testament to her personality and temperament; I think she might end up being a girly-girl who doesn't enjoy being super dirty. That's just a guess though!
The weekend before her actual birthday, we had a small party at our house with Sydney's grandparents. Her Uncle Brent and Aunt Catherine also came. We had a cookout (Blake enjoyed having an excuse to use his new grill) and I made a cake.
We enjoyed spoiling Sydney with our gifts and watching her take her first bites of cake. I must say, she was rather clean with the cake for the most part. I think this is a testament to her personality and temperament; I think she might end up being a girly-girl who doesn't enjoy being super dirty. That's just a guess though!
The following weekend we had a party for Sydney at a local park in the Nature Center. Sydney had lots of friends and family show up to celebrate her first year. We had pizza, salad, fruit, and of course, cake. I enjoyed decorating in an ocean/beach theme; I figure it's my last chance to choose how to decorate.
When Blake and I began planning Sydney's party, we talked a lot about gifts. We planned to get her several things, as did both sets of grandparents. While Sydney enjoys playing with toys, our house is on the smaller side and can only hold so many toys, so we decided to ask people to make donations instead of bringing gifts. We settled on raising money specifically for Baby A, a young boy in Russia with a rare genetic skin condition awaiting adoption. Blake and I have been following his story for about a year now and were excited to raise money and supplies for him. We are so grateful to all who donated. And don't worry, Sydney still received gifts! :) If you are interested in reading more about Baby A, please follow these links:
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Monday, September 19, 2011
Physical Therapy Visit
We recently had to make a trip to UNC to visit with Sydney's physical therapist. Sydney very quickly figured out how to remove her hand splint that the PT made for her during our last visit not long before. The goal is for Sydney to only wear the splint during sleep time, thus allowing her to use her hand freely while awake. But what else does she have to do in the crib than to rip the splint off? The PT even gave us an Ace bandage to wrap around her hand and arm, which was equally as easy for her to get off.
During the last visit, the PT created a contraption that should be Sydney-proof. It involves another splint that goes on top of her hand, with her original splint attached to a bottom splint as well. We're talking three splints now. Along with the splints, there is also an exorbitant amount of Velcro and elastic wrap to secure it to her arm and hand.
If she figures out how to remove this contraption, I think an apt nickname will be Houdini!
During the last visit, the PT created a contraption that should be Sydney-proof. It involves another splint that goes on top of her hand, with her original splint attached to a bottom splint as well. We're talking three splints now. Along with the splints, there is also an exorbitant amount of Velcro and elastic wrap to secure it to her arm and hand.
If she figures out how to remove this contraption, I think an apt nickname will be Houdini!
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| New LARGE finger splint |
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| Silly girl! |
Happy Birthday, Sydney Claire!
How quickly does time fly? I don't think I understood just how fast until Sydney was born. In the blink of an eye we have gone from:
to this:
Sydney truly is the light of our lives. It has been a crazy first year for her: a stint in the Special Care Nursery to begin her life and a five hour hand surgery on both hands at seven months old. She has been through more than a lot of babies, but has ultimately been blessed beyond measure. Her smiles melt our hearts and her budding personality makes us love her even more than we thought possible. We can't wait to see what this next year brings!
To celebrate, we took her to the zoo on her actual birthday. She is incredibly interested in animals, so we figured we would give the zoo a try. She loves books with photos of animals and even knows several animal sounds. We didn't have high expectations for the day, just figured we would enjoy the zoo as much as possible.
We started the day off with a (free!) biscuit at Chick-fil-a, which also happened to be Sydney's first biscuit. Needless to say, that girl can EAT! She loved the biscuit. :)
When we arrived at the Asheboro Zoo, Blake and I felt like we were having a Griswold Wally World moment...the parking lot was virtually empty...and we got there well after opening time. Lucky for us, the beginning of September is just a quiet time at the zoo. In fact, we were the only people in the ticket line and we didn't see anyone else for the first several exhibits. Plus, since the weather was nice and it was quiet most of the animals were close up for us to see.
Sydney enjoyed looking at the animals- lots of pointing and babbling. She also enjoyed riding in the stroller, which was helpful. Her favorites appeared to be the zebras, elephants, and birds. We even got a "quack quack" out of her when she saw a duck. Overall we had a great time! I think this may become an annual trip.
Here's to many more fun filled birthdays for Sydney!
to this:
Sydney truly is the light of our lives. It has been a crazy first year for her: a stint in the Special Care Nursery to begin her life and a five hour hand surgery on both hands at seven months old. She has been through more than a lot of babies, but has ultimately been blessed beyond measure. Her smiles melt our hearts and her budding personality makes us love her even more than we thought possible. We can't wait to see what this next year brings!
To celebrate, we took her to the zoo on her actual birthday. She is incredibly interested in animals, so we figured we would give the zoo a try. She loves books with photos of animals and even knows several animal sounds. We didn't have high expectations for the day, just figured we would enjoy the zoo as much as possible.
We started the day off with a (free!) biscuit at Chick-fil-a, which also happened to be Sydney's first biscuit. Needless to say, that girl can EAT! She loved the biscuit. :)
 |
| Yummy! |
When we arrived at the Asheboro Zoo, Blake and I felt like we were having a Griswold Wally World moment...the parking lot was virtually empty...and we got there well after opening time. Lucky for us, the beginning of September is just a quiet time at the zoo. In fact, we were the only people in the ticket line and we didn't see anyone else for the first several exhibits. Plus, since the weather was nice and it was quiet most of the animals were close up for us to see.
Sydney enjoyed looking at the animals- lots of pointing and babbling. She also enjoyed riding in the stroller, which was helpful. Her favorites appeared to be the zebras, elephants, and birds. We even got a "quack quack" out of her when she saw a duck. Overall we had a great time! I think this may become an annual trip.
 |
| Notice our car is the only one you can see! |
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| Zoo entrance |
 |
| No one in sight! |
 |
| Zebra up close |
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| Look, giraffes! |
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| More giraffes |
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| Sitting on an elephant |
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| Beautiful giant |
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| Birthday girl! |
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| Looking for an alligator |
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| Tuckered out- it's hard work going to the zoo! |
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| Male gorilla |
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| Leaving the zoo |
Here's to many more fun filled birthdays for Sydney!
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