The one where Savannah turns 1

Wow, 1 year old. It's hard for me to believe a whole year has gone by since our sweet, adorable, mellow Savannah was born! She had a difficult entrance into this world (you can read Savannah's birth story), and really frightened Mommy and Daddy, but she finally made it out of NICU and came home to meet her crazy, but adoring brother and sister. Savannah is still quite the novelty in our house. Brooklyn and Troy still get excited when she wakes up from naps and in the morning. As do I. She really is just a joy! She has grown from a quiet, easy-going infant, to a happy-go-lucky but SPUNKY toddler. Just try and eat something in front of her. Go ahead, I dare you. If you don't share, you will suffer the wrath of Savannah! She was definitely my best nurser, and is for sure my best eater. This kid is eating us out of house and home! She has yet to find a food that she doesn't like. Literally. Just the other night, she was sucking on a lime (peel and all), and was mad when I took it away from her. She is eating all kinds of "big" kid foods, and doesn't really care for baby food anymore, she is WAY too grown up for that. She can pack in a whole avocado, a slice of cheese, a couple pieces of lunch meat and a few large raspberries for dinner. I'm tellin' ya, she can eat! I recently started giving her whole milk, and she can't seem to get enough! When she is done eating, she lets us know by throwing everything on the floor (stinker!), and she thinks that is the funniest thing ever! Oh, and wearing a bib? Forget it. That is the first thing to come off when she is eating. She has even figured out how to pull of the "over-the-head" bibs. Oh well, more laundry for me I guess! (or rather, she just wears dirty clothes all day, poor 3rd child). Savannah is still crawling (fast and furiously!), but recently (as in a couple days ago), started standing up from a sitting position without help from anyone or anything. So we think walking is definitely in the very near future. She screams with joy when Daddy walks in the door, and crawls/toddles over to him as fast as her little body will go. The screams are followed with "Dadda, Dadda, Dadda..." She LOVES him! She loves to torture her big brother already, by tearing up his train tracks, race car tracks, towers of blocks, you name it! And she is learning to be assertive...when she takes one of his toys, she tries to get away as quickly as possible. Savannah is into anything and everything. Leave a drawer open? Expect it to be emptied. Drawers are all closed? No worries, she'll just open them, THEN empty them. The other day, I thought she was playing with all her babies and stuffed animals in her room, but upon inspection, she had opened every one of her dresser drawers and emptied them of everything she could reach. She thought it was hilarious! Silly girl. She loves her blankie, and lately doesn't go anywhere without it, isn't too passionate about her paci (but likes it at bedtimes), likes her babies, but doesn't love them, LOVES to be read to, loves standing on the church pew, and emptying the shelves of hymn books behind us, squiggles, squirms and rolls while getting her diaper changed and getting dressed, roars like a lion, quacks like a duck, says "Hi-ya" to everyone we come across, puts a smile on anyone who sees her, has 7 1/2 teeth (one is ALMOST peeking through), loves to be rocked, snuggled and sung to before bedtime (as long as I am standing up), loves bath-time, especially when she gets to take one with her brother and/or sister, if there's music you can bet she is shaking her hips, still twists her hands and feet when she's excited, doesn't have a fondness for grass, loves to swing, and loves to chit-chat. Her vocabulary is about the same as it was around 11 months: Hi, buh bye, "ahh dun" (all done), Mama, Dadda.
We are so thankful for our sweet, adorable, happy, energetic, hungry (all.the.time), loving, kissable Savannah. Life definitely wouldn't be the same without her. She brings a spirit to our home that no one else could. We love you Savannah! Happy 1st Birthday!!!

1st time holding my sweet baby

Yay! Finally going home!!

"And I thought NICU was crazy!"

Aunt Heather and cousin Carmen came to help Mommy and Daddy out. We are so thankful to them!

Awwww

Blessing day!

"I love rice cereal!!"

Merry Christmas!

"If I play my cards right, I think I can get anything I want."

"Mmmm, sweet potatoes!!"

"I'm #1!"  with Grandpa Hill

"Happy Easter!"

"mmmm twinkies. This darn wrapper is in my way!"

"Mmmm squeezable baby food." Notice a theme here?! lol

Goofy grin

A rare face on Savannah. Glad I captured it!

"Hooray, I'm 1!!" 

The one where she hums

Brooklyn is and always has been my big helper. Just this morning she asked me if she could help unload the dishwasher. As all mom's know, most of the time, when your 5 year old wants to help with chores, it will take longer than usual. But this morning, I "let" her help me. I had pandora playing my Sara Bareilles station while we unloaded and you know what? That little 5 year old hummed along to the songs like she knew all of them. I just had to write it down because it was one of the most endearing things. She is such an old soul and loves to be the mother/homemaker. I know she was just mimicking what I do all the time. She is my Joy!! Love her.

The one with the 11 month old lion

Her new trick. :)

The one with the little "posers"

Grabbed the camera the other day, and took a few pictures. These kids are so silly. Life is good!

The one with the shrieks and giggles

Our little Savannah is 10 months old (well, actually about 10 1/2 now, I'm a little behind). This child has always been a calm, mellow, fairly quiet baby. Well, enter about 2 weeks ago, and she has found her voice...in a BIG way! When she sees something she wants (usually in the way of food), she will let you know. I'm not saying she'll give a couple little shrieks, no. She FULL on SCREAMS and shrieks until she gets what she wants. Seriously. I'm not even exaggerating. Here's proof: (this is just a snippet of the shrieks and screams, so funny)

Savannah decided she wanted to start crawling a few days before her 10th birthday, you know, 'cause that would have been embarrassing if she weren't crawling yet. And I was more than happy to let her take her time. She is now into everything, which is fun. I now have another excuse for my messy house. Her favorite cabinet to get into holds all the paper goods and plastic utensils. Fortunately, big brother is more than happy to clean up her mess (seriously, he cleans it up without me even asking! sometimes that kid surprises me. love him). Savannah is not only crawling, but now pulling herself on everything and starting to cruise around things. She pulls herself up in her crib and will just stand there and shout until we come get her and lay her down again (at least when she isn't really tired, if she's exhausted, she stays down). Savannah also continues to be the center of attention, and our comedic relief in the family. Her favorite thing to do is to "stress." We laugh and laugh and laugh, and she will do it forever if we let her (but we don't because we have noticed when she does it, all the color drains from her face!). ha Brooklyn and Troy have started carrying her around (much to my chagrin), but she just doesn't care and goes along with it. I hope she keeps her easy-going attitude forever! She still LOVES to eat, and has tried lots of new things as of late. Her new favorite is avocado (actually, she's been eating it for a couple months now I guess). But she will eat the WHOLE thing! Seriously. This kid can pack it in! She loves playing patty-cake, dancing (and boy, can she shake it!), playing catch (or roll the ball), putting her feet up on Brooklyn's and Troy's car-seats in the car (seriously, she thinks she owns the whole back seat, and totally sprawls out), loves her new "big girl" car-seat, giving high-fives, LOVES Daddy (I'm pretty sure her favorite time of day is when he walks in the door), loves her sippy, has 6 teeth (2 upper, 4 bottom),loves her baths and splashes like crazy, is still nursing 3 x's/day (which I'm super happy about, this is the longest yet!), says "hi", "Mama", "Dada," "all gone (ah gah), "uh-oh" and "Supercalifragilisticexpeladocious." ha, kidding. Savannah also had her first bouts with ear infections this past month. First a double ear infection, treated with antibiotics, then another single ear infection about 2 1/2 weeks later (which we also treated with antibiotics since they were back-to-back and the ear was red AND bulging, indicating infection.I learned a lot about ears this month). And did I mention how great of a traveler she is? She was so easy on our trip to Boise. Not that I expected anything but. This kid has been nothing but easy so far. Makes me worry about her teenage years...maybe she's holding all the naughty in until then?! Heaven help me!!!

Savannah had hours of fun with this box of oranges. 

Poor thing just watches Brooklyn and Troy play outside. Can't wait for summer when it's warm and dry enough for us all to be out there!

Busted!

Oh how I love naked little bums!! So squeezable. 

"I love bath-time!"

The one with the rope swing

Part 2 of our recent Boise trip commences. There was endless bike riding (& playing cops and robbers on them), hours of swinging, countless cuddle sessions with Aunts and Grandma and Grandpa, kite flying (& a minor accident, see Troy's neck), late nights with bonfires and roasted marshmallows, a tractor ride, a Boise State scrimmage (they won!!), hanging out with friends, and so many more fun things!!!

Probably the best part of the "bike path", going down the ramp!! "WHEEEEE!!!"

We were so lucky to get to spend a few days with Aunt "Awly" (Holly)

"It's just a flesh wound!" The kite won. 

I visited my oldest, and dearest friend. Miss you every day Natalie!

We also made a stop at Grandma and Grandpa Benson's graves.  I love this picture of my mom and Aunt Maureen. I'm sure Grandma and Grandpa loved seeing them together!!

Grandpa borrowed a tractor from a friend, and the kids got to take a ride!! 

Troy was a little wary of the tractor, so he just did a photo-op, then got off before they left.  

He sure is intense!! lol

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Cousin Dallas earned a Bunny for doing so well in school, and he was kind enough to bring it by for the kids to play with. They were in heaven!

Savannah with Grandma Hill. Did I mention that Grandma got Brooklyn reading?! She has been so close for a while now, but I just haven't had the time to devote to her to get her over the top. Well, Grandma sure knows what she is doing, and had her reading in no time! It's like she taught 8 kids to read or something?! :)

I ate a few too many of these, but dang, they are SOOO worth it!! 

Uncle Mike showing Troy the cool Apache helicopters he flies. Troy was pretty impressed.