Autumn's 1st Birthday!

Last Saturday was Autumn's first birthday and we were fortunate to be able to celebrate that day with many of our friends and family. She had a great time and we did too! She actually didn't get too messy with her cake (on her own). She dug into the frosting a little bit but was pretty clean eating it. I just couldn't let her get away with that so most of the mess you see in these pictures was from me. She didn't seem to mind it too much!

Thank you to everyone who came to help celebrate with us and to all the other people who called, texted, and sent cards. Autumn is a very lucky girl to have so many people think of her birthday!

March update

Once again I am way behind with my updates (as many of you have reminded me). Autumn has been busy as always learning new things and getting more and more brave as she gets closer to walking. She's standing up on her own now for short periods of time and is getting better at taking assisted steps. Over the past month she's also had a few more teeth come in and we think the molars are next....wish us luck. We can't believe that one week from tomorrow Autumn is going to celebrate her first birthday. As every parent we know told us it would, the past year has flown by and we can't believe how big she's gotten. It's been an amazing year and we're both happy and sad at the same time that her first year is almost over.


Since the weather has been nicer, we've been able to take Autumn to the park and she's been able to swing more at the sitter's house. She absolutely loves being in the swing. The picture below is from our first trip to the park with her and the next one is from the sitter's house.







Three weeks before the bottles go away Autumn decided she was finally ready to hold them herself. In all honesty we sort of liked that she wasn't in a hurry to do it. We both love giving her bottles because it's pretty much the only time she is calm being held - she's been like a monkey lately!



Her eyes seem to be getting a lot lighter lately...she definitely got her daddy's blue eyes.

Jacob Thomas Howman

We did have one more very exciting thing happen this month...the birth of Jacob Thomas Howman, our new nephew!! Jacob was born on February 12th at 8:44am weighing 7 lbs 13 oz and was 19 in long. Everyone is doing well and happy to be home. Maddie has been a great big sister and is making sure Jacob gets plenty of hugs and kisses...as long as he doesn't hog too much of her mommy at one time.

Here are some pics from their time in the hospital. Congrats guys!

Welcome Jacob!! We're so excited you're here!

Jacob napping with his big sister

Maddie cuddling up with her mommy

January/February Update

Well, time has gotten away from me and we're half way through February. Bear with me - this might be a longer post than normal. A lot has happened in 2009 so far. Autumn seems to be doing something new every day. She's crawling all over the house and finding new things to pull up on or grab all the time. She also has a few more teeth including one of her top center ones. The other one is being stubborn but should be in soon. She said her first word a month ago, which was "ducky". Since then she's also learned "uh oh" and "dada". She has been feeding herself finger foods for over a month as well and she's getting a little better using a spoon. If she could just learn to change her own diapers and dress herself she would be all set!

Maddie and Autumn enjoying a romantic Valentine's Day dinner - puffs!

Happy Valentine's day!

On Feb 8 we had Autumn's baptism. It was a beautiful day for February and it was so nice to have our families here for it, including many of Autumn's great-grandparents. She did a great job during the ceremony, especially since she was two hours past her nap time and being held by a stranger.

Maddie, Brady and Autumn playing at the house. No Brady was not in time out - he likes it in there!

Happy 2009 everyone! We had a wonderful Christmas with our families and friends and can't believe it's already 2009. It was a busy few weeks of driving back and forth between Columbus and Napoleon/Toledo but it was so nice to see everyone.

Autumn is just over 9 months old now and is more fun than ever. She is crawling as of December 28th and gets faster every day, so our time of sitting her down and having her stay there are over! She's also getting better at pulling herself up on things (mostly us for now) so time to clear a few things out of the way.

Ho Ho Ho!!!

We're not sure who she's saying hello to here but she sure thinks she's cool doing it!

We discovered the kryptonite to our normally smiley girl - Santa!

We started our Christmas morning with a little Christmas bath.

Here is Autumn on her new rockinghorse that Grandpa Latta built for her. Grandma also helped with the mane and tail. He made one for Maddie and Autumn and it was a great surprise gift on Christmas morning.

Another pic of the horses - thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Autumn's favorite part of opening gifts was playing with the wrapping paper and playing peekaboo.

Here is Autumn opening some of her many great gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Church and Aunt Sara, Uncle Gabe and Brady. Between the two families she'll have enough toys to keep her entertained for quite a while!

Thanksgiving

We had a very good and busy Thanksgiving week (and month for that matter). We were able to spend a lot of time with all of our family and, probably like everyone else, ate way too much turkey. Autumn continues to be lots of fun and is always making us laugh. She's been on the verge of crawling for a few weeks now and just can't get the arm thing figure out. Not that we're in a hurry to chase her around everywhere, but she is definitely showing the desire to have a new way of moving around so hopefully it will be soon.

Here are a few pics from Thanksgiving and throughout the month. We hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday and is looking forward to Christmas!

Autumn in her official Baby's 1st Thanksgiving outfit :)


We caught up with some friends over the holiday and got to meet their newest addition, Kate Madelyn. This is actually a picture of Kate's big sister Ava playing with Autumn. Unfortunately Autumn and I were both a bit sick and didn't want to spread our germs to the baby. Even though I wasn't able to hold her, it's safe to say that Kate is just as beautiful as her big sister.


Autumn and Maddie with Grandma and Grandpa Latta over Thanksgiving

Nick was waving her blanket up and down in front of her and she loved the breeze on her face. She did a lot of smiling and giggling!


Autumn (and Macy) with Grandma and Grandpa Church from their visit to Columbus earlier in the month.

This was taken at the sitter's house. It was her first time in a swing - obviously from earlier in the month when it was much warmer!

Halloween

Here are a few pics from Autumn's first Halloween. She helped us pass out candy at the house for Trick-or-Treat and even let us torture her a little by putting her in a pumpkin! It was beautiful outside and we couldn't resist. We figured this would be the first and last year we could get away with it! She wasn't a big fan of the cold slimy stuff at first but after a few minutes she got nice and cozy in the pumpkin and hung out there for a while.

A few pics of Autumn in her caterpillar costume