Macy's New Hobbies

Macy gets cuter and cuter by the day. She is definitely a "walker" now and can stand up without any help from furniture. She loves to talk and make noises. She has newly discovered that she can yell. She doesn't yell when she's mad, just at random times like while we are grocery shopping or in the car. Here are a few pictures to show what she's up to these days.

Since she can walk that means anything and everything can walk around with her. Here are a few pictures to show what she does with those things. I especially love Jonathan's slipper on the horn of her car. That must have taken some skill. She loves to put things on the dining room chairs. We have taller chairs so it takes more effort from her and she gives little grunts while she tries to push everything up. When she gives us things (like our shoes) and we then put them down, she gives them back to us and looks sad like we didn't like her gift. She will continue to give it to us until we use it.

She likes to walk around with her jacket on its hanger. She discovered this yesterday and enjoyed walking around the whole house. When the jacket fell off the hanger I found her pushing the jacket and the hanger together with a grunt. Then she looked at me and her look said, "Why isn't this going on the hanger?"

Macy likes to wear goggles. Well, not really but they looked so funny on her of course I had to take a picture. She mostly likes wearing them as a bracelet. 

Macy now has barely enough hair to make a teeny tiny ponytail. Unfortunately it's on the very back of her head and looks silly so I probably won't be doing this in public until she gets more hair on the front of her head.

 Macy loves to read books. The other day she was walking around the house with a book. She was following me around like she normally does. When I finally sat down she sat down in my lap and wanted to read the book. It was so cute. As you can see in the picture, she loves to pull out all the books. She likes to see her options before reading one. I don't mind one bit, reading is one of those things she can do all she wants.

Macy also loves to pull out all of her toys and make a mess. Pretty much every night our house looks like a tornado came through. This used to bother me but I know it's going to be like that for many years to come. I clean up after she goes to bed for naps and at night so it's an under control tornado.

She still makes messes at dinner too. At this meal she was eating black beans and actually being quite clean. Then all in a few seconds she smashed black beans all over the table and then put her hand on her forehead as if saying, "Oh, no!" She left a hand print on her forehead.

And of course, she continues to melt my heart and love us. She is now weaned and as a pleasant surprise she likes to cuddle with me now. I think she missed the quite time when I would quietly hold her so every time I get her out of bed she lets me hold her and she puts her head on my shoulder. I love every second of it.

Look What I Got!

I'm a huge fan of Craigslist. 

I'm not necessarily an environmentalist, but why buy new when you can reuse? Especially if the used piece is great quality and a fraction of the price? Well, my latest craigslist purchase can not be found in stores. It was hand-made and is of the highest quality. It looks like something my Grandpa Seymour would make so I'm going to pretend he did :) It's the same wood grandpa uses, the same knobs, and it smells like something he would make. 

Here is Macy modeling her new bench.

Isn't it awesome?! I wanted something different to be put in her room. Something that didn't look like I bought it at Target or Ikea. I think I really scored with this. There are no scratches,  nicks, or any marks on it. Look at the detail on the bench.

I love it so much and can picture Macy curled up with a pillow reading her books here. 

Our Christmas Adventures

We were lucky enough to travel to California for Christmas for 2 whole weeks! We were so glad we went because we had an amazing time. It was very hard to come back to Virginia.

In our two weeks we:

Celebrated Macy's birthday (see previous post)

Celebrated Christmas Eve with my Seymour side of the family.

Celebrated Christmas morning with Greg, Dorothy, and Darin by getting up early and making breakfast then opening more presents.

Celebrated Christmas afternoon with my parents and siblings.

We celebrated Christmas evening with my Francis side of the family. Since all the cousins were there (minus Josh) we took a cousin picture. 

Rode bikes in Newport. My mom, sister Stacie, sister Jill, Macy, and I went to Newport Beach to rent bikes to ride along the boardwalk. It was so much fun and I can't believe that was the first time I've ever done that! I've really been missing out. Macy hated being strapped into the trailer at first but then fell asleep. After she woke up she was happier. When we stopped riding she was on all fours inside that thing, somehow still strapped in. It was a beautiful winter day at the beach.

Had a root beer taste test. New Year's Eve was celebrated at the DeVore home with our annual root beer taste test. Fitz's was the winner for it's overall good creamy taste. Here is Macy's cousin Charlie who is only 5 months old but weighs the same as her.  Macy is tiny!

We also spent a lot of time playing Wii Party (great game) and Just Dance. 

Macy greatly enjoyed playing Granny Dot's real piano.

Jonathan and Darin also spent time playing frisbee golf. Macy and I were their caddies. She did a great job. Macy would copy them by holding her arm out as if she just threw a frisbee. She would also give out a little groan because that's what Jonathan and Darin would do after throwing their frisbee.

Jonathan and I even got to go on a date to a USC Basketball game. Someone in the ward gave us the tickets. Even though we didn't really care about either team it was still fun to go. 

There was also other visits from Grandparents and family which added to the greatness of the trip. We even went swimming! Macy loved all the attention and all the space to run around. In fact, she really started walking when we got to California. I guess in our little apartment she didn't see the need to walk much, but in a big house she had tons of space to walk. Macy also got her first tooth while in California. Apparently all that walking and tooth growing wore her out because she slept better there than she does at home. That was the icing on our cake and made the whole vacation wonderful.

Macy's 1st Birthday

Our family was nice enough to come celebrate for yet another party for Macy on the 23rd. She received tons of presents and eventually understood that she could rip the paper off the boxes. (The next day on Christmas Eve she really understood and walked around to whoever had a present and wanted to unwrap it.)

My sister-in-law Holly made this birthday hat for Macy. You can she how much she loved it.

Yummy dinner. Macy is hiding behind her cup.

Aunt Jill was helping Macy eat her dinner.

Macy liked her presents but had some fun with the box.

 She looked soooo cute in this hat but wouldn't keep it on.

Macy's cake. It was chocolate so it would show up on her face better.

 She slowly started to pick up the cupcake.

The proud parents. FYI: most of the mess on Macy's face was done by her dad.

But she did make a good mess of the cupcake. I don't think she ate too much.

Macy got so many presents! We are so grateful for her loving family!

Macy dancing

I'm sorry Greg for posting this video, but Macy is so cute dancing in it! She's the little pink and blue thing right against the TV. She will soon be beating me at the Just Dance game. I'm so sad I cut her off at the end. Brigham's fancy dance moves had be otherwise distracted.

Macy going for a ride

Macy's cousin Caleb was nice enough to take her for a ride around their house. He was very safe and gentle with her. If he did bump into something he would say, "Sorry Macy!" I loved watching her as she nonchalantly watches the things go past her and pat the side of the truck like she's having a great time. The best part was when Caleb decided he was done pushing. He just left her in a room with no one and walked away. Macy eventually started crying and we found her alone. I'm pretty sure she could go for a ride again though if Caleb offered.

I just want to cuddle!

We now have good proof that Macy has turned into a cuddler. 

Evidence #1: Her first victim: cousin Lily.

Lily was on the floor minding her own biz, when over crawls Macy. After many attempts at poking Lily's eyes out Macy begins to put her head on Lily's stomach. The parents rush in to save Lily's little organs. 

Then Macy tries the same move again. With close supervision the parents allow Macy to continue her move out of their own curiosity. Turns out all Macy wanted to do was cuddle next to cute Lily.

Evidence #2: Cuddling with the Dad

At first it didn't appear Macy was in the cuddling mood; she was a little wired and crazy.

Then she slowly starting showing signs of tiredness. The binkie entered the scene and sped up the process.

 The scene eventually turned into a full cuddling session with daddy.

Evidence #3: This time no binkie required.

This time Macy is more experienced in the art of the cuddle so it doesn't take long and it doesn't take a binkie. All she needed the perfect timing and the perfect arm to lean on. Oh, and a good candy cane to suck on.

Evidence #4: She even likes to cuddle with boys.

Macy first attempts to play with Grant's luscious locks as a hint. Grant, however, is the typical boy and can't read the signs that Macy was trying to cuddle with him. After this attempt at cuddling it may take Macy a few days to get the confidence to cuddle again. She felt rejected.

In case you were ever doubting Macy's cuteness here is good solid evidence that she is super cute.

Macy turns One..

In only 6 days! It's amazing how one year can fly by. Even though she is getting cuter by the day, it still breaks my heart that she won't be a baby for much longer! Because she is so cute and funny I wanted to post a few things about her:

• she loves to take baths
• she loves to play with the faucet and hot and cold handles while in the bath. 
• she also loves to suck the water out of her wash cloth while in the bath
• she loves to hold the wash cloth that is full of water of the edge of the tub getting me all wet
• she loves to eat finger food and won't eat much out of the jar (since she doesn't have teeth yet the food has to be easily gummed)
• she is starting to like books and will sit in my lap and "read' with me for a minute or two at a time
• she also likes to cuddle now, if only for a minute at a time (it sure melts my heart when she does)
• still likes to suck on things (as evidenced by sucking on the shampoo bottle in the bath)
• her hair is growing even though she still looks semi-bald
• she loves our piano and points and says "uh! uh!" until we let her play
• she loves to dances and dances any time she hears music (this morning someone was hammering downstairs and she even started dancing to that)
• she still loves her binkie
• she knows that her night light gets plugged into the wall and will try to plug it in herself
• she is pretty good about getting all dressed up to go out in the cold weather
• she is taking steps on her own if we help her off
• her favorite toys are ones that light up and play music
• she loves to push all sorts of buttons
• she is beginning to love her dad more and want to play with him more rather than just me
• she is social and loves to play and watch other kids
• she points at things that she wants and says "uh, uh" until we get them for her
• she loves to "flip" her binkie. This is especially funny because her binkie doesn't have a right or wrong way. Her dad also did this when he was a baby.

I could go on and on about cute little Macy, but I figure that's a good list to get me started. I'm so grateful to have her and she gives my life purpose, love, and happiness.

Here is another picture to make you smile.

Another Macy Movie

This one has some pretty exciting footage at the end for you grandparents. You can check the movie out by clicking here. The movie is called "December Doings."