1 year and 1 week old

Thought we'd post some new videos. Tessa must have caught something at her birthday party, for she has been sick with a terrible cold, a fever of 103 and strep throat (we found this out at the UR Friday night). She is starting to feel a bit better, but hasn't eaten anything in a week. Her 1 year doc appt showed she's only gained 1/2 lb in 2 1/2 months, putting her at the 2% at 17 lbs. We go in next month for a weight check, and Dr. Kautz says if she's not gaining, there's talk about a feeding tube. She just can't afford to be sick, so we'll have to be extra cautious about who we expose her to. On the bright side of things, we got a kitten yesterday, and Tessa just loves her. After being cooped up in the house for a week, this was the highlight of our day. No name for the kitty yet, so if you have an idea, we're all ears! Nana Lola leaves tomorrow. Pretty boring trip for her this time, but I am sure glad she was here to help with Tess and keep me company. We will miss her!

Happy Birthday!

Our little angel turned 1 this past Friday and we threw her a big birthday bash Saturday. I think over 40 people showed up; we had a taco bar and good Jesse homebrew on tap--it was a hoot! Tessa had 9 Grandparents at the party, as well as many other wonderful relatives and friends. Thank you to everyone that sent Tessa cards and gifts. She's got quite a few new toys to keep her happy for a while!

Our little climber!

We're moved in!

Well, we're almost moved in! We just love our new house and feel very lucky to have it. Landscaping this spring is our first big home project. Tessa, as you can see has found the one non-baby-proofed spot in the living room! Can we say trouble? She's a climber!

New Casa!

Cruising with her new wagon...

Tessa loves her rice pudding!

The view from our new house!


Well, with help from Grandma Nancy, Uncle Josh and his girlfriend, Lauren, we were able to do some serious damage in the moving department Saturday. We now have most everything out of the old house, into the new, and unpacked! The garage is another story, but we're hoping to get it moved over here this week, for we want to go to Breck and ski this weekend. We all just love the new house--it is beautiful! You all are welcome anytime!
Tessa has been a little doll lately. Something new everyday! She learned how to roll her tounge, blow spit bubbles and is starting to listen to us when we ask her to do something. She is starting to say different words we teach her; not every time we say them, but frequently enough to make us both believe she's starting to talk. We went to a Ped. Dietritian last week and she told me Tessa is a grazer. Since we have been feeding her on more of a schedule with more options of food at each meal, she has been eating like a champ! She feeds herself bagel pieces with cream cheese, dips crackers in pudding and loves grapes, corn, peas, cheese and anything else she can feed herself.
Hope everyone is doing well! Keep in touch!
Love,
Lindsay, Jesse and Tessa

Hi there, everyone! I wanted to get a few more photos of Tessa on here. We are thinking her first real word is either "bubbles" or "kitty." She's said both in front of the object a couple of times now. Even if she's not realizing what these words mean, she's certainly trying to mimick our words and phrases. She has been crawling all over the place and pulls herself up onto everything! She is cruising and pushing her wagon, but gets nervous when we let go and she's standing alone. We just had a playgroup over here today--6 of Tessa's little friends came over to play on this 65 degree, sunny Colorado day!
Another exciting piece of news: we put in an offer on a house that was going into forclosure. We thought they may write a counter-offer, since we low-balled them, but they agreed to our offer, as long as we close at the end of this month. So, we are moving in 10 days. We have been super busy getting things squared away with the new house and finding someone to move into the old house (our lease is until the end of March). The house is beautiful, nestled in the bluffs about 15 minutes SE of our current house. It is across the street from another park with hiking trails, so we are happy about that. It is a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom stucco house. You all will have to come out and visit!
We had her Cardiologist appt last week and her repair looks good; no hypertension, so that's great. They did say they found a small piece of tissue behind her mitral valve that they will keep an eye on. There is a chance that it could restrict blood flow in the future, requiring another surgery. Dr. Duster says that chance is less than 10%, so we are trying not to worry. Who knows, by the time she may need this, they could be able to fix it with a cath. So, we're just not going to think about that until we have to.

Hola!

Hola everyone! As you can see, Tessa and I just got back from a great vacation with the Pickrell family in Mexico! Tessa loves the beach and pool and is already asking me if we can go back. Next time, we're bringing Daddy though, we both missed him tons! We're hoping to make it back there soon, because I've taken up a new hobby, kite boarding. I took a lesson and love it. It is a very dangerous sport, though. The kite got away from me when getting out of the water; they're truly like powerful engines. I was thrown in the air, landed on my head and drug across the sand on my back towards the jungle. I got a wicked sandburn on my back and am still quite sore. Despite my fear, I got back on the kite and am ready for more. We had such a lovely time with everyone in the warm weather!
I don't think I've updated this in a while, so let's go back to Christmas...Tessa was a little angel. She has been so pleasant lately--just a happy baby that is eating better, sleeping better and is just content most of the time (as long as you're giving her the bulk of your attention:) We spent Christmas Eve at Aunt Kimmy and Uncle Bob's house. All of the cousins from the C-Springs area were there and we had a blast playing Cranium and Catch Phrase until 1:00am. Grandma Karen and Grandpa Michael came down to stay with us, so we spent Christmas morning opening gifts and Santa stocking stuffers before church. Ha! Just kidding! Anyways, we then went out to the ranch for the day--Auntie Lee Lee was in town and Tessa's new cousin, Alex, even came out! We had a nice light dinner and good company, of course. We also spent new year's eve at the ranch this year--had a smoked prime rib and king crab dinner and were in bed before midnight. Yes, we are old.