The Whirlwind Year

Precisely one year ago this very minute (check the timestamp) an angel entered the world. She was a giant among babies weighing in at 8lbs 14oz and 22inches long. Now I'm sure that there may have been quite a few angels entering the world at that time, but the angel I'm referring to was an extra special angel. Extra special because she was sent here specifically for us as a gift to love, nurture and cherish each and every day. I'd like to think that we have done just that - love, nurture and cherish her each and every day and I can honestly say, without any hesitation, that my life is so much better with her in it. Y has been such an amazing blessing in our lives and we feel so blessed to have her as part of our family.

We've had an awesome first year! No major illnesses at all, in fact she's only had torticollis, 3 minor colds, a bout of infected eczema, and Roseola so we've definitely been very fortunate where that is concerned. I have worried a lot more than necessary though, but I think that's just what I do - regardless of the situation. I have truly enjoyed becoming a mom and being a mom, much more than I ever thought possible. I sometimes sit and think back to the days when I thought I didn't ever want to have kids and I wonder what I was thinking. Being a mom is not only the greatest calling I'll ever have but it is the greatest gift I'll ever receive. Children are such beautiful gifts and I never really realized how awesome they are until I had my own. I wouldn't change a single thing about this past year, even though I can remember some times that were very trying and frustrating.

But that's enough about me...this post is really about the birthday girl and how awesome she is so I'll talk about her now!! Y is not yet walking but she definitely gets where she needs to go via her hands and knees, she loves to smile, laugh, play in ANY water be it her bathtub or a swimming pool, she loves to jump, bounce, and drops whatever she is doing when she hears music. She loves to admire herself in the mirror, stand at the gate and watch Mommy cook (or whatever else I happen to be doing in the kitchen), loves to eat (especially pizza and this makes her Daddy very happy because that is his favorite food). She hates getting her diaper changed and would much rather crawl around all day wet and stinky. She doesn't care for getting dressed either but I'm pretty sure that's because she'd rather spend that time getting into something. She doesn't like to touch her food, much to my dismay, I cannot get her to feed herself. She will allow me to place a cracker, like a Ritz, in her hand but that's all - she refuses to pick up any food whatsoever! She now has 4 teeth and I'm approximating she is about 21lbs and somewhere close to 30 inches (I'll have the exact numbers when we go to her well baby appointment on the 14th). We plan on celebrating her birthday this entire weekend so be sure to check back later for all the pictures, but for now, take a look back over the past 12 months. It's amazing to see how much and how fast she has grown.

Birth

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

7 Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

People always comment on the number of pictures we have taken of Y, and I freely admit that there have been LOTS. For those of you wondering just how many we have, I'll tell you this: The very first picture we took of Y was picture number 0588 on our camera. When I wrote this post (I wrote it in advance of her birthday) we were on picture number 2314. Now not all of those pictures have not been of Y but the vast majority of them are...so you do the math!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Yesterday for dinner we had cheeseburgers and french fries. Well Y's mouth isn't exactly big enough to open and eat a cheeseburger so we made her a little hamburger and cut it up into small pieces with some french fries. She, for whatever reason, does not like to pick up her food, so I was feeding her the pieces of hamburger. Now I should say that french fries are my FAVORITE food, but I do not like them cold so I usually eat them first before the rest of the meal. Well after giving Y a few pieces of hamburger I decided to give her a french fry and after eating the fry I went to give her more hamburger, but she refused to eat it. So I gave her 2 more fries and then tried again with the hamburger, still no cigar. So I just figured she was tired of the hamburger and continued to feed her fries to her. Well once ALL the fries were gone she started to eat the hamburger again. I also thought it pretty funny that she wouldn't touch the hamburger again until both her fries AND my fries were gone. I guess she might look like her daddy but her taste buds are all mommy, haha! I guess what really matters is that she ate all of her food.

She's A Big Girl Now

Y is moving on up, to a forward facing car seat that is! I am pretty sure that she is very excited about this because even though she loves going for car rides, she does NOT love getting in her car seat. B and I are excited about this because we don't have to take her in and out of her carrier when we go places like church, library, or grocery store AND we don't have to carry her while still in the car seat into the apartment. So it's a win-win situation for all involved. Now technically she's not supposed to use it until Friday because they're supposed to be one year old AND 20lbs but I'm not sure she'll be able to contain her excitement for that long. And I can't wait to see the look on her face when she gets to experience a car ride like the rest of us big people. Now I must admit that part of me is very sad that my little baby is moving up (and out of her adorable polka dotted infant car seat), I actually got a little teary-eyed for a few seconds. And then I got over it. Anyway, here's a look at what Y will look like when we get it installed into the car!

Look at the excitement on her face!

Look, she's so excited she's clapping her feet, haha .

Where's Y?!?

Lately Y has developed a love of crawling under things. She crawls under the computer desk, under tables, under her jumperoo and exersaucer and even under people. I pretty much figure that this started while we were in Utah and she would crawl under the table in order to try and get to the dog, Killa. Well since coming home her new found love for exploring under things has expanded. She crawls underneath the computer desk because she loves to try and play with the wires before I can catch her and pull her away. She crawls under her jumperoo in order to play with the vertical blinds. She crawls under the exersaucer because she discovered that she can turn the seat in a circle while she's under there. And she crawls underneath Daddy, well, just because she can! Here are some pictures...

I was only going to upload one of these but I had to show you the closeup of that face!

She loves playing around with her Daddy! (and please excuse the pile of laundry on the floor)!

Now this picture I found truly priceless! When I was a child (much older than Y is now) I used to fool my parents into thinking I was asleep if there was something that I didn't wanna eat for dinner. Ya see, they had this rule that you had to eat everything on your plate, even if you didn't like it and you had to sit there, at the dinner table, until you ate it. So I would pretend to fall asleep just so I didn't have to eat it and eventually they would come in to check on me and see that I had "fallen asleep" and then carry me to my bed. Some kids would hate the idea of having to go to bed, but I LOVED to sleep so I didn't mind it at all. When I told my mom about this picture and Y falling asleep in the middle of eating she thought it was payback, but I can assure you, Y definitely wasn't pretending to be asleep...she was OUT!!! And the funniest part of it is that she was falling asleep while still chewing, it really was quite entertaining!

I've mentioned before that Y loves her bath! Well yesterday the word "loves" doesn't even begin to explain how she felt about her bath. It was absolutely hilarious and I came out completely soaked. Let's just say with the force she has behind her arms and kicks...we might just have a female Michael Phelps on our hands. We got a great video of it but I don't exactly want to post it on the internet for the world to see but if you'd like to see it just leave me a comment or shoot me an email and I'll forward it on to you. It is definitely a lot of fun to watch, in fact she loves to watch the video over and over again.

Until next time...

Karaoke Anyone?

B's dad has always been a huge fan of Selena, in fact, that's probably an understatement. Well obviously his love for Selena rubbed off on his youngest son because while in Utah they brought out the karaoke machine and, well, see for yourself!