Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Today you are one year old. When you woke up this morning, Noah and I came to get you out of bed and we sang to you the birthday song. Then we gave you a birthday present - a toy piggy bank that you have not stopped playing with yet except to get a bite to eat. Noah can't seem to get enough of it either. :) When your daddy wakes up we will all go to your doctor's appt. and pick up your mini-ducky cake on the way home. Noah is more than excited about that part of the day. We may have to strap him down so you can make a mess of it all by yourself. I can't wait to watch you taste it and make that rite-of-passage birthday cake mess all over your face.

Can you really be 1 year old? Was it really only a year ago we headed back to Huntsville Hospital to have you? Was it only a year ago that I was scared silly at the prospect of you being delivered by c-section? Was it only a year ago that I heard that first raw cry of yours but couldn't see you over the sheet that blocked my view during the surgery? Oh little girl, is it only a year that I have known you? Wow - what a year can do to your life, to your family, to your heart. I'm not gonna lie, in some ways it has felt like a lot of years. In others, it just seems like it can't be true. You are a trip, baby doll. You are our girlie treasure. Today (and again next week with family) we get to specifically celebrate you.

Anna at 1 yr. old:

Loves books, especially lift-the-flap books
She lets you read 1-2 pages before she wants the books back
Enjoys being held and cuddled
Does not like tomato-based sauces...yet
Favorite foods: bananas, ham, Pasta Pick-ups, Yogos, cheese
Has a sensational smile...when she decides to smile, that is
Is very choosy about when and for whom she will smile
Raises her chin up like a ham when she grins real hard
Like to root and roll around on beds and couches
Makes stinky diapers not long after getting up in the morning
Is most offended/upset when Daddy and Noah go outside w/o her
Wakes up around 6:00, Naps twice a day, Bedtime around 7:00
Prefers Daddy's company to anyone else, Noah is a close second
Loves to climb: on furniture, stairs, chairs, stools, people
Is easily irritated and/or angered
Has never peed on us during a diaper change
Loves to be given Motrin/Tylenol, Does not like Amoxycillin
When music comes on, she kind of bops and jerks to it
Didn't clap until last week, Has waved and waved for awhile now
Loves putting stuff in things and things in stuff
Plays really well by herself when Noah is not around
Fave toys include anything made of paper: pages, magazines, plates, pics, napkins, tissue, postcards, wrappers, boxes, tp rolls, cards, wipes
Tucks her arms in and under her chest to sleep (in bed/when held)
This often results in her sticking her entire arm down our shirts
Loves for us to play "Where is Anna?" (peekaboo) with a blanket
Cracks up when she chases Noah or when he chases her
Is an organized thinker: puts things away, sets groups together
Signature move for silliness, drama, fury: Throws her head back
Quirks include: batting/squinting her eyes while shaking her head
Answers in the affirmative by murmuring "Uh huuuuuuh"
Answers in the negative by shaking her head
Is TOTALLY interested in anything I am doing in the kitchen
Shouts, and hoots, and squeals, and jabbers when she's having fun
Her hair is growing in lopsided...longer on the left side in back
Still has a blonde patch of hair...it's just harder to spot now
Wants things in their places or she can't go on with play or meals
Experiments with food: drops, squashes, smears, puts it in her bib
Shows me to her high chair when she is hungry
Loves to climb and clamor all over us when we sit on the floor
Prefers Noah's shoes to any toy in the house
My fave shirt of hers has an owl on it and says "I give a hoot"
1st crawl at 8 mos.
1st table foods at 9 mos.
1st stood w/o assistance at 10 mos.
1st tooth at 10 1/2 mos.
1st steps at 11 mos.
1st fight with Noah at 11 mos. (over his tape measure)
1st whole milk at 11 mos.
Her crawl looked more like a one-legged scoot
Before the blackout curtains, she woke up every day at 5:30
Until recently, she'd lay her head flat down on her high chair tray and pull her foot up to her ear
We have recorded her every feeding and nap the whole year

All for now...b'day cake pics and dr. appt. details to follow.
Happy Birthday, Anna!