One Year Old

Journey,

Happy Birthday!! Today, one year ago, you were born at 7:53am. You have grown so quickly into such a spirited, beautiful little girl. You love your mommy, your blankies, rolling around on the floor and eating. You love meal and snack time and squeal when we put you in your highchair. You love your brother most of all and each and every one of his animals. You are very good at emptying drawers of clothes and scattering them about. You love lifting the toilet seat and dipping your fingers in the water. (so gross!) You like opening cabinets and slamming them and you really love closing doors. I've found you in your bathroom in pitch black darkness with both doors closed and you were just singing. You're a little weirdo but you adore you. You weigh 20.8 pounds (40th percentile), 30 1/2 inches tall (90th percentile) and have 6 teeth now. You wear size 3 diapers, 6-12 and 12-18 month clothes and size 4 shoes. Your favorite drink is water and your favorite food is bananas and avocados. You walk everywhere and with a purpose. You stomp those little feet all over the house. I haven't seen you crawl in weeks. :( You run now and love to get into Dakota's food and water. You don't listen very well anymore and turn and look at me when I say "no" then go back to what you were doing. Not cool. You say mama, dadda, yeah, go, bubba, bath, hi, bye, bubble and uh oh and can sign all done and more. It seems like you say a new word every day! And you mimic every noise and movement your brother makes.You give kisses and high fives and clap for yourself all the time. You still love pat- a- cake and the itsy bitsy spider will bring a smile to your face every time. You love to tear pages out of books so we only give you cardboard ones now. You eat stickers and steal Jonah's sippy. You guys drive me nuts at times but mostly make me laugh. You throw yourself to the ground when something doesn't go your way and scream. I heard your Dad liked to do stuff like that when he was little and it continued till he was 6 years old. Please don't do that to me baby.
You have absolutely no fear.You climb up on anything you can hoist your little self onto, throw caution to the wind and jump. Jonah doesn't even do that now. I am constantly worried you are going to fall on your face and knock teeth out. I want to put you in a bubble because if there is danger, you will find it. You've fallen down the stairs, been pulled off the fireplace by your brother, had countless busted lips, fallen off the bed more times than I'd like to count, slammed your fingers into cabinets and doors and had so many bumps to the head it makes me sad. Writing that makes me question my parenting skills actually. Jonah never had bumps and bruises and I never saw his blood from an owie until he was much older. You are just so wild and quick! Not to put the blame on you kid but it's true. I put you in the "no no zone" a lot. We keep the playpen up in the living room and you get put in there quite a bit because we know you are safe in there. It is also your time out place when you get in trouble for climbing up on the fireplace. You actually love it in there though and don't mind being in the pen.
Every day you are learning new words and I see you trying to communicate. This is especially exciting and we love talking to you. You are wild and crazy but you also have a sweet, loving side too. You are completely attached to your blankets and take them everywhere. You hug and kiss us and are content just to lay in my arms and watch tv at times. You love to be held and kissed and will put that little hand out so we can walk together.

Getting ready to leave for the hospital..4:45am! We met you just 3 hours later. Look at that belly!!

12 short months later...

You woke to balloons in your room on your birthday and had all your presents opened before 8am.

Early morning tea parties are the best

Your dad and I love you so much Journey. You are our tiny, spitfire girl and will forever keep us on our toes.  You are constantly on the go and getting into something. This past 12 months zoomed by so please try to slow down every once in awhile and let mommy hold you, kiss on you and rock you to sleep. I need this probably more than you do. Happy 1st Birthday sissy pie.

Love,
Mommy
xxoo