Wow. A whole year. We have a one year old. Really? A toddler! Seriously???
It's still hard to believe and the cliche that "time flies" has never felt so true. I hope to get another post up soon with some favorite pics from Maelee's first twelve months, including the "12 Month Photo Shoot," so I'll save some of my thoughts and reminiscing of the first year for that post. For now, I'll try and keep this update a bit shorter. (but you know me, "shorter" is only relative...)
The biggest "development" of Maelee's month was her increased understanding of what we're saying and her new found "vocabulary." (Yeah, I'm big on quotation marks... not sure why.) In addition to excitedly exclaiming "apple" whenever she sees one, she eventually figured out how to properly transform "carraw" to "calock" and gets excited and exclaims "clock" at anything round with apparent hands. Even the little gauge things in the grocery store that monitor various temperatures, etc. It's adorable. And she's saying "up" and "cup" with the right meaning but we can't quite count her "beraa" for balloon even though that's what they are to her, or "ditty" for kitty. Getting close, though :) She will adorably show me what's in her mouth when I say "show me" (I discovered this when I asked her to "show me" the sign for "more" and instead she opened her mouth- I had no idea she was actually processing what I was asking when I'd repeatedly say that to check and see if she had a mouth full...). It cracks us up how much she actually understands of what we're saying now when we had no idea she did. This has been a fun stage.
But, anyhow, onto the pics. I'll start with just a few more faves from her 12th month, followed by a crazy amount of pics from the first birthday itself, and the big O-N-E birthday party.
Gal pals Blake, Giovanna, and Teegan
Maelee is so thankful to be growing up with these sweet friends!!!
Getting mischievous with some tissues...
Greeting mommy on her birthday with daddy's special present of notes and pictures
I foresee some sort of chick rocker band forming here...
So happy to see big boy pal, James, during a quick visit to NYC from PA
Enjoying the dinner out with the gang, and especially enjoying daddy's kisses
With some of our nearest and dearest
Sporting the vacation look in a number from her Mee-Maw and Grandpa's recent cruise
More 12 month shots in this slideshow:
And here's a little sneak peek of what you can expect in the upcoming "shoot:"
We have the most darling little "ladybug" style tutu that will be featured and these are just some quick shots of her in the little number on her big day. Later that day, her Nana & Pop-Pop arrived, and the five of us enjoyed a small but very sweet celebration with our birthday girl.
Ever the somewhat "anal" mom about what I put into my child's little body, I had made banana cupcakes w/ whipped cream frosting that barely had any sugar, so I wasn't sure how excited she'd be over the treat...
But she LOVED it! Definitely a hit and so fun to watch :)
She ate every last crumb.
Want more? Here's a link to a video (maybe turn your computer volume down though, as my voice is pretty annoying...):
http://vimeo.com/23188161
At dinner afterwards opening a couple presents and enjoying time w/ her Pop-Pop
More presents later, this time with the help of Parker in the unwrapping!
Quite stoked about this one
And also very stoked about her handmade "mouse" from her Mee-Maw
(while wearing Mee-Maw's dress!)
And more shots from her birthday in this slideshow:
It was a very special first birthday and Maelee was in quite the celebratory mood. This joyful mood happened to be a very welcome change from the previous week- I wasn't sure what was in store for my soon to be one year old as she was not her usual self all week. In hindsight, I'm thinking it definitely could've been related to the very high fever she had the weekend before and just not feeling right. I was very thankful she finally seemed to be back to normal in time for the festivities! We had a great weekend.
The party was initially planned to be at a nearby park, but alas, the weather had something else to say about that... I was just a teeny bit stressed at the idea of fitting so many people into our NYC apartment, but it all worked out in the end. We were surrounded by sweet family and awesome friends and had a blast full of ladybugs and laughter.
Yummy cake for the big kids, decorated so perfectly by Nana!
And the "healthier" version for the babes
And more of the spread, all in shades of red and white, with "ladybug" apples and strawberries (thanks to my brother for giving me the idea!)
So thankful that Maelee's Nana & Pop-Pop
AND great Too-dad and Nana-Nart were able to be there!!!
And also her Aunt Kim & Karl from NJ!
Our little ladybug's biggest admirers of all :)
Enjoying the very generous gifts!
And enjoying another day with the cupcake treat!!!
With close pals, Wesley and Kate
Little sweeties :)
And picture #3 where I'm winking! I think there was literally one picture that I'm in taken from Steve's camera where I'm not winking... sigh. Thankfully, my daughter doesn't seem to be afflicted with the same curse!
Enjoying some Too-dad time :)
And finally, here are more shots from the birthday party in this slideshow:
Happy Birthday to a little girl who has captured our hearts like we could've never imagined. It's been a great month, and an even better year. We had no idea what to expect and what kind of baby the Lord had in store for us and we are exceedingly grateful for His precious gift. She has been beyond wonderful and a true blessing to our lives. Who knows what's in store for our little toddler and what she will be like this next year. There are sure to be more smiles, tears, laughter, and fear, but before I know it, I'll be sitting down to reflect on her 2nd year...
(btw, I really did not intend that last sentence to be a rhyme...)
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