Happy First Birthday!

Dearest Little Kayla,

I can’t believe this day is here. Part of me welcomes it with open arms. Part of me is squeezing my eyes shut, putting my fingers in my ears and stomping on the floor yelling “LALALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” because as long as I don’t acknowledge the day, that means it didn’t happen, right? That means that somewhere in a parallel universe, July 6th goes right into July 8th and there are no birthdays for my little angel – she remains a sweet little baby forever. Doesn’t it?

But you really aren’t a baby anymore. That’s obvious to anyone who looks at you. You interact with confidence. You smile, you babble, you reach to be picked up. You stand up on your own and clap your hands and smile. You take wobbly little steps across the living room and when you topple over you giggle, get up and do it all over again. When you want something you point and “ooh!” to let me know. Then you dive out of my arms towards the target of your interest if I don’t get the hint. I love to make you giggle by holding you in my arms and swinging you around or letting you drop a few inches and catching you. Sometimes you get a full out belly laugh going and it’s absolutely the sweetest thing ever. Your third tooth (another one on the bottom) has poked through. The drooling has eased, so I don’t know that any more are imminent.

I’ve noticed you starting to imitate the things that you’ve seen other people do. When we were at Adam and Kristen’s house the other weekend, you played in the play kitchen with Addison and Trevor. I had to look twice before I realized that you weren’t just chewing on that toy fork – you were actually mimicking eating, dipping it into a bowl and putting it in your mouth. You’ve started holding your little phone rattle up to your ear too. You constantly amaze me with the way you pick things like that up.

Over the last 4 weeks or so we’ve slowly switched you over to cow’s milk; you still don’t enjoy cold milk as much as you do juice, but you drink it daily with your breakfast and afternoon snack. You still nurse morning and night, and I will keep that up as long as you’re willing. I love our quiet time together and that I get to start and end each day with you. Sleep is still good for the most part; you’ve recently rediscovered your ability to soothe yourself to sleep. You sometimes wake up around 4 am and nurse from one side before going back to sleep until your usual 6 – 7 am. You’re an excellent eater. You’ll try anything and even things that elicit a bitter beer face usually still get a second taste before you refuse all together. This month’s new favorites were kiwi and blueberries.

We had your first birthday party this past Sunday, and it was a big success if I do say so myself.  Even if the baked beans were crunchy, the cake was delicious (and beautiful) and we had a wonderful time with family.  Your first time in the swimming pool went over well too.  So much so that I could barely wait until today to fill up your pool here and invite Trevor and Addison over to swim with you! 

In just a couple of days we’ll be leaving for your first trip to the beach. I can’t wait to show you the sand and the water. I’m anxious to see how you like it. It should afford some great photo ops as well. After we come home, it will be time for your 1 year check up. I can’t wait to find out the “official” word on how much you’ve grown.

Somehow Daddy and I survived waiting until the last minute to assemble your gift.  Thankfully it was worth the effort and the rush - we couldn't keep you out of it tonight!

There’s so much happening now, so much joy and wonder in our lives little one, and it’s all thanks to you. I don’t know what I did to deserve such a sweet little angel in my life, but I’ll gladly keep doing everything I can for you. I am so proud to be your mommy.

Happy birthday, little angel. Your daddy and I love you more than we can say.

Love Always and Forever –

~Mommy