A one year old

Dear sweet Alice,

Today you turned 1 year old.  What a wonderful last year this has been for our family.  I feel like this entire last year has been spent smiling.  How grateful we are to have your beautiful little spirit in our family.  You are such a blessing to us.  You've brought so much joy and happiness and peace into our home.  

 

Your big brothers, why they adore you to pieces.  You melt their little hearts with each cute little laugh and giggle and game of peekaboo.  They look forward to your waking each day and I've never seen them get so excited about something over and over and over than the sight of their baby sister.   

 Oh, and your daddy is wrapped around your cute little finger.  He gets a sparkle in his eye each time he sees his precious little girl.  

 

And I feel so lucky to be your momma.  You give back so much love.  You are such a good little girl.  So good natured, bubbly and happy.  I treasure our cuddles, our kisses and hugs.

 

To celebrate your 1 year of life tonight, we had a special family birthday night which included a dinner with your favorites: homemade tapioca, mac and cheese, jello and peas.  

After dinner we put on the party hats and sung to you and you got to eat your birthday cake, where we stripped you down to a diaper.  At first you ate very daintily, but then slathered the cake all over your face.

Then we put together a doll house for you as a family (although your daddy did all the grunt work):

 

The boys were pretty excited about the prospect of getting to put their GI Joe's in your doll house.  You will share won't you?

I remember a year ago so vividly, almost like it was yesterday, yet it seems like you've been a part of our family forever.  You came on your due date, April 8th, in the middle of the day at 1:45 pm.  

We had had a merconium scare in the wee hours of the morning, but you came out healthy and strong.  You weighed 9 lbs 12 oz. and were 22 inches long!  Some people told me I gave birth to a one month old!  

 

Giving birth to you was one of the sweetest moments of my life.  It was a dream come true and one I will be forever grateful for. 

 

What fun a little girl is!  I love how delicate you are.  How your tiny fingers move so soft and gently.  How you cross your little feet when you nurse.  How you love to blow kisses at the boys.  
 
And how you love babies- any kind, the real ones and the unreal ones.

 You have the most beautiful blue eyes Alice.  They are a big and a lovely, light blue that you inherited from your Daddy.  They draw comments from the crowd wherever we go.  

 

You are growing up so fast.  Just the other day you pulled yourself up to standing without holding onto anything.  

Walking is right around the corner.  You are no longer interested in baby food.  If you see us eating big-person food, you demand a bite! (that is about the only time you get impatient).  

 

You have mastered crawling, and can even out crawl your momma during the chase.  You keep me busy each waking minute- I must keep a constant eye on you.  Your favorite sneak-to places in the house are:

The boys' room, to play with their legos.

The bathroom, to splash in the toilet.

Mom and Dad's bathroom, to crawl in the shower.

The laundry room, to suck on shoes on the shoe rack.

I'm hoping you grow out of these guilty pleasures.

I see your favor the letter B.  Your favorite thing in the world is the bath, and your favorite food is a banana.  Your 2 favorite songs are Beiber's Baby Baby Baby and Bai Nun Tuck a Tai (Tutu's thai lullaby).  You also love books and your blanket, oh and your binkie of course.

You have become such a great sleeper.  You sleep through the night now, all on your own in your big girl crib.  You go to down without a peep.  You really are an angel baby.

You have 6 teeth, 2 on the bottom, 4 on the top, although today, I saw a new one on the bottom beginning to come through on your right side.  

You haven't talked much yet in terms of words, although you love to sing along in a sing song voice to any sort of music.  And girl, can you get your groove on!  If there is any sort of music going on, whether it be from a movie, momma playing guitar, music in the car, or music playing on the piano, you love to bop up and down and sway your little booty.  You are a little hula girl.  A happy little hula girl.

 

You little missy, are loved.  Thank you for making life just get better and better.  

 

Love you always and forever, 

your momma.