ONE.

this beautiful baby is celebrating her first birthday today! i can't believe that she has been here for one year -- time has seriously flown by. we are so blessed to have the absolute best baby ever. her personality changes every day; she becomes more fun with every second. everything about her is so animated and she can get pretty over the top when things don't go her way (she gets that from her mama), but she is still so mellow and laidback, very rarely whining or fazed by anything (like her daddy!). she's started doing everything like a "big girl". she is not walking yet, but she'll walk all over the house with us if we hold one hand. she takes whole milk from a sippy cup three times a day -- no more bottles (mama took them away cold turkey :) she gives high fives, attempts to blow kisses, and waves bye-bye to everyone and everything. she is eating all solid foods and will eat anything that is not tied down... current favorites are green beans, mandarin oranges, vanilla pudding, and lasagna (homemade or chef boyardee). she is talking all of the time. the words you can actually understand include mama, daddy, bu-bye, nana, dog, bubble, no, and something that resembles "that". she has learned to stack toys, put blocks in and out of buckets, and open and close doors (and put things into cabinets when she opens them). she has become quite the little ham and has a great smile that she frequently flashes where you crinkles up her nose and grins big enough to show her 6 teeth -- i love it! we go for her 12-month check-up next week, so we'll see just how big our big baby is. she's wearing 12-18 month clothes now and wearing them well. we are just so lucky to call her our kiddo! i can't wait for all the years to come...