13 Months

My Darling Little Girl ~

Time marches on and you just keep growing and changing before my very eyes. I am so grateful for you every single day and feel so honored to be your mother and the one who gets to chronicle your early years.

This month you drank your very last baby bottle! What a big girl you are now!!! We phased your bottles out slowly, switching you to a sippy cup with 2% milk. For a while you were only getting bottles at home, then just in the morning and before bed, then only right before bed. So far, you are taking the change like such a little trooper. You like drinking milk from your sippy or with a straw, and your bedtime routine is as solid as ever, even without the bottle.

In the last few weeks, you've been getting faster and faster, some days really running from one part of the house to another. My favorite is when you watch either Daddy or me coming in from outside and you run away from the door just before we open it. We've been playing a lot of chasing games, and you just run and giggle. You have such remarkable joy!!!

The other big milestone this month was your very first ear infection. I have to say, you are such a tough girl...the only way we knew something was wrong was by how crusty your left eye got. I was astounded when Dr. Parr said that you had a double ear infection. You hadn't been crying or moody or pulling at your ear at all. Let's hope that this isn't something that happens very often. I hate knowing that my little love is sick!

I love you so much, my love.

Your Momma

Goodbye Little Baby

Last night Kaylee drank her last ever bottle.

Words

Yesterday I talked with our childcare provider and compiled a list of words that Kaylee either says or signs. I was glad that we did, too, because Kaylee got a 12-month ASQ screening when our Parents As Teacher's educator came last night.

Kaylee's spoken words: momma, hey/hi, book, baby, bug, ball, cow, moo, boo, dog, block (she learned this one last night, as we were going through the ASQ)

Kaylee's signed words: milk, more, hat, dog, baby, signing, bye-bye (she waves, anyway...)

I think this is pretty dang good for a 1 year old. :) We're working on blowing kisses, please and thank you, and cat. Those are my priorities, anyway...I'm sure Kaylee will bust out with whatever words interest her.

We All Fall Down

Oh, but we have had a rough couple days!

It all started on Thursday morning when I got Kaylee up for the day. She had vomited in her crib sometime in the night. I felt horrible, because I know I had heard her coughing a bit, but since she didn't cry for long, I let her go back to sleep on her own. Oops. Anyway...I thought it was an isolated thing...she had had 5 shots and a big dinner the night before, so I gave her the typical morning bottle and got her ready to go to childcare. I was wrong. We had no sooner got downstairs and I grabbed my purse than Kaylee started vomiting. All. Over. The. Place.

Needless to say, I stayed home with Kaylee on Thursday. She got sick several more times, but seemed like she was mostly on the mend by late afternoon. Since the last vomiting episode was later in the day, we knew that she couldn't go to childcare on Friday either, so we agreed that Mike would stay home in the morning while I went in to do a few things at work. No problem, right.

Well, first I woke up on Friday feeling a bit off. I feared that I had caught Kaylee's junk, but I seriously had to get into the office. Bad idea. I vomited 5 times that morning, including twice in the alley behind our office and once into a trash bag while pulled over on the side of the highway. Ugh. Add to that, shortly after I arrived at the office, Mike called to tell me that he thought he had another kidney stone and needed to get to the hospital and couldn't even lift Kaylee.

Friday was a disaster, but we are so lucky to have amazing family. My dad took Kaylee to his house and Mike's grandma took him to the ER. I finished my work quickly (between trips to the restroom) and got back home. My mom took over for my dad at noon with Kaylee and I stayed in bed miserable. Mike finished up at the hospital, went in to his office for a few hours (hopped up on pain pills), and brought Kaylee home from my parents'. He took very good care of me for a few hours until he started feeling sick himself. He was sick for most of the night, waking up several times to vomit.

So each of us went through approximately 12 hours of hell and came out on the other side in one piece. A brief recap...Kaylee: 3 am - 3 pm on Thursday, me: 7 am - 6 pm on Friday, Mike: 7 pm on Friday - 7 am today.

So now we move on with the rest of our weekend. Today we have an anniversary party for Mike's grandparents (which we are co-hosting with his sister), and tomorrow is Halloween. No rest for the wicked, right?

One Year Old

My Beautiful Little Love ~

Today is your birthday and I'm filled with so much happiness and so many wonderful memories. It has been such a joy to watch you grow and learn. Your daddy and I are so blessed to have such a sweet, loving, independent addition to our family. You keep us busy, keep us laughing, and give us so many reasons to love life and each other every single day.

You have learned so many things in your first year. Some days your daddy and I just watch you in amazement as you learn something new before our eyes. Just think, a year ago, you spent about 85% of you day sleeping and the other bit either crying or eating. You were so tiny that you were practically swimming in the "newborn" sized going home outfit we got you. Your cries were high pitched and squeaky and your arms flailed out of control.

Today you are such a big girl. You sleep at night (and take one nap during the day) like a big girl. You eat food at the table and drink milk from a cup like a big girl. You walk like a big girl. You look at books upon books upon books like a big girl. You use your hands and all your senses to investigate everything in your path like a big girl. You are simply amazing, lovey.

Thank you so much for the gift of this first, beautiful year. I look so forward to celebrating many more birthdays and milestones and watching you grow and learn even more.

I love you!

Mommy

One Year Ago Today...

...was the longest day of my entire life. :)

By this point, I had been in labor for over 12 hours and still had 15 more to go. It was long, hard work, but wouldn't change a single second of it.

Tomorrow my first little baby turns one!

Party Girl

Whew...what a day!

Today was Kaylee's first birthday party. Honestly, the roughest part of the day was keeping Kaylee awake this morning so that she would take a nap just before party-time. Other than that, everything went just beautifully!

I had an amazing friend to help me pick up all the food and such and decorate the room. My equally-amazing husband and sister-in-law kept Kaylee at home until just before the party. We had just enough, but not too much, food. AND...I was able to pawn off most of the extra food and not bring too too much home with us.

We had 22 people (out of 30 invited, not bad) come out to join the celebration. Once again, I am reminded just how blessed we are to have such amazing friends and family and to have so many people that love our daughter so much. I couldn't have wished for a better first birthday celebration for my littlest love.