Happy 1st Birthday Peanut

Oh my god. You're a year old. How did that happen? Seriously. How the hell did that happen? But here we are. And my daughter...what an amazing year this has been.

I want you to know that you are pure joy and sunshine. You bring smiles and happiness wherever you go. I cannot even begin to list the ways you have enriched my life. I always knew I wanted two kids. Always. But what I didn't know is that I wanted you. I wanted the smiles and the love along with the defiant fist pumps. I wanted the confidence and strengths along with the strong-willed nature. I wanted it all and I wanted you. And here you are.

At a year old you weigh 19.13 pounds, you stand 28 3/4 inches tall (you are a little Peanut just like your Mommy--a delicate flower like I have been saying all along...). You have 6 teeth. Four on the top, two on the bottom. You wear size 12 month pants and size 12-18 month shirts. You crawl everywhere at speeds that amaze people. I am constantly hearing, "Damn...that girl can MOVE!" You stand up on everything and transfer between furniture while standing but don't yet take any steps on your own.

You have a list of words that you use in the proper context: Up, down, Mama, Gigi, all done, uh oh, poop poop, hi and bye, thanks, and you also will try and mimic any words we tell you to say. Today when we told you about the fish on the wall you said fish. You amaze me with your little vocabulary. We have an alarm on the house and therefore anytime a door opens there are three little beeps that sound. Every time you hear the beeps you look up and smile and yell, "HI!!!" as if every time I am going out to the garage it means that someone is here to see you. When Gigi picks up her purse to leave you look at her and say "Bye!!" The little voice is so damn sweet. Remind me of this when you're four and I would give anything to have a moment of silence. Because I seriously see that in my future. But right now, it is a welcome little voice.

You love your kitty lovey most of all. You are pretty fond of your binkys but you know they are for the crib only so when you get up you say, "bye bye" and then throw it over the edge of the crib when I take you out. You love your Mommy and your brother and your Gigi and you have a pretty special relationship with your Poppy as well. There are so many people who love you. Your favorite toys right now are a toy cow that has buttons on it that plays music when you push the buttons. You love that damn thing. You would kill a small army to get your hands on my car keys. Your brother's "Kevin" doll is something so coveted that when you actually get your little hands on it you go tearing out of the room to hide it so he doesn't snag it back. You love to dance to music and clap your hands and you basically just love life.

You are a good sleeper going from 8:00 at night until around 7:00 in the morning, although you get up sometime around 6:00ish to nurse and then go back to sleep. Speaking of nursing...WE MADE IT! I can't believe we did it but together, you and I, we exclusively nursed you for a full year. Mommy is probably more stoked on that accomplishment than you are, but damn girl...we did it. Now the challenge is going to be figuring out how to stop doing it. I have no intention of taking away your before bed and first thing in the morning nursing, but the days? The things that force me to pump? Yeah. Those have got to stop.

I chose not to give you a big birthday party because I don't think that's what you would have wanted. Too many people around and you get shy. You get clingy. You are at your best surrounded by just a few people that you love to death. So that's what we did. And I think I made the right call. I think you had a damn fine birthday. Here are some pictures from the big day. First thing in the morning I sat you on your bean bag for your last "bean bag photo" and I was greeted with this reaction:

I don't know if the excitement was from being done with bean bag photos or because it was your birthday but you gave me your all! Thank you for that. I will stop torturing you with those photos now. But we got a really nice slide show out of it that hopefully one day you will enjoy. I am sorry I had to take you to daycare on your birthday but Mommy got sick with food poisoning the day before your birthday and was so behind on her work that I had no choice. But you partied there all day and when we picked you up it was time to party some more. Here you are with Mommy right after you got home.
After a lovely wholesome dinner it was time to open your gifts. If I'm being honest, your brother did most of the opening and you ate the paper that he discarded but you really seemed to dig the gifts that you got. Here you are playing with a cool wooden walker toy that Mommy got for you.
And then my dear...it was time for the cake. You have never had any sweets up until this point in your life so I wasn't sure if you would go crazy or turn your nose up. You weren't sure what to think initially either... A whole cake, just for you? Is this legal?
You played with the cake but didn't eat a whole lot. Not sure if it's because you were full or if you just didn't really dig the sweets thing. I guess time will tell. You sure made a good mess though and really, that's what it's all about.
My baby girl, you have given me such a wonderful last year. You will never truly understand all the joy and happiness you have brought to my life. You completed our family. I finally feel complete. I feel full. Full of joy and of love and of pride that I am blessed with two of the best kids there are. I have been telling you all year long that you are my little ray of sunshine. And you always will be. I love you dearly Peanut. Happy first birthday.