One Year!!

Layla turned one on July 17th - I still can't believe it.  It has been such a crazy year, and it really and truly only seems like yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital.  This has been such a wonderful time for our family, and I know it's just going to get better and better!

Layla, at one year old, you have changed so much!  You have your own little personality and are quite a character.  You are really funny, laugh at everything, and are a daredevil.  You love to play and crawl and jump and squeal, and do not really sit down.  Your vocabulary has extended to "ba" (ball), "wawa" (water) "baba" (bottle), "nini" (night-night), "yaya" (Layla), and "Ummm" (Yum - meaning "I'm hungry!").  Also, every time you take a drink of something, you say "Ahhh" afterwards, really cute.  When we ask "What does a pig say?", you make the funniest little noise trying to oink! You also still love it when we sing, especially now that you can participate.  When we sing "If You're Happy and You Know It", you clap at all the right parts.  Also, when we sing "The Wheels on the Bus", you chime in with "ra ra ra" (round and round), and you have the tune down pat.  You learn something new every day, and it is a blast watching you grow up, you make Daddy and me laugh constantly.

Eating is going great.  You love all kinds of fruit, and suprisingly will eat spinach and brussel sprouts.  The only meat you'll really eat is chicken, but that's OK - whatever works!  We made the switch from formula to whole milk, and so far so good with that as well.  You didn't really take to juice, so right now it's mostly just milk and water. You have a total of four teeth, and I think I see a fifth starting to poke through.  The last one really gave you some pain, I felt so bad for you!

At your one year check up, you weighed 19 lbs, 5 oz (30th percentile) and were 29.75 inches long (71st percentile).  The doctor said you look great and are thriving!  The only other big thing to come out of that appointment is that we should start to transition completely from bottles to sippy cups, and start to phase out the paci.  The bottle thing isn't a big deal, but the paci is.  You've always really only gotten one to sleep, we don't usually let you have it during the day. But, it's going to be really hard for you to fall asleep without it, I can already tell.  Oh well, we'll see what happens!

We're still going to the Little Gym, and are moving you up to the next class.  We are also starting swim lessons this month, which I know you are going to love.  Daddy already taught you how to blow bubbles, so we are ahead of the game!  I'm looking forward to it, I think it will be a lot of fun, and they are outdoors so I can get some sun as a bonus!

We love you more and more every day and this past year really has been the best one of my life.  You bring us such joy.  There is nothing better than getting a "Layla hug" or hearing you say "Mama??" with a big smile first thing in the morning when I walk in your room.  We are so blessed to be your parents, sweetie girl! 

I'll do a separate post on your birthday celebrations, but here is one picture of you playing with the scarves at the Little Gym party:

We love you!  Happy Birthday!