Julia is ONE

My dear, dear, sweet baby girl:

You are one year old today! You have changed and grown SO much in the last twelve months; it’s amazing. This time last year, your father and I were afraid to unswaddle you in the hospital because we didn’t want you to be cold. Now, we hang you upside down (you LOVE upsidedown-baby), swing you around, run around the backyard with you on our shoulders (well, that’s mostly Daddy – and when he stops, you wiggle to let him know you want him to keep moving), and watch in awe as you tear around our house on your own two feet!

I am so incredibly lucky and blessed to be your mother. When you play, you like me to be sitting on the floor next to you - preferably doing nothing else – and you periodically come over to me to sit in my lap and get a hug and a snuggle before running off to the next thing. Which I love – it gives me a chance to close my eyes and stop for a minute and think about how lucky we all are. Your dad works hard so I can stay home with you and get to watch how much you grow every day. Yesterday you started pointing out a doggie on a page of a book we were reading. Today, you pointed out three different doggies on three different pages AND a snake!

You’re walking and running all over the place. No crawling for you – it’s so much faster to just get up and walk! You can say, “Da!” when you’re looking for your dad. Sometimes you even say it when you’re looking for me or the doggie. When you see someone you like, you’ll often make the cutest little cooing nonsense noises. You call everything with wheels a “brmm brmm” and you know a lion goes “raaar!” and a doggie goes “oof oof!” You have twelve teeth – those front eight and your first four molars are cutting through right now (and still bothering you!). You’ll try almost any food at least once, although your favorites right now are french fries and salt & vinegar potato chips (fortunately, you also love things like fruits – especially pears right now, hot dogs, ham, and cheesy eggs). If you’re hungry or thirsty, you’ll go over to the cupboard where we keep your cups or the food, find what you want, and bring it to me to open or fill with water.

You seem to like to read with me; we read before your two naps and bedtime. You don’t really like me to read all the words and go through the book slowly; you prefer to turn the pages yourself and point to things right now. I also try to brush your teeth when we read, and you do not like that part one bit. I pretend to brush my teeth to show you how it’s done, and so then you decide that you would like to take the toothbrush and brush my teeth too. But never yours! You like to imitate things I do, like carry a purse or blow my nose (which is the most adorable thing ever), and then you also do some things that baffle me, like wearing headbands and crowns and hats – you love that! You also love to dance. Any time any music comes on, whether it’s a toy, a clock chiming, or a truck beeping as it backs up, you get a big grin and you start to bob and sway.

You have learned so much this past year, and done so much. Of course you have your days – you seem to get out of sorts when you’re going through a growth spurt – but you are cheerful, incredibly inquisitive, determined, a little bossy, smiley, and generally a joy to be around. You break into a big grin whenever you see me, Scrappy, your dad, or another relative (and sometimes a random stranger) and that smile just melts my heart. Your hugs when I get you up in the morning or from a nap are pretty much the best part of my day. And you’re so calm by bedtime; we walk around your room, and you rest your head on my shoulder, and you talk to me a little and I talk to you a little, and I can’t imagine my night any other way.

I can’t wait to see what you do this next year. I love you more than words can say, forever.

And I got a little picture-post-happy going through all these photos I have of you this past year:

Oct 2010

Oct 2010

Oct 2010

Oct 2010

Jan 2011 (after I got my new camera for Christmas!)

Jan 2011

Feb 2011

March 2011

March 2011

April 2011

May 2011

May 2011

June 2011

July 2011 (Right about now I have fewer and fewer photos of you - probably because I was chasing you around more and more!)

Aug 2011

Aug 2011

Sept 2011

Oct 2011 (How you look to me most of the time...)

Oct 2011