One month late, but as they say, “better late than never”  Baby girl turned one on September 8th.  It is amazing to think that a little more than a year ago she decided that she wanted to meet us almost 3 weeks early!  I had all the plans in place for a scheduled repeat c-section.  The grandparents had their trips scheduled to come from from Colorado and New York to help us out.  She had another idea in mind.  Luckily, she waited until after her Poppa returned from a fishing work trip to Alaska just a few days before she decided to meet us!  I don’t know what I would have done if she had decided to make an earlier entrance into this world…thank goodness I didn’t have to find out!  I was a wreck the morning I went into labor and had to leave the little guy with our neighbor (who was getting her 3 boys ready for the 1st day of school which was the next day) instead of what I had planned!

At any rate, the last year has been crazy busy.  I never imagined how hard it would be to stay home full-time with two kiddos, but ultimately, it is what I want to do at this time in their lives.  I get through the tough times (like when their Poppa is traveling for work) and soak in all the joy that they bring me.

Baby girl definitely has a plan for herself…she’s not going to let anybody get in her way!

She loves her momma.  She is a mommas girl.  She will tolerate other people, but if she has her choice she wants to be with me. Although it can be extremely tiring, I will soak it in all that I can…I know there will be a day when that will all change.

She seems to be plenty happy crawling to get from point a to point b.  She is in no hurry to walk.  She cruises, stands up and hold on to legs, furniture, walls, dogs, and anything else, but does not seem to have much interest in walking to get anywhere.  At one point I was wishing she would just start walking, but like everything this girls has done, she will decide when she wants to do it!

She can EAT!  Baby girl wanted to start feeding herself finger food way before I would have ever thought of feeding the little guy finger foods.  I was so afraid her would choke on something.  She started grabbing things off my plate at 9 months and there has been no turning back.  He favorites are string cheese, avocado, banana…oh, who am I kidding, she will eat just about anything you put down in front of her!  She definitely eats more than her big brother at every meal…and then steals from his plate, too!

She never wanted to drink milk from a bottle.  Well, like I said, she decides what she wants to do and when she wants to do it. Drinking milk from a bottle was never something she wanted to do! We have tried milk from a sippy cup for months now and she is not a big fan of that either.  The pediatrician said that some kids just don’t like milk.  So, we’re in the process of weaning and she IS drinking water from a sippy cup!

She loves clothes, shoes, hats & sunglasses!  She is her momma’s daughter, of course.  I hadn’t been putting shoes on her feet since she isn’t walking yet, but she had some really cute shoes that I wanted her to wear before they got too small.  So, one day I put a pair on her feet.  She LOVED them!  Now, we put shoes on all the time.  She has her own shoe basket next to her brothers by the front door and she will just play with the shoes…taking them out of the basket, putting them back in, pretending to put them on her feet.  She has more sunglasses than her Poppa and I combined.  She was totally happy getting clothes, instead of toys, for her birthday.  Now, I know she is only one and the wrapping paper was more exciting than the toys, but the difference between her interest in fashion and her brothers interest in it is night and day!

She is one tough cookie. She takes a beating from her brother. He is usually very good with her, but when he is looking for attention or getting tired and cranky he will take it out on her.  For a baby girl, she is pretty darn tough!  Again, she is her momma’s daughter.

She can be a drama queen. As much as she can take her brothers roughhousing, she has also learned that the more dramatic her response the more we respond to her.  Luckily, we have caught on, too.  I get the feeling she will be using (and perfecting) this technique for years!

She a talker.  Just like her brother, her first word was NOT momma or poppa.  She started out with “kitty”, now everything is “doggy”.  We were at the park yesterday and a squirrel was interested in our picnic.  She kept saying, “Doggy! Doggy!”

She is everything I wanted in a baby girl.  At one time I imagined myself with two little boys…maybe it’s because it’s what my husband thought he wanted, but I don’t think either of us would want it any other way.  She has all of us (the little guy included) wrapped around her little one year old finger.

Home is…having a baby girl who has turned one.