1 year old!

(3 months late! lucky for me i had written most of this 3 months ago or I would have never remembered half of this stuff!)

Kate,

You're 1 year old, baby girl! This past year has hands down been the best year of my life. I am so glad that you are our first born and that I get to call you mine forever.  Your sweet, easy going personality has done wonders for us as newbie parents...and trust me, we (( I )) needed the help.  Those first 2 months, wowza! And the time I took you to the doctor twice in 1 day? Oops, new mama here. Fast forward through that learning curve though, and man oh  man has life gotten sweet. Each day has literally gotten better and better. Watching you grow, learn and explore is the best.  Being a mom...thank you for making me a mother. It is the best, most rewarding, terrifying, funnest, most hilarious job ever. I love spending my days with you. There is nothing else in the whole world I'd rather spend these years doing.

At 1 year you....

Had maybe 1 tooth (1/2 of a tooth really, on the bottom), walking like a crazy lady, being outside is your favorite, you love for me to turn pandora on my phone and dance with you while you shake your little booty, love to clap your hands, laugh at mack....you take 2 naps a day, sleep from about 8-7, and you have itty bitty baby size 2 feet!

Really, I just want to remember how happy you are. You are the happiest, most easy going baby. And tough! You are always falling and tumbling different every which way but you just get right back up like nothing happened. You obviously get that from me ;-). You're still not a huge cuddle bug, but I'm not losing hope yet. You are miss independent and are totally okay playing on your own. At the kids club in the gym, the girls always tell me that you just quietly play on your own. Funny girl. Sesame Street is still the best show ever. You eat really well and eat pretty much everything we eat. Yogurt, fruit and goldfish are a few of your favorites. You love to read with me. About 20 times a day, regardless of what I'm doing, you come to me with 'blankie' in one hand and a book in the other. You hand me the book, sit right down and look up at me waiting for me to read it to you. I love it. I frequently find you looking through books on your own....often the books are upside down but you turn them around over and over again looking closely at how the pictures change. It always makes me smile. Although you say a few words (mama, dada, uh oh, hi), you have not shown a ton of interest in other English words yet. However, you talk nonstop. Really. You jibber jabber all day and it's the funniest thing because, to you, it is a real conversation. You pause throughout, make eye contact, hand movements, have voice inflection, there is always accompanied laughter...you wait for us to reply and then keep going. You love when I sing pop corn popping, itsy bitsy spider, ABC's, and 3 little monkeys. 

I never want a day to come that you don't want to be my best bud anymore.

Sometimes I think you are my twinner child but you are a pretty good mix of me and your dad. And we just cant get enough of you!

Happy birthday, sweet girl!