One

Happy First Birthday Lauren!

As of 3:32 PM on July 1, 2012, you had offically been in this world for one whole year! You are now considered a toddler!

My how you have grown in just one year:

July 1, 2011
Weight: 7 pounds, 7 ounces
Length: 20 inches

July 2, 2012
Weight: 22 pounds, 3 ounces (65%)
Height: 29.5 inches (62%)


You are one active little girl these days...though you are not yet walking (you are close), you are crawling all over the place, climbing stairs and getting into everything you can possibly access!

What an amazing eater you are! We are done with bottles and formula and have switched to whole milk. You are doing really well with plates, and absolutely love to hold your own spoon. There is nothing we have found that you will not eat, but honestly, spaghetti is hands down your favorite food:

Sleep seems to finally be returning just a bit...a typical night finds you in bed by 7:00 - 7:30, and typically up around 5 AM, but if you come into our bed, we can usually get you to fall asleep again until around 6:30 or 7 AM.

You still have just eight teeth, but I swear you are on the verge of more....your gums have been so swollen! Despite any discomfort, you are by far the happiest baby around....

You love to wave to everyone and even blow kisses...as well as make your cute little kissy noises!

Aside from Mama and Dada, Lala, you don't really have any true words just yet. You do however; point to all sorts of things we may ask about, and you babble and order us around quite well! I have been worried about your lack of a true word, but I think that you are just opposite of the twins - they were very cerebral and slower to pick up the physical side of things....you are decidedly more physical!

Baby girl, I cannot believe that you are one year old. My heart wants to simultaneously weep with sadness that you are growing up, and cheer you one with great pride and knowledge of all that lies ahead of you in this world.

You have brought me unimaginable joy and I am go grateful and honored that we were chosen to be your parents. Words cannot express how you have completed our family in ways we never imagined. 

Welcome to the world of toddlerhood!