Birthday Girl- Julia is one!

Jules, I know that I frequently say "I can't believe that you're this old" or "that old." Well, you just turned one and- while I want to say I can't believe it, the truth is that I CAN and DO believe it. What I can't believe is that you're ONLY one year old. This year has flow by so quickly, and you've grown up so fast. You are an integral member of the family and have been for as long as I can remember. You have been here forever in my mind's eye; and we are the better for it. You may still not have much hair (thank goodness you have such an adorable head), and still hanging tight with only 7 teeth, but you smart, brave, funny, talkative, curious, even-tempered, loving and beautiful. You are one year old- 365 days- and you are your own person, unique in every way. You know what you want (bananas! shoes! baby!) and you tell us with your "words" (some of which are starting to sound curiously like English), or by pointing, or simply by going and getting yourself.

You've made such an impact on so many lives already- most importantly your brother, your mother, Toby, Preston and me. I am so thankful to have you as my daughter. And, as the song I sing you most nights goes, "there could never be a father loves his daughter more than I love you."

The week before your birthday, all of your American cousins and most of your Aunts and Uncles came up to celebrate with you!

You had ice cream and brownies, got some beautiful gifts, and enjoyed your family's company very much!

On your birthday proper- October 11th- I was fortunate enough to not have to go to work in the morning, so we got to spend the morning together.

You may have been a bit more interested in the tissue paper than the little gift your Mom and I got you, but that's a-okay. It was just fun giving it to you and being with you on the morning of the one year

anniversary of your birth. 

I remember holding you one year ago.

I was there when you came out, and you came into this world very calmly, and very loved. Not much has changed in those two regards: you're still pretty calm and even-tempered, and you're still very much loved.

You are so playful, curious, smart, funny, brave and pretty much all-around amazing.

See, even still photos are no match for your personality, my princess.

And they never were. You've grown from this:

To this:

To this:  

To this:

And now...

You are a brilliant, talkative, funny, sharp, brave, strong, beautiful young lady, Julia.

You LOVE bananas. 

You say "Mama," "Yaya," "Yee Haw!" and "Dada." You even have your own little words that sound close enough to (and are therefore used for,) "This," "That," "Dog" ("Bow wow"),  "Neigh neigh," "Ribbit," and "Banana."

You are tall and skinny. Doctor says you are in the 90th percentile for height and only 25th for weight.

You love books, you love your Mama, and Daddy and Brother. And your Mama... a lot. 

You are a cuddler, and a hugger. You give away kisses, and give me the best greetings when I come home from work (you come screaming, running at me!).

You are one year old, and you are an amazing young lady. We are so excited to see what wonders year 2 will bring!

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' : Bananas and Flip-- 5 Month Milestones

Julia,

This week has been a big one for you, little 5 Month Miss!

First of all, you had your first real food besides breast milk and rice cereal. And it was a big hit!

It's yellow and sweet, mushes up good to eat. Throw in a little breast milk for consistency and serve with a spoon.

Your Mommy's been feeding you bananas for three days now, but yesterday I finally had the opportunity to do it, and you made it so easy.

You were bananas for bananas! 

Trying to take the spoon, opening wide, making a little bit of mess...It was a hit!

You ate a quarter of a banana! I bet you would have eat more too had I put it near enough.

And, look Mikey, She likes it! And then, since your Mom was getting you a root canal, you drank a whole bottle of milk too...and -to keep with the theme of impressing us by your leaps and bounds- you pretty much got the hang of holding your own bottle. This is pretty impressive, considering that you have no practice at it whatsoever, since you've probably only had 5 bottles in your life.

But, nevertheless, you're were hands on!

This week's also been a big success for you on the floor. You're officially a roller-overer! You did it once a while ago. Then you tried for a long while...

...getting so close!

Then last week we saw results of it twice, but never saw you do it.

Well this week, you're rolling over pretty routinely, once you're bored of eating your socks and chewing on your toes. In fact, just about every time you're on your back, you wind up rolling over to your tummy!

Whether you're just hanging out...

...with company...

or nekked!

Once you're on your tummy, you reach for toys, look around, attack some giraffes, smile a lot, check out the world and sometimes get kissed by a dad or brother.

...and then once you get tired of being on your tummy you complain until we help you roll back over. You're not an ambi-turner yet, but you'll get there soon enough. 

No rush though. That was certainly more than enough growing up for one week for me, little miss.