1st Birthday Bash

It's amazing that this little thing...

is now this big (or still little) thing...

Back on September 10, we had a celebration.  We celebrated one year of life for our sweet baby, Olivia Rachel.  I can't even number how many times in the best year I have been completely overwhelmed by God's goodness to give us this sweet girl as a daughter.  She has been all we ever could have imagined and then some.  Geoff and I also celebrated our survival of the first year of parenthood.  Along our journey the past year, we have learned many things, including much about ourselves, each other and God's love for us as His children.  But we are far from having this parent thing figured out.  I'm sure with each stage come new lessons to be learned.  I've heard the phase "The days are long but the years are short" to describe the time in the early years of your child's life.  Even though I've only experienced one year of this so far, I already know how true it is.  There have been many long days, but I can't believe how fast time has flown by.  I try to keep this in mind often, reminding myself to cherish each and every moment with Olivia.

Anyways, to celebrate Olivia's birthday, we had a small gathering of friends and family.  I'm pretty sure Olivia was clueless to the fact that we were having a party for her.  It was really a party more for adults and Geoff and I certainly had fun.  Although I am relieved her birthday only comes once a year...I was exhausted after it was over!

Cake time!!!

 

Opening her birthday presents

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12 month stats from her checkup:

- Height: 31 inches (80% percentile)

- Weight: 21.5 lbs. (60% percentile)

Other stuff:

- Loves blueberries and strawberries

- Enjoys getting into my underwear drawer and pulling everything out.  Frequently, underwear end up on her head or around her neck.  It's so funny. 

- First official word was "Mama" back around Labor Day.  Yay!  She didn't direct it at me or anything but it's still fun to hear.

- She started taking steps in mid August and was walking across the room by Labor Day.  She is exclusive walking now.  I loved watching her face as she discovered what she could do.

- Climbs on everything.  She's quite the monkey.  I'll have to post some videos soon of all her climbing antics.

- Olivia has started acting more like a toddler, getting whiny and crying when she doesn't get her way.  Oh joy...

- Loves to snuggle in my lap when she's tired.  I'm so glad I have a snuggle baby.  She also likes to give her stuff animals and baby doll hugs.

- When given a phone, she holds it up to her ear.

- Launched herself out of her crib last week.  She hiked one leg up on the rail and then propped herself up the rest of the way by using the corner for leverage.  Later that night, we lowered her crib the rest of the way.

- Olivia is down to only taking one nap a day which typically last anywhere between 1-2 hours.  We wish it were longer, but we'll take whatever we can get.