Taylor's Bird-day Bash

Happy Bird-day, dear Taylor.

A very happy bird-day it was.

You won't remember it of course,

but it was beautiful.

Your Nonna and Grandma

are both thrilled to share

a birthday with you, dear one.

My favorite part

of this beautiful day

was that so many people

that absolutely cherish you, Tay,

were all gathered together

in one place.

Just look at how much love

is on their face.

I think I'll agree with Eli

and say the party was so fly.

You performed quite nicely

for it to just be your first birthday.

You even knew when to bite.

And when to hug.

And when to check your rearview mirrors

for signs of chunky cousin thugs.

Don't worry,

Tuh-Tuh, is busy snuggling.

And your best performance

would have to be

when the cake came out.

You got bashful all of a sudden.

It was oh so cute, you see.

You loved the laughs.

You loved the smiles.

And when that candle came out

you didn't know what to do

with it's bright flame.

So, mommy and daddy of course helped you.

But you knew...

Exactly what to do...

With that yummy cake

that daddy made just for you.

It was a beautiful party

with all of our family

and friends

and loved ones.

Thankful for you, sweet child.

And thankful for ones to love you.

Almost as much as we do.

One Year Old, Dear Taylor

Dear Taylor,

One. Year. Old. You have turned 1 year old. That means you have been with our family for one whole year, not counting in belly time. It was such a wonderful year. When I look back on it, I am blown away. One year ago, our family was not quite complete. Yes, we were happy. But, my oh my, the JOY that God brought to us through you, our daughter. We thank God many times a day for the blessing He gave us. I could not have imagined the love that would burst forth from our hearts for you. I really do feel, like the Grinch, that our hearts grew 3 sizes somehow. How else would they have been able to hold the love that we feel for you? I say this every time, but we adore you. Someday you will know and understand the love that we feel for you. Your daddy absolutely adores you. You have stolen his heart.

Throughout this year so much has changed in our family. It is very hard to remember what it was like without you. This year we have been able to witness all the wonderful things you have learned and the ways you have developed. You have put on quite a show for us. Especially in these past two months. Here's what you've been up to.

• You've started taking steps on your own. You had been pulling up and cruising for a while, and even standing up in the middle of the floor, but as soon as we would try to get you to let go and walk, you would flop that bottom down as fast as could be. But at the Carter's house at 11 1/2 months, you stood up out of nowhere and took 3 steps towards mommy. It was surprising and amazing to say the least. After that we could only get you to take steps when you were in the mood to. The most we got you to take was 8 steps.

• You've started walking! This actually happened after a year, around 13 months, but I thought I'd mention it here. One day you just decided that you liked walking better than crawling. You then began walking all over the house just for the fun of it. I watched you walk around and around through the living room, through the dining room, and around again. It's so fun to see you mobile and loving it. Sometimes when you get too excited, you fall down and resort to crawling. But besides that, you are a walker.

• You are talking/babbling a lot. I love the sound of your voice. You've started saying a few other words. You say "Z" for Zissou. "Tuh-Tuh" for Tucker. "P" for please. "Bebe" for baby. "Tees" for cheese. "Tan too" for thank you. "Bu" for book. And you sing and babble constantly. Love it.

• You say no and shake your head. It's so funny. When we tell you no, or you go near something you're not supposed to touch, you will tell yourself no and shake your head. At least we know you understand.

• You say the animal noises for dogs, elephants, horses, and ducks.

• You can point to eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears, and hair.

• When we say, "Where's the baby?" you lift up mommy's shirt. And sometimes we can get you to give the baby a kiss. You will lift up other people's shirts too, so I know you don't understand, but it's still funny.

• You are obedient. For the most part, you obey quickly and respond to discipline from mommy. It's shocking how much you dislike when daddy gets on to you. All he has to do is look at you sternly, and you pout up and the tears start flowing. He has some power, that's for sure.

• You are very into music. When you hear it, you dance by bouncing your knees. You heard a song with a ukulele in it, and immediately said, "Dada". I think it's because you recognized that your daddy plays that sound at bedtime for you. So amazing. You've got better ears for music than I ever did.

• You have become much more snuggly. Hooray. You'll come up to mommy and wrap your arms around my neck and squeeze. I love it. Every time it happens, mommy almost cries.

• You love babies. Love them. You want to hug and pick up real babies when you see them. You've also grown attached to your own baby dolls. You will carry them around the house and pat them and hug and kiss them on the head. It is precious to watch you develop that nurturing mothering spirit.

• You are in the 3rd percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height. Ha. Your doc didn't even mention it last visit; I just happened to see it on the sheet. I'm not worried. You weigh 18 pounds. You are petite. I've accepted that. But you are looking a little chubbier these days. You wear 9-12 month clothes, size 3 diapers, and size 3 shoes.

• You eat a lot. You eat a healthy amount at all three meals, and you also have an afternoon snack.

• You are (almost) weaned off the bottle. We slowly got you used to milk by mixing more and more with the formula. You like the taste. The problem is that you are not very thirsty. I have to coax you to drink. So you are still getting a bottle at night, but only because I can get you to drink a lot of milk with a bottle. You don't drink as much with a cup. I just want to make sure you are getting enough milk, little girl.

• You now have 6 teeth. 4 on the top middle, and the 2 on the bottom middle.

• You had a nasty diaper rash. Oh man. One morning when I went to get you out of bed, I could smell that you had pooped. It had to have happened early in the morning, but you didn't let me know. So it caused a mean rash. Then you did it again the next 2 mornings. That wasn't helping clear up the rash. You stopped after that, thankfully. I let you walk around the house naked a lot to help clear up the rash, and you loved it. One day, you were walking around, and a plop of poop fell out. I picked you up to clean you up. When I turned back around, the poop was gone. And there stood Zissou looking quite satisfied. Gross. Gross. Gross. Oh well.

• You sign please like it's going out of style. It's always easy to understand what you want. You'll sign please like crazy. We've noticed sometimes please means 'give me' and you don't like it when we have to say no. But it's still pretty adorable to see you asking for something fervently with please.

We absolutely love you, dear Taylor.

Mommy

A Year Old Am I

Hello all. I am delighted to inform you that I come to my first year anniversary, some call it birthday. What a glorious first year it has been. Everyone tells me I've accomplished quite a bit in this short amount of time. I'll let my mommy tell you all about it later.

Right now, I'd like to share some photos from my one year old photo shoot. My Auntie Ha Ha was so kind as to take them for me. You can't see in the pictures, but my mommy is acting a fool behind the camera to get me to smile. I found it hilarious that she went to such lengths, but shhh, don't tell her, I only smiled to make her feel better. So here goes. Enjoy.