one year old

Mary Grace,

Happy first birthday, sweet girl! I can hardly believe it was a whole year ago that I was making laps around the L&D unit trying to do everything in my power to welcome you into this world. From the moment you made your grand entrance into this world, you fit perfectly into our crazy little family. And now you’re one.

I say this all of the time, Mary Grace, but you are just so stinkin’ sweet. Almost all of the time, your face is lit up with a big grin. You smile with your whole face, and boy oh boy is your laughter contagious. Oh but when you’re mad, you’re really really mad. You start by putting your head on the ground… and then you let us have it with your crocodile tears and hearty screams. And then, just like that, you turn it off like a switch. It cracks me up how quickly you can turn your screams into a smile.

You like to blow kisses, clap your hands, and do “soooo big”. You really like music but could care less about tv. Your new pink sippy Nalgene just about thrills you.

Food is your friend, Mary Grace, and you do not miss a meal. You love to eat everything. It’s very telling that one of the birthday gifts your Mimi gave you was a Chickfila gift card. Hands down, you prefer their chicken soup to nuggets and fries… those genes are strong, I guess. You have completely transitioned to cold whole milk in a sippy cup without staging a revolt. I’m proud of you.

As far as sleep goes, you’re a dream (ha, no pun intended). Your morning nap is hit or mess based on our activities for the morning. You’ll then go down for a good three hours in the afternoon and will sleep a solid twelve hours at night. Oh, and you’re a hard core headbanger. This might concern some, but you do it to self-soothe and get yourself to sleep…. and it works.

Baby girl, you are fast. Very, very fast. You love to sneak over to the stairs and can crawl all of the way up in no time at all. (p.s. stop doing that. it is dangerous. and scary for your mom.). You’re also strong and enjoy overpowering the other babies in the nursery to claim whole mounds of Cheerios for yourself while yanking the hair of anyone who dares to crawl in your path. “Feisty” is a word that could describe these tendencies rather accurately.

Mary Grace, you are such a beautiful and delightful little girl. I am so in love with you and am so happy that I am your mama.

Happy birthday, princess.