12 Months {aka} One Year Old!

Happy Twelve Months, Sweet Girl! You are...

One Year Old!!!

And yet, it doesn't seem that one year has already passed. Where did all those newborn and infant days go? I look back over the last year, and I think about the things that I wondered if they would "ever end" Then, they seemed to be a little troublesome, but now, I'd give anything to have those times back. Some of these things are:

*Nursing - oh I how I dreaded pumping. Pumping, pumping, pumping...I hated busting out that milking machine, only to wash it 100 times a day {because I was so darn paranoid about germs}. I, sometimes, felt so tied down when I would nurse. It seemed to take forever. Don't get me wrong, I would soak up that special time we had, but it always seemed to drag on. I'd give anything for it to drag on, again.

* Spoon Feeding - I love that you're independent and can feed yourself. Meal times are for sure easier, but I miss choosing the baby food you'd eat and get that spoon ready to feed you. I'd even go for you knocking the spoon out of my hand and send baby food green beans flying across the kitchen.

* Bottles - believe it or not, we're completely off bottles. You're so awesome, AB. You aren't a difficult baby to break of things. You weane yourself off, perfectly. However, I'd love to make you a bottle and snuggle up on the couch while you take it.

* Swaddling - Oh, how I'd get frustrated when you would break out of your swaddle, but I'd love it when you're Daddy would swaddle you up tight and you'd fuss for about five minutes until you would pass out from exhaustion. There was nothing like unwrapping you from that swaddle and watch your sweet arms stretch as far as you could.

* Swinging - Your Daddy and I will forever long to hear the music that your little swing played. It is a reminder of your newborn days and how we'd get just a few minutes of "us" time when we'd put you in that swing and listen to the soft, sweet tunes it played.

I'm telling you, it's crazy the things you think will last forever and are gone in a blink of an eye. All of these things seemed like they'd just drag on and on. Now, it's hard to even remember some things about them. You're just such a big girl, I can't get over it. For your 1st birthday, we went to downtown McKinney for Aunt Kelly to take your one year pics. They turned out so amazing, and you were so wonderfully behaved for nearly the whole time. You got a little upset when we took your lollipop away from you, but hey, who wouldn't be?

At the end of this month, we said, "bye-bye" to bottles...and along with that came "bye-bye" to formula! I'm sad you aren't taking a bottle anymore, it's sort of a sign you are no longer a baby , but you can rest assure that Daddy and I are doing a happy dance that we aren't buying formula anymore! I teared up a couple of weeks ago, because ever since they day you were born, Daddy has always given you your last feeding. So, that entailed ending our night with you and Daddy snuggled up in his chair and he would give you a bottle. You recently cut this out altogether. You were taking a sippy cup with milk for a short time at night, but you don't even want that anymore. I was able to capture that last "feeding" with Daddy.

Enough dwelling on the sad!! How about talking about all the wonderful things this month has brought? What about your personality! You are a hoot! You demand to be the center of attention most of the time ( I have no idea where you got this from...wink, wink...), and if for some, strange reason you aren't the center of attention...that changes real quick! You've started to do things lately to purposely make Mommy and Daddy laugh, and it works!

You're vocabulary is growing by the minute. You say things that I didn't know you could say. You do a lot of repeating, and are actually turning that around on us. Daddy told you, "no, no" the other night and you looked right back at him and said, "No! No!". Haha! Then, you and I went to wake Daddy up from a nap. You walked over to him and patted him on the head and said, "Da da!" to wake him up. Well, this wasn't cutting it, so I started shaking Daddy and said, "Babe! Babe!", hoping that would do the trick. After hearing this, you looked at Daddy, then back at me, then back to Daddy and patted him again, this time saying, "Babe! Babe!" It was so funny! As far as Daddy and I are concerned, you are talking. We don't know what the heck you're saying, but you are talking! You'll be playing and babble something for minutes at a time. We think it's so funny, because you know what you're saying, we don't.

Oh Miss AB, how I sometimes wish I could hit the rewind button on the last year and re-live it again. It was so exciting and frightening at the same time! I had no idea what was ahead of me, and at times, had no idea what I was doing...but we survived! I sometimes indulge in Peanut Butter M&M's and listen to the FUN album, just to relive those first few, uncertain, weeks. Those two things will always remind me of when you were born. I read back over My First Post As a Mom and remembered how new and surreal it felt to be your mom. As I was reading it, I thought to myself, "I barely knew this baby". I didn't know nearly the things about you then, that I do now. However, my love for you was and is, the greatest love I could ever feel. I sometimes find myself mourning those first few weeks. Only because I know you'll never be that way again. Just like you'll never be one again. That's why I have to stop myself because if I dwell on all that, I'm going to miss out on the wonderful things you're doing in the here and now. This was such a fun year and I can't wait for many more.

I asked a friend the other day, who had just had her second baby, "How on earth is it possible to love another one as much as you love the first one?" Her reply, "You think there's no way, but there is." That makes me excited! I know that I love you SO much, that one day I'll possibly have double that love! That's a lot, Annabelle! Thank you for making this last year the best of Mommy and Daddy's lives. We love you so much! Looking forward to another year of fun!

Love you so much,

Mommy