David, Lisa, Kayla, Isaac & Annika

I honestly have no idea how one year has passed. Must be the sleep deprivation! :) It has been an amazing year.
I thought it would be fun to post one of my favorite pictures from each of the 12 months, just to show how much progression and change there has been.

She's grown up so much this last month. She is running now... trotting is probably a better way to describe it! She's still not always the most stable, although she has realy good balance! We don't trust her to walk by herself on concrete, but otherwise she's good to go. And she's so fast that her pace doesn't even slow us down! Her random decisions to head in a different direction however, is a different story!

She can (finally) climb down/off of objects. I am usually right there with a hand behind her when she is on a new object. But she can successfully climb backwards off the couches, off misc boxes, off our bed and off the things in the children's play area at the mall. That is really nice, because now I don't have to worry about her falling off the couch if I'm working in the kitchen! She can also get on and off her riding toy and can push herself backwards!

She has really developed mentally this past month, she's a smart little girl! She can follow simple commands (not that she always does it, it must be on her terms!). She will bring us objects that we ask for (monkey, glow-worm, doggie, ball).... she will point to a clock, fan or light when prompted. She "understands" toys. She figures out what buttons to press and what goes where. She can easily open and close her toy cabinets. We finally put more child locks on the kitchen drawers, because she kept opening them and emptying out the Ziplock bags or coming to us with 5 Tupperware in hand! Not going to hurt her, but not helping the state of chaos that is our house! She also understands "pull and push" on drawers.... and "in and out" when playing with toys.

Other things she can do:
1. Play ring-around-the-rosie, and fall down on her own (sometimes!)
2. Give high-5's
3. Give a kiss (although we have to show her a kiss several times before she offers her own wet version of one)
4. She points out every ball - in a book, on a shirt, on the ground - she loves balls!
5. She dances, often turning around in a circle when she hears music!
6. She is past (I think/hope/pray) the "stick everything in my mouth phase" and is into the "hand everything to mom phase". It's amazing how many times a day I say "thank you". However, at least she is showing me the little pieces of leaves, crumbs of food and misc other things she finds, rather than eating them. It is pretty cute too! She looks so happy and has such a feeling of accomplishment!
7. She knows the phrases: "do you want breakfast?", "lunch" and "dinner" and will run to her chair when we say these things. She knows "do you want a bath", and will run to the bottom of the stairs with squeals of joy! She knows "do you want to nurse" and will go trotting over to the couch and grab my boppy! There are tons of other phrases she understands, but these are a few of the cute ones!
8. She likes to hold multiple objects in her hands. She often now carries more than one ball in her hands and sometimes something in her mouth as well!

She used to be so squirmy during diaper changes. Thank goodness that phase ended. However, now she clenches her cheeks together, making it near impossible to wipe her clean! Another challenge is when giving a bath, she refuses to put her head back when try to rinse her hair. So, instead of easily getting shampoo out of her hair, she insists on letting the water drip in her face, and then looks pitiful and is gasping for breath when the water gets in her mouth. Seriously! However, she enjoys her baths SO very much, it is really cute!

I think one of her favorite toys is her Mickey doll that we have in her crib. Almost every night we find her snuggled up with him!

Things are so fun, we are really enjoying this stage!

1. Her eyes are still a pretty blue color.
2. Her left tear duct is still plugged. It isn't bothersome or crusty, but it is not right either.
3. She very rarely spits up.