Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

T turned 1 yesterday so I thought I would put up some pictures of her at each month. Last night when I was putting her to bed I could have been there all night rocking her to sleep. I was so filled with love that I think I could have done that all night long and I had an incredibly uncontrollable urge to squeeze her. Things I want to remember:

-She loves crawling up the stairs
-She will play in her crib quietly in the morning - thank you!
-She has a funny laugh that almost sounds like a smokers cough
-She loves her brother and he can always make her laugh
-She loves food
-She loves to stand up on the couch and just let go - so far no injures
-She loves her blankets though there isn't a favorite
-She loves her Dad
-She can crawl and then suddenly switch to her turbo speed
-She can grab your glasses off your face without you even knowing what happened.
-She smiles are almost everyone
-She drops her food on the ground when she is finished - Deucey loves her!
-She sleeps all night
-She is a dare devil
-She loves her bath time, especially with her big brother
-She can screech!
-Those two bottom teeth when she smiles!
-She loves carrots

Here are the pictures for each month:

Me on my due date, she didn't feel like coming out for another 10 days and even that required some intervention, and yes I swore I would never show anyone a pregnancy picture but for some reason I just don't care at this point:



The day she was born:



One month old:



Two months old:



Three months old:



Four months old:



Five months old:



Six months old:



Seven months old:



Eight months old:



Nine months old:



Ten months old:



Eleven months old:



ONE YEAR OLD! No pictures with icing all over her - she spit her cupcakes right out, maybe next year:



I love you so much my baby girl! I don't think you will ever know how much until you have your own kids - I didn't. I am so proud and happy.

Putting myself out to pasture

For the better part of the last 4 years I have been either pregnant or breastfeeding. Both of these were my choices but it was still a hard 4-years. At times it definitely felt like I had put my life on hold while literally giving my blood, seat, tears, and milk to someone else in order to help them grow and be healthy.

Tomorrow T turns 1 so my tour of duty is officially over. We aren't having any more kids and there will be whole milk in that bottle tomorrow. T stopped breastfeeding around 8 weeks so I have just been pumping so I am not going to miss the time we spent together because we weren't spending any time together - she is in love with her bottle.

I am looking forward to having a glass of wine at 9 PM without thinking, Oh that means I need to wait at least an hour which puts me at 10 PM to pump and I really should have been in bed at 9. And if I am exhausted I can put my kids to bed and walk right down the hall to go to sleep instead of having to go back downstairs to pump and clean up all of the 'equipment' that goes along with it. I definitely won't miss the small bottles, the pump pieces that I wash 4 times a day, and a breast pump sitting in my hotel room. I also don't need to carry it on an airplane - inevitably someone asks what it is - usually during security - last time as soon as the guy asked me what it was and I said breast pump he let me move right though.

Tomorrow I am hoping to have a post dedicated to my beautiful baby on her first birthday.

Giving each other comfort

When M moved schools it was a pretty good transition but he would visit T in her room for some hugs and smiles. Every time he passes her door she lights up and often times emits a high pitched scream of excitement. It goes the other way as well. If T is crying M will get her pacifier or blanket. But the cutest thing is when she is crying and he goes up and gives her a hug and says 'It's okay I'm here T.' It melts my heart every time.