Our Toddler

Our baby girl isn't so much a baby anymore.  She caught me by surprise well before her first birthday, with her emerging personality, definite opinions, independence, and charm.  Maude has been a year old for two weeks now and I swear she's changed so much in this short time.  This girl is fun.  F.U.N.  I laugh my darn head off every single night from the moment I walk in the door until moments before I put her in her crib for bed. I'm sure I make Mike crazy with my repeated exclamation of "how did we get so lucky to end up with this little person?"  She's hysterical - loves to make us laugh.  She'll do anything for a laugh.  Um, as though we didn't already know she was just like her daddy, this part of her personality has sealed the deal. 

We went to Maude's one year doctor's appointment today.  The not so fun part was a few shots and a finger prick to take blood.  The lab tech taking her blood commented on how crazy strong Maude is.  She was having a heck of a time keeping her hand and getting the blood. I had to hold Maude's elbow which added insult to injury for our little fighter.  She looked at me with her beautiful brown eyes and then looked up to the ceiling and wailed.  If she could talk in full sentences, she would have been crying "Why?  Why?  Why did you bring me here and not only let these women stab me and torture me, but you're helping them?  Can someone please come to my aid?  PLEASE???"  It was awful.  I hated as much or more than she did.  

The fun part is getting her new stats and chatting with the doctor as he asks lots of questions regarding Maude's development.  The stats:  Maude weighs 20 lbs (30th percentile), is 29 1/4 inches tall (55th percentile) and her noggin is 18 inches (75th percentile).  He also declared her a genius.  Ok, maybe not, but I know he was thinking it.  =)

One of my favorite things about having Mike and Maude together all day is the pictures and videos he sends me throughout the week.  Let me just say that an iPhone is an amazing invention.  Mike gets what I think are some pretty dang adorable videos.  I've attached a few recent ones here.  The first is of Maude climbing our stairs and eating an apple at the same time.  It makes me laugh.  Hope it does you too.  The second if of she and Mike singing and was from a few weeks ago - I posted it to facebook so those of you reading this that are on there you may have already seen it. 

And now some photos. 

We got Maude a wagon for her birthday.  This picture was taken on her actual birthday which was her first spin in her new ride.  I can't express enough how much she love this wagon.  She squeals, laughs, and babbles the entire time we're on a walk. Her face here says "Have you seen my new wheels?  They rock!  And how good do I look in this thing?  Pretty awesome, right?"

12 Months!  I discovered the day before her birthday that I can get little pigtails in her hair.  This new hairdo alone makes Maude look like a little girl and no longer a baby. 

Big girl.  So happy.

Reflective.

Almost 1!

Maude turns 1 tomorrow.  A year ago tonight, I thought maybe I was starting to feel some contractions, but I wasn't quite sure.  I didn't even tell Mike until much later in the night.  We hadn't yet met this little lady we love so much and know so well after this year we've all spent together. 

There are hundreds of stories from this past year and thousands of memories.  I know Mike and I each have our own highlights - a few that stick out for me:
- My surprise at how much hair Maude was born with - and how dark it was!
- What a calm and easy going baby she is
- How sweet and infectious her smile and laugh are
- She rolled over for the first time on Father's Day - a better gift for Mike than one I could have ever thought of
- Her very effective army crawl
- Her love for Stella.  She loves her puppy even though the feeling isn't always mutual.
- How when she's not calm, happy, and easy going, she can be incredibly stubborn and let us really know how ticked off she is!  (For the record, she gets her stubborness from both her mom and dad.)
- After months of signing to her, watching her pick up on what we were doing and start to communicate with us via sign language
- Her version of "what does a dog say?" is panting.  Mike and I have woofed our heads off, yet Maude knows that she mostly hears Stella panting so that's obviously what a dog says!
- How much we love her


It's been a great month leading up to the big birthday.  Maude is really digging food.  We've been off baby food for a few months but have now fully moved into letting her eat whatever we eat.  Some recent favorites are salmon, spaghetti and chicken tikka masala.  She now sits in a booster sit which sits lower than the high chair and therefore gives her more access to Stella.  This means she's now able to feed her best friend lots and lots of food.  Needless to say, we've had to reduce how much dog food we give Stella.

Maude can now sign 5 words.  She went bonkers this month and started signing"pear" "more" and "thank you."  Lest you think our daughter is not only crazy smart but ultra polite, she doesn't actually sign thank you in response to us giving her something, but she does it when we say thank you.

We went out with some friends last Friday night and Maude got to hang out with her buddy Matthew while his big sister babysat them.  A few days later we went back to Matthew's house for a brunch. She really loves her some Matthew.  There was a moment during the brunch where Matthew got on his knees and was crawling towards Maude and she was crawling backwards - there were facing each other and then they gave each other a little smooch.  Holy moly - cutest moment ever!

Maude and Matthew.  Matthew told his mom that he let Maude "push the buttons" on Buzz.  They were clearly having quite the fun time together!

Mike and Maude spent this past Wednesday afternoon at the Minnesota Children's Museum.  I was at work and received lots of pictures and a video of the fun they were having.  They were supposed to meet up with a group of babies from Maude's ECFE class, but Miss Maude decided to have a 3+ hour morning nap and they got there after everyone had left. I think they still had a pretty great time.  In fact, it sounded like the museum was nearly empty which meant they had almost free reign to explore as much as they wanted.

Exploring!

Practice walking.

Taking in the view of St. Paul.

A year ago tomorrow, my baby girl (I still get to say "baby" because tomorrow, according to the aforementioned emails, she becomes a toddler) and I accomplished a lot together.   After lots (and lots) of work, we met and started a pretty great relationship.  We had Maude's birthday party yesterday.  I started thinking about this darn party months ago.  I may have blown all my birthday energy and ideas on this very first birthday and every birthday after this will pale in comparison, but oh boy did I enjoy the process of party planning and execution.  I realize that every year is a big year, but there's something about this first year that feels like such an accomplishment.  I got an email today from one of the many weekly baby emails that show up in my inbox.  It gave some stats from the first year including the fact that we've changed approximately 3,000 diapers and lost 350 hours (is that all??) of sleep.  I'll add to that an unimaginable (and very enjoyable and well worth it) hours in the rocker nursing my baby girl, gallons of happy tears, sad tears, and worried tears, and hundreds and hundreds of conversations about our hopes and dreams for this little person we're privileged to raise.

To wrap up, below are the birthday party pictures.  I'll be back soonish to post the official 12 month photos. 

Our house decorated for the party.  We had poster sized pictures of Maude hanging on the walls.  I made her monthly photos into a photo reel and made her a fun "Happy Birthday Maude" sign.

Birthday Cake!

Maude's buddy Joseph from ECFE.

Opening present.  I made the dress Maude is wearing.  It may be the only item of clothing I ever make her, but I loved that she got to wear it for her first birthday party!

Who loves her birthday?

One of her cards had cupcakes on the front which she tried eating!

Birthday cake with candle.  Note the quiet observation.

Now note the left hand moving towards the candle.

In between last photo and this one was Maude touching the flame, me swiftly swatting her hand away, blowing out the candle, and swiping it from the cake.  Cue the scared and ticked off tears.

We sang another round of "Happy Birthday To You" sans candle and all was well with the birthday girl.

Frosting!

Messy.

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl.