Laura Is One Year Old!

Well, all three of us made it - the first year of Laura Lynn! Her dad would like you to take note that we purposely created this post EXACTLY to the time she was born one year ago...

Holy smokes, don't these two pictures just blow your mind?!?! One year, people! The change, the growth, the fun, the love is unimaginable until you experience it yourself. We wouldn't trade it or our sweet bagooz for anything.

We should probably say a big thanks to the people who have helped us survive parenthood, year one - Laura's aunties, uncles, cousins, and many other relatives; our friends who have already been there and done that (and lent us their stuff), her excellent daycare provider - and most of all the grandparents, who have generally been willing to drop anything and run over here to help us with Laura whenever we needed it.

Today we took Laura to the zoo for a fun birthday family outing (her parents both played hooky from work today - wouldn't you, between the kid and the fine weather?!). She probably liked watching the fish the best, but was happy cruising around the zoo, being outside, and watching zillions of other kids.

Here's the stats:

Height: 18 and 3/4"

Weight: 17 lbs., 8 oz.

Likes: Crackers (animal, graham, nilla wafers, etc.), yogurt, apples, things with cheese, Italian food, playing with remotes and cell phones, standing and looking out the window, bathtime, being outside, moving around, climbing stairs, reading books, her baby, begging for food from her dad, playing with daycare buddies

Dislikes: Being put in the car seat, laying still for clothes/diaper changes, eating meat, mom leaving in the morning

Any new tricks? Taking steps if someone is holding on to her hands, obsessively using the "milk" sign to mean "I want that" or "Give me a cracker," the stair climbing, leaning/looking up and back until she falls over (see video in previous post)

Happy Birthday, Laura! We love you so much!

Go Laura, It's Your Birthday (Party)

We celebrated Laura's first birthday on Sunday with a family party at Grandma Barb and Grandpa Glenn's house. Whoa. Birthday parties are not easy to throw or manage and I can only imagine it will get harder. I totally get why most of the birthday parties of my youth involved an outing or sleepover with a friend or two. (Laura, take note!!)

I attempted to make it a pretty low-key affair. We opened presents (below you can see Laura checking out her stuffed raptor from Uncle Mike & Auntie Kaitlin) but Laura is more into cards and envelopes right now than actual gifts. We had pizza, one of Laura's fave foods, and there were cupcakes for the birthday girl and guests. Not to mention PARTY GAMES (including a cool, spur-of-the-moment pin the tail on the donkey - thanks Ian!).











My favorite part of the party was when we were singing "Happy Birthday" to her. Her face was so excited, either because of the lit candle or the joy of everyone singing to and looking at her, but it was a good moment that I'll remember. As of now, she took after her dad more than her mom and had no interest in the cupcake, save for licking a little frosting off her fingers. She was pretty happy about her birthday hat and actually ate more of the hat than her cupcake (oops)!














In the end, it's all about the fun, not the work that goes into it, and we had a fun time. Thanks to her grandparents for hosting and to all the guests for coming and bringing such nice gifts! Laura is going to be a well-dressed and well-read baby this spring, that's for sure.

Leave it to Beaver!?!

Ok, we get it! You have teeth!

Laura's top front two teeth are sure making their presence known. Anyone who has been around the past month has noticed them in her beautiful smiles, feels them in her bites, and now hears them...biting on the crib. Laura has turned part beaver, gnawing on wood.

Check out the damage:

One Year Photos

A week and a half before Laura turned 1, we went to a professional photographer's home studio to capture still photos of our babe.








The session started off great. Laura was extra screamy and excited. Her cooperation slowly transformed into slight distress and distraction. I guess snacks, toy trucks and crawling around were more exciting.



Nevertheless, I was very impressed with her willingness to sit and let our photographer do her job.

We received just a few photos from the session. The entire photoshoot will be given to us shortly. Stay tuned.

Climbing

Feats are coming all too fast as Laura pulls off another shocker. Tonight, Mom went upstairs to fill the bathtub with water. Laura immediately froze, stuck out her arms and opened her eyes really wide when she heard Mom say, "Laura, it is bath time!"

Without hesitation, she crawled as fast as I have had ever seen. As she approached the stairs I thought she'd stopped. Mind you, I have never seen her nor expected her to climb. When I got close, she had crawled up two steps and wasn't stopping. In amazement, I followed behind her to prevent from falling backward but that wasn't needed as she crawled up all 14 steps by herself. Time for gates!

Update:
We couldn't replicate the stair climbing episode in the video below. Laura climbs a few stairs but gets distracted and quits. Also in the clip is her dancing, playing catch and a backwards diving game gone awry.