I am very tardy in getting all of Clara's birthday posts out there. I actually thought I'd done them ... I don't know if that's because I ate, slept, and thought "birthday" for so many weeks beforehand, but I figured I'd made it through that milestone and was all finished!
This post is about her actually BirthDAY (not the party).
After Bible Study and a nap, Lulu came over to hang out with us!
Clara got her birthday girl shirt on :)
We ran a few errands, and C ate plenty of raisins.
Then it was time to meet up with Daddy and Papa for dinner at Guadalajara.
Clara loooooves Mexican food - fajita chicken, rice, beans, cheese - they pretty much make the world go round in C's eyes, so we figured it was an appropriate venue to celebrate :)
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| Being silly with Papa |
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| Mmmmm |
After a yummy dinner, we took a few photos (of course :)
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| Mama & Dada |
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| Papa & Lulu |
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| so much fun :) |
All in all I think she had a pretty good 1st birthday!
Sweet Baby Girl,
You are one year old now. ONE!! To be honest, I'm more impressed with your Daddy & I making it through the year and keeping you alive, healthy, happy, and thriving than anything :)
You are so amazing, Clara. You are intelligent. You know how to put toys away when you're finished. You know where the dirty clothes go. You know when the dogs need to be fed, when it's time to make lunch, and on and on. You're like this tiny sponge soaking everything we do in. On almost a daily basis I find myself thinking, "how did you know that!?" Well, smarty pants, you've set the bar - I KNOW you can do brilliant things and I can't wait to see where that takes you.
You are B-U-S-Y, my love. Nursery workers, friends, family, the pediatrician, me - we are all in awe of how much you move, do, find every day. You have exactly two settings: off and ON. You're either sleeping or on the go - crawling, cruising, investigating, exploring, climbing, climbing, CLIMBING. It's crazy and I think I've got a few gray hairs because of it :) I love how curious you are, even when it makes me nervous. You want to know how things work, how they are put together, how it moves. You watch me do something and then you want to try. You do get a little frustrated when you can't figure something out or your motor skills aren't quite refined enough to do something yet, but baby I promise you'll be able to do it soon, and you'll figure it out! I can't imagine how it feels to have the entire world open to you, ready to explore, but you can't make your fingers, legs, body do exactly what you want. It'll come though, I promise!
You love to eat, but have grown to be rather particular about what you will eat which is a little different from when you used to devour anything I offered you. Now you're about 50% applesauce, raisins and yogurt. You also really like grilled chicken, rice, beans, pouches of bananas, strawberries, peaches, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, carrots. For some reason, you've decided food is good in a pouch, but you don't want me to feed you an AC TUAL banana or apple anymore - what gives? I have no idea, but I'm sure in a short while you'll change your mind again. Until then, thank goodness for pouches!! You also like puffs, mum mums, granola bars, goldfish, and cheerios.
We are trying to get you to drink milk from a sippy cup. We are gradually weaning now, and you're not very happy about it, and milk in a cup just isn't as much fun as nursing. We'll get there though, I know it. You do LOVE to drink water from a cup - I had no idea how much fun it was until seeing your pure excitement every.single.time!
You are 18.7lbs, 28.5in. You can take a few steps unassisted, give sugars, wave, clap, point, and say several words: baba, dada, mama, uh-oh, hi, yeah, yay, ducka, and yumm. You also have a few made-up words like yuckaday that have a clear meaning to you, but we're not positive what it is.
We love, love, love, LOVE you baby girl. Keep growing, keep learning, keep loving!
Love,
Mama and Dada
(and Maverick and Goose too)
