1 YEAR OLD

I've been trying to take some 1 year old pictures on my own and this is one of the best so far. I still might take her somewhere to get professional pics taken, but I thought it was worth a try:)

Lily loves to hug...everything. Of course Mom and Dad top the list, but she also hugs her stuffed animals, blankets, and toys. Adorable!

Lily being silly with her bear.

This was my second attempt photo session and although the lighting was a little better, she was not in the mood!

Hi everyone! I'm ONE!

More hugging of the bear:)

Wow, we have a toddler now. I can't believe Lily is one! I started thinking about one year ago last night as I fell asleep (when last year I was in intense labor and ready for my epidural!). We were so excited to meet Lily! When she came into our world at 6:19 am, it was changed forever. We are so lucky to have been blessed with this amazing little girl.

This year has been a whirlwind. When I look back at her newborn pictures and think about what she was like when she was that little...and how she is now...she really packed a lot into her first year of life. Now, she's crawling, sort of walking, talking ("Mom", "Dad", "Hi"), waving, clapping, dancing, kissing, hugging...and has a whopping 13 teeth! I remember staring at her as a little tiny baby, just craving some sort of real interaction with her. Now I get them all day long! I especially like her waving "Hi". It started as just a wave, then progressed to her opening her mouth wide and mouthing "Hi" as she waved. Now, she sort of whispers "Hi" as she waves. We have to work on getting some more volume behind it:) Lily's walking has occurred very different from what we expected. We thought she would very tenuously stand on her own and drop to the floor when she realized she was unassisted. We thought her first steps would be full of caution and fear. She's totally surprised us. Lily has NO FEAR. She loves to stand on her own (although she tends to stand longer when distracted) and she loves to take off RUNNING before we can even set her down standing. Really, I think that's a better way to describe it...running. Maybe she gets that from her dad:) I guess I'd better strap on my running shoes because I think our lives are about to get a bit crazy!