To my one year old

Leah Joy-

You are one year old, and I am in awe. In some ways, I fee like I have know you my whole life, and in others, I can't believe you have been part of our family for a year already. There have been many adjustments and leaning moments for your Daddy and me this year, along with tears of joy and frustration, and moments of utter exhaustion and unadulterated glee. All in all, though, you have slid into our lives with so much ease and with a sense of contentment for us. It is as if you were meant to be our daughter. I take that back. You really are.
You, Leah,  are more than I have ever wished or hoped for, and, let me tell you,  I had some high standards after longing to be a Mom. The darling personality you are blessed enough to possess is the light of my life. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is better than that dimply, toothy grin, especially when it is accompanied by you reaching up saying "MaMaMa" and crawling into my waiting arms.
You have a way of making the world a better place,and you have only been here for a year. I am so looking forward to seeing how you grow and change into the person you are destined to become, and how you continue to do good things with your life. My hope is that your Daddy and I can help you grow into a good, loving person, and that you will someday find the kind of pure happiness you bring to us.
There has been so much change in you the past year. The teeny, pink, curled up infant of February 2011 has blossomed into a wiggly, loud, smiley, active, smart, and sweet little toddler with a ton of personality. You are so much fun we can barely stand it!!!

At 12 months, you:

- Just had a great doctor's appointment. At 12 months, you are reaching most 15 month milestones already (yay), but are a little behind on walking. You weigh a dinky 18.6 pounds (9th %), and are 29 inches tall (44th%). What a peanut. You are happy and healthy, and that is all we really care about!

- Had two fabulous birthday parties! They were such celebrations of you and how great you are. you are loved by many. My biggest hope for you is that you always feel that.

- Do not have a mellow bone in your body. If you snuggle for three seconds, it is a miracle! You are a busy busy busy little girl with a zest for life and a curiosity like I have never seen. You want to touch and feel everything you see!

- Are such a flirt. You love to look at people, wave hello, and give big cheesy grins to anyone who looks your way. The stranger danger phase is starting to get better, and you love people now!

- Are boycotting bottles for the most part. You still like to nurse, but you bat away bottles. You are taking a lot of whole milk now, so I hope you get to drinking!! You love drinking from a sippy, and say "cup" when you want a drink.

- Crawl at breakneck speed, and pretty much run with your walker now, but are nowhere near walking alone. You just don't have the confidence yet. You cruise on the furniture, and love to pull up on anything at all, but you need the reassurance of holding on to walk. You'll get there!

- Don't eat quite as much, although you are still just as adventurous. You now know what you want on your tray, and will hunt through whatever to get to it. You are still such a great eater, but I am sure there will be a time in the not too far future when getting spinach, kale, and beets in there will be a struggle. For now, I am in babyfood heaven.

- You say "walk", "duck", "cup" all the time, and you do a lot of sounds, like "EYOW" when you see the cat, and "uh-oh" when something falls. TOO CUTE.

- Your hair is getting so crazy curly and longer by the day. You have a mass of ringlets in the back. I love to rub them.  :)

- Like other babies now. You point and try to touch them, and make all kinds of sounds. We try to make sure you don't maul them in the process.

- Love to mimic us. You hold the phone up to your ear when we say "hello", and do many, many animal sounds, along with other things you repeat when you see or hear.

- Adore climbing the stairs... over and over and over again, until we can barely see straight from following you. You giggle just about the whole way up.

- Love your bath some nights,and hate it others. It is like you just have off days from time to time and don't want to deal.

- Adore stuffed animals. You still love to squeeze and hug them, and often drag one around with you when you crawl.

-Need a ton of sleep (To any sleep deprived parents reading this- I am not complaining, rather, feeling a little jippedon time with Leah- don't kill me).You do not do well past 7 PM. I'm sure some of that has to do with the fact that we have to get you up at 5:30 AM, but still.... most nights, I wish I could get you to stay up longer so we had more time together. It is really a struggle to only get to have a couple hours a day with my girl when I have to work.

- Love your Daddy. Your face lights up when you see him, and you love to say "Da" when you want him. The feelingis utterly and completely mutual. He is head over heels for you, and is, in my opinion, the most hands on dad I have ever seen.You two are so darn cute together it hurts sometimes.

- Have a few hilarious idiosyncrasies. You always pull your socks off in the car and "talk" to them, you still make the hilarious, albeit hideous sounding hyena noise, and you love to rub food into your pretty red locks.

- Enjoy "sharing". you take a toy of some random sock on the floor, hand it to one of us, we say thanks, and you clap for yourself. :)

- Love to look at and play with animals. You "talk" to dogs by barking to them when you see them. I am curious to see if you are an animal lover as you grow!

Even my worst days since being your mom have been some of the best of my life. Thank you, my sweet one year old, for making my dreams come true, giving me a reason to be better and a happiness like I never thought possible, and for the honor of loving me back. You are a true gift, and I look forward to many, many years spent playing, giggling, and cuddling with you, the other love of my life.

You are my love, my laughter, my joy ever after.