A Year At A Glance

Baby Girl,

You are approaching 13 months old and I want to show you how you touched our lives and invaded our hearts this last year.

After a hard pregnancy marked with morning sickness, all day nausea, preeclampsia, and bed rest, you made your entry into the world nearly a month early.  One look at your precious face and all I could think was "I wish I had know it was her" inside of me this whole time.  Daddy and I were on cloud nine, eating up every second with our new baby girl.

{brand new - one day old}

After six days in the hospital we brought you home.  I didn't sleep for a month until I put you on a fabulous schedule.  You conformed to it beautifully and became an excellent napper and sleeper - sleeping through the night at nine weeks old. 

{month 1}

By three months old you made huge progress after being diagnosed with acid reflux and milk allergies.  I worried and cried nearly every time you ate because you were so uncomfortable.  But after putting you on reflux medicine and expensive the right formula, you became a delightful baby. 

{3 months old}

At four months old you became so expressive and recognized Mommy and Daddy.  Our days were filled with joy all because of you.

{4 months old}

Lucy Mills, my dream was always to be a wife and mother. 

I am living my dream. 

{5 months old}

At six months old you were as beautiful as a baby doll.  Everywhere we would go people commented on your bright eyes.  I never would have guessed that I would have a blue-eyed baby, but then again you are more than I ever imagined to begin with.

{6 months old}

While people now say that you are looking more like me, in the beginning you looked just like Daddy.  But pretty. 

{7 months old}

You were not one of those laid back babies that would sit in mommy's arms all day.  Don't let this picture fool you...since you were in my tummy you have been active.  You love to learn and discover things on your own.  I believe this will serve you well in life. 

{8 months old}

We spent quite a lot of time at the beach during your first year.  You hated the sand but loved to swim.  I look forward to many years ahead watching you play along these shores. 

{9 months old}

Before you were born everyone asked me how Maggie was going to fare once you arrived.  She was used to being my one and only, but both of you adjusted so well to one another.  You love her and she loves you. 

{10 months old}

By eleven months old you had four {and a half} teeth, kept your blue eyes, were crazy about your daddy, carried Lindsay everywhere, and loved to eat bananas. 

{11 months old}

At one year you still reign as the queen of our hearts.  

{12 months old}

While I can't wait to see how you grow and thrive this year,  just remember that you will always be my sweet baby girl.

Life As a One Year Old

So what does life look like for this happy one year old?

I know it sounds crazy but I see more "big girl" qualities in Lucy Mills than baby. For example she wants to talk soooo bad. She is constantly babbling and trying to say new words. Da-da is probably the easiest word for her (and by far her favorite!) but she says "Na-nah" for Maggie, night night, buckle, bagel, "Nee-Nee" for Lindsay, cheese, and uh-oh. Quite an impressive vocabulary for a 12 month old.
Speaking of 12 months, here is her monthly picture with the ever-shrinking bear.
As you can tell she is thrilled about posing for this.

We are not walking on our own yet but getting there. Mommy is praying that her first steps are in the near future because carrying a baby on my hip as well as in my belly is beginning to get a little heavy!

But who needs a walker when this little bit can mop my hardwoods with her {clean} diapers?!

Along with being a big girl now, Lucy Mills enjoys having her boyfriend William over to play.  Although she has to let him know who is boss of her toys...I guess she is practicing for when baby brother arrives. 

Miss Priss is a girl in every sense of the word.  If this wasn't apparent at the beach this summer when she cried getting her hands "dirty" in the sand, it is obvious now as she loves to dress up in Mommy's shoes and other accessories Grandmother sent her. 

Another favorite activity is bath time.  Who can resist this squeaky clean bunny? 

We are pretty good at sticking to a routine around here.  Everyday I can count on Lucy Mills to have some quality playtime in her room which includes pulling all of her dolls off the shelves. {As well as all of her clothes out of the bottom two drawers, but that's neither here nor there}.  I am happy she likes them - they were mine and Susan's when we were little girls. 

I LOVE that she loves books.  This month we started participating in weekly story time at our local library.  I figured you can never start early enough getting children interested in books and reading.  Lucy Mills loves the stories, songs, puppets, and other activities that are involved at story time.  It has paid off because she now will open a book and spend time looking through it while babbling on and on about it.  

And I never grow tired of this preciousness...

I guess life as a one year old is pretty sweet for this little angel.

Lions, Tigers, and Bears...Oh My!

Over Labor Day weekend the weather FINALLY turned from sweltering to decent, so Travis and I enjoyed an outing with Lucy Mills at the zoo. We are fortunate to have a nice zoo locally and I hope we can take advantage of it while she is growing up.

Sweet girl enjoyed viewing the animals atop of Daddy's shoulders most of the afternoon. Here we are strolling through the kangaroo walkabout. (Notice how cute their shadow is!)

While I wasn't too sure how she would like the gorilla exhibit since they come right up to the plate glass, Miss Fearless knocked on the window trying to get the big guys attention.

Check out that face!

"Hey big guy...look down here!"

Face to face, and yet she wasn't scared. Not one bit.

Daddy pointing out the elephants.

And a picture with me to prove I was there.

Looking for the monkeys...can you spot the tail hanging down from the bush?

She probably enjoyed the farm animals the most. She was especially fond of the billy goat until she noticed all of his teeth protruding from his massive under bite. I wish I had a picture to show you but once Travis and I saw it we died laughing and Mr. Billy Goat must have had his feelings hurt and moved away from the Masons.

On our way out we saw the lions hanging out in the shade. We saw so many animals and I took a bazillion pictures that day but these are the highlights from our outing. Well, that and the cherry Iceys we slurped down to keep us cool. Lucy Mills was a trooper all afternoon. As she is getting older she is enjoying these types of activities more and more. We look forward to more field trips this fall!

The Birthday Girl

It's my birthday!!!

The much anticipated birthday weekend finally arrived, despite sweet girl having teething pains and a cold all week. I woke up at 4am Friday morning, which is not unusual for me in this pregnancy. Lucy Mills was born at 3:10am and I thought to myself "Happy Birthday...we had just met you for the first time a year ago around this hour." I got up from my cozy comforter and walked down the hall into her pale pink nursery to just rock in her chair for a while. It seems like so long ago that I used to drag my aching, sleepy self out of bed to go tend to a crying newborn in the middle of the night. And now I just sit in silence in her room remembering the moments that made up her first year.

Being a mom is the most wonderful gift I could ever ask for.

I few short hours later I heard that sweet voice on the monitor, ready to rise and shine and start her birthday.

Lucy Mills received lots of thoughtful cards in the mail Friday and she helped Mommy open them and read them.

She especially liked the one from Aunt Shirley because it played a fun tune. When the music started she would throw her arms up and dance to the rhythm.

Suggie came over to give her namesake a present and card...

"Suggie, you expect me to read this?"

"Oh, you mean I get birthday cards AND presents!!!"

Mommy thinks I am tutu cute!

Sitting pretty. Patiently waiting for her party day.

"I am finally getting brave on my push toy and Mommy thought that it would be a fun surprise to Grandmother and Granddad if I could walk at my party..."

"But I decided that I like crawling just fine. I mean why rush these things when I have parents and grandparents who want to carry me anyways?"

It's party time!

Lucy Mills' very first birthday cake.

Her decorated high chair...

And of course everyone was anticipating what color the inside of the birthday cake would be...

"The secrets out...I am going to have a baby brother!"

I gave LM a lick of icing to start with and once she realized it was sweet she immediatley put her hands in it.

Hmmm...not bad.

In fact, she decided that her cake was so yummy Daddy needed to try it...

And then it was time to open presents!

"Can I open this one next Mom?"

"Score! My very own PINK cell phone!"

All in all, I would say that this little angel had a very happy birthday.