12 Months = A Year Old

We cannot believe this month is finally here!!! When you were born, we thought a year seemed so far away. We thought we had plenty of time to soak up all the moments with you. Your daddy and I honestly thought you would stay so little for a long time. Boy were we wrong! Time has flown by and here it is. You are not so little anymore. We can hold you on our hips now. Your legs fall off our lap when we try and rock you. You prefer to get down and walk whenever you can. You continue to grow more and more independent. You don't like us to feed you. You enjoy using your fingers to feed yourself. You now make laps around the living room clapping your hands and laughing. It truly is the best. You have worked yourself up to quite a fast pace of walking now. You LOVE for daddy to chase you around and tickle you. You love to play peek a boo. You aren't quite sure how to do it with your own hands, but you can do it with a curtain or blanket. It is extremely fun to watch you do it when you are in the bath tub. 

Baby Brynn you are down to two bottles a day. This makes me sad. You barely even finish them. I think you would actually just prefer to eat food all the time. You can hold the bottle yourself too. So you really don't even need us for that. 

In the mornings, you will get in our bed and snuggle while you watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It really is the best because you are so sweet and love on me. My heart can't even take it! When daddy is home too- that is just icing on the cake because you snuggle with us both! 

Baby girl you don't like to be left alone for a second. You have to be wherever we are in the house. After a long hard day of work, you will reach those arms out for daddy and that makes him so happy. You give him a grin that you don't give anyone else. It is really evident that you know who people are and who you are comfortable with. You warm up to others pretty quickly. 

Your first birthday party is in a couple days and we are so excited! Family and friends will be here to celebrate with us. You have no idea how much you are loved and how precious you are to this family. 

The theme of the party is "Welcome to the Zoo" because you LOVE animals! Some of your favorite animals are penquins, dogs, cats, monkeys, and giraffes. Did I mention dogs because you really love dogs. I have a video of you playin with Aunt Kari and Uncle Brandon's dogs Marcy and Maddox and you are in heaven! You do love our cat Nala and we will catch yall playing together or staring out the window together, but you don't have the same excitement as you do for dogs. One day we will get you a puppy. 

Are you ready for the most exciting news....??? For your first birthday party we are revealing that you will be a....BIG SISTER come August 30th this year!!!!!!! We don't know if you are having a baby sister or baby brother yet, but we are sooooooo excited!!! 

From your Mommy:

As I think back on the past year, I feel complete joy. I've never experienced so much joy in my life. I have always known that I was meant to be a mother. There are no words to describe how much joy you have brought to both of our lives or what this year has meant to us. I hope that I have done well as a mother this year. Every time we complete another milestone, we are learning what to do for the next milestone. While this year has been such a joy, it has been hard as well. We have experienced much loss and heartache. In those moments, I want you to know that you still brought joy and happiness. You were the glue that held us together when we felt like falling apart. I think back to the moments when I have been really sick in the past year and all I had to do was look at you and you gave me strength to keep going. Learning to balance marriage, work, and being parents brought many challenges. We feel we are starting to get the hang of it though:) There are many people who look to see how much money they can make, the next ladder they can climb in their career, or the next thing they can accomplish and I don't fall into those categories. I just look at you. You are my greatest accomplishment. You are my heart. You fill me up unlike anything else in the world. Of course I have dreams, but my biggest dream is how I can pour into you to make your life better. To teach you about The Lord, life, hardships, love, caring for others, and that you can be anything you set your mind too.  I want you to know that you can always come to me no matter what. I want you to know that you will never have to worry about being judged by me. My love for you is unconditional and always will be. When you are happy, I am happy. When you are sad, I am sad. I will hold you up when you feel like you can't take anymore. I will be in your corner when you feel like you have no one else on your side. I will do my best to make you smile and laugh always. Even when you are twenty, I will hold you when you need me too. Please know that I will never abandon you. More than that, please know that God will never ever leave or forsake you. We are blessed to have you because of Him. I hope you look to your daddy and I and see a God centered marriage filled with unconditional love, laughter, hope, and stability. I hope you know that you will always have our home to be your safe haven. You are beautiful just the way you are. Real beauty lies within. Never forget that. P.S. Your daddy has called you beautiful from the day you entered this world. You will always be his beautiful baby. As we enter in to the next chapter, I will continue to do all I can to be the best mother to you. So many exciting things lie ahead and I can't wait! 

You are my sunshine

My only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are grey

You'll never know dear

How much I love you

Please don't take my sunshine away

I love you with all my heart 

Mommy

11 Months

11 Months. Sigh....This means you are almost a year old. Every single month you amaze your daddy and I. You are continuing to learn so much! 

January 13th you took your first steps!!!!! You started walking!!!! Can you tell we are excited??:) I shed a few tears, but I am so proud of you! You fell down, but got right back up and tried again! 

You have started clapping now to music, when you get excited, or just for no reason at all! It is the cutest thing in the world. Did I mention music yet? You LOVE music so much! You love all kinds of music as long as it has a great beat that you can bounce too! You can bounce up and down, clap your hands, and shake your head side to side. Baby girl, there is nothing like it when we all dance together in the living room. Those are absolutely some of my most favorite nights in the world. We also got to experience your first snow day! Well, it was a lot more ice than snow, but it was still a lot of fun. We dressed you up very warm and took you outside. Your eyes were full of wonder as you walked around in the snow. Daddy brought your Minnie Mouse Ride outside and you had a blast with that! We couldn't stay out in the snow very long because it was so cold! 

Mommy got really sick this month with a horrible stomach bug! It put me out for a few days and thankfully Nana came to help us. You stayed healthy and strong. The following week daddy got sick with the horrible stomach virus. I kept you away for a few days and you remained healthy. The worst part, is that I got it AGAIN a couple days later! Through all of this, you remained healthy and happy! 

Usually, you put yourself to sleep with minimal fussing. You fall asleep like a champ! You sleep all through the night until about 830 in the morning now. You are down to one nap a day from about 12-2:30. Sometimes you nap up to three and a half hours when you have played really hard that morning. On occassion, you will let me rock you to sleep like I used to do. It brings me so much joy to hold you and kiss your forehead. You are so big now in my arms. Your legs hang off of me and it makes me so sad to see you growing so fast. Time is flying by and I wish it would slow down. Your daddy and I soak up every moment possible with you. 

You enjoy pulling everything out of the cabinets, dumping out all of your toys, and following me around when I vacuum and sweep. You enjoy us reading to you every night. If we are sitting up on the couch then you want to be up there with us. If we are eating, then you want to be eating our food. We don't mind one bit because it's exciting watching you try so many new foods. 

When you turned 11 months old, we celebrated by going to get you your first Chick Fil A kids meal! Words can't describe how much you loved it. You ate all four chicken nuggets cut up and a few french fries. You also drank your milk out of a straw. Can you say BIG GIRL? Seriously, slow down. :) You have four top teeth and two bottom teeth. Some of your favorite foods are: peas, squash, sweet potatoe, grilled cheese sandwiches, yogurt, broccoli, lima beans, and ham. 

Soon you will be a year old and we cannot wait to see what the next month will bring! We love you to the moon and back baby girl!