1st Birthday Princess

I can't believe that Kayley is already 1 year old! (She turned 1 on September 3rd.) She is so much fun and I love playing with her and getting to know her sweet little personality. She is so full of energy and excitement for everything in life and she's turning into a little girl before my very eyes. I know that as soon as we have our little baby girl in December, Kayley is going to seem so grown up. I love being her mother and have learned so much from her. She always brings a smile to my face and makes me feel better when I'm sad.

Here are some things about Kayley at 1 year:

*She is starting to talk a lot. She says dada, mama, duck, quack, cock (for cock-a-doodle-do), all done (a dun), hi, bunny (dunny), uh-oh, go, up, ball, dog, cat, cow, ball, hat, shoes (more of a "shs" sound, but we know what she's talking about), keys, clap and lots and lots of baby gibberish.
*Her "dunny" is her favorite thing in the world. It's a little stuffed animal I got her for Easter that she sleeps with. She would crawl around holding and kissing it all day long if we would let her. She gets so excited any time that she sees it or hears us say bunny or sees a picture of a bunny for that matter.
*She nods her head yes and shakes her head no.
*One of her favorite things to do is to go up and down the stairs. She will find them no matter where we are, especially at home and at both grandparents' houses. I used to follow closely behind her because I was scared that she was going to fall, but she is getting pretty proficient at it that if I am doing something at the moment and can't be right behind her, I don't worry about her falling.
*She pulls herself up on everything and has just started in the past couple of weeks to walk along things. She will walk holding onto a walker if we are helping her and sometimes will walk with us holding her hands, but she's still not super interested in walking. She is very content crawling and has turned into a speedy little crawler.
*She loves baths but just recently has decided that she's not a huge fan of getting her hair washed.
*She waves at everyone and everything, but only when she wants to and, as with everything else, won't do it on cue very often until the people are walking or driving away.
*She has just recently started clapping and loves the song, "When You're Happy and You Know It." That's one of the first ones I start singing when she is grumpy in the car and she stops being fussy almost immediately and starts clapping along.
*She gets so excited any time that she sees a little kid. She is so entertained by them and loves watching them play and run around.
*She used to give us kisses every time that we would ask her to, but I think that we kind of took advantage of the privilege and so now she only does it when she wants to. My favorite thing ever is when she turns to kiss us when we don't ask her to. It's so cute!
*She is hopefully starting to get out of this stage and things are getting a lot better, but for a while now it is so hard to change her diaper or her clothes because she is so squirmy and busy and won't sit still for anything.
*She is completely weaned now and does great with drinking whole milk. She is also a great eater and will eat almost anything that I give her. She hasn't eaten baby food for a while now. She is a huge fan of grapes, string cheese, bananas, oatmeal, corn, peas, carrots, whole wheat bread, watermelon..you get the point, basically everything! She loves to eat. She's definitely her mother's child! :)
*She loves books! Sometimes she will sit and let me read to her for 20-30 minutes at a time and other times she won't sit longer than half a book and she is squirming out of my lap on to her next project of destruction. (Nate calls her "Destructo" because she gets into everything and often finds a way to destroy everything.)
*She still only has 2 bottom teeth even though she has teethed soo many times now but those top teeth still haven't made their way out. She loves her toothbrush though and will sit and brush her two little teeth/suck and bite on her toothbrush forever. It has become one of her favorite toys.
*She loves her daddy and gets so excited any time she sees him or hears his voice. One of her favorite times of day is when daddy comes home for lunch.

Here are some pictures from her special day:

Her cake was a hit! She loved it and got it everywhere!

She enjoyed it so much that she wanted to share it with all of us! :)

Opening Presents

Elmo was probably her favorite gift of all.

The aftermath of opening presents.

We had her 1 year appointment on the 15th. This is how much she's grown.

Weight:18 lbs. 6 oz.(15%)

Length: 29 in. (50%)

Head: 45 cm. (50%)