Thursday, September 20, 2007

One Year!

Wow! Has it been a year already? I don't know if I fully believe the calendar, but I do believe my baby is no longer the baby I see in the pictures from her original birthday! This year has had it's highs and it's lows. The high points are waking up each day to the realization I'm a Mommy, anytime Ma or Daddy comes out of her mouth, best of all is those moments when ONLY Mommy will do. The lows include not being able to breastfeed exclusively as long as I wanted and then not at all, the resulting weight issues and general crying without understanding.

Joy has learned so much this year and has so much more to learn! She learned first how to control her body, her head, her hands and her feet. Then to make them do something other than fly around about her. The real trick was then coordinating them all to learn to crawl. Next came pulling up, and then cruising. After months of crawling she decided being upright is best. Now she is determined to walk upright as much as possible. She even stood up in the middle of the hallway on Friday at Church and started up walking again. She was not going to crawl!

Her voice has also grown all year. First from the wailing cry she started at birth (and lasted for quite awhile). Then a few coos and other small sweet noises. Then she started experimenting with sounds. First came Da, then Buh, and finally Ma. We would play with these sounds for awhile, then find new ones. Now she knows Daddy, even says Daddy when he comes around a corner or home from work. She will cry Mea, which I am guessing is her version of Mommy. She also talks about Puppies allot! She will also say uh-----oh after throwing something on the floor (and sometimes after dropping it accidentally). Her vocabulary grows each day, sometimes I am unsure if what she is saying is a new word or just a mimic of what she has heard. She just this week will start what I can only guess is the ABC's like her Leap Frog does them (so far I have heard up to about E).

I don't know what else to say, but I love her! I love her will all my heart and can't imagine this past year without her. I look forward to seeing what she will do each day, and can't believe she is the same small lump of a baby from a year ago. With that I will give you pictures of her First Birthday Celebration with her Paw Paw (my dad) and Grand (My Stepmother). The Birthday Party is this Saturday and as soon as I recover (sometime mid October maybe) I will fill you in and chronicle it in pictures.


The Cake!

The Family!

You want me to do what?

I got the rose!

Are they really letting me do this?

Can't miss a thing!!

Yeah! I like this!
I love you Paw Paw!

Joy's 1!

1 comment:

G said...

Donna, Great pictures - love the cake. Happy Birthday Joy!
By the way, you are looking skinny my friend. Those shorts look great on you.
Love, G