Weezy's First Birthday

To be perfectly honest, I've been dreading this day--my baby turning one. She's the baby of the family and I just love the first year---I love nothing more than snuggling a baby. However, when I woke up this morning, I didn't feel sad at all--I am so excited for Louisa--for who she is now and who she will become in the next year. So many fun changes and experiences in the next year. And I also feel a total sense of accomplishment--I've done it--I've survived Louisa's first year, survived a tough recovery after a c-section, survived all of the sleepless nights and exhausting days, survived Laney's first year of preschool (with all of the colds that came with it!!) and survived raising three very young children (for at least one year!).

Dave and I were watching a nature show about monkeys--apparently baby monkeys maintain skin-to-skin contact with their mothers for the first 6-months of life---Louisa managed skin-to-skin contact for the first 12 months! She loves to be held (by me), so it's a good thing that her mama loves to hold her. She's happiest in my arms.

She didn't start to crawl until 11 1/2 months---which is so late that I totally worked myself into a panic. But it's just who she is---she's happy, mellow, content and communicates so well that her siblings (and mommy) pretty much get anything for her that she wants. For months, if she couldn't reach something that she wanted to play with, she yelled and gestured for the big kids to get it for her or happily started playing with something else. She has her own timetable.

She said her first clear word before she was 11 months and can now say 5 words. She speaks clearly and imitates everything that we do.

She's my shy, sweet girl. She's mild and even tempered. Buries her face in my chest when strangers are around and is as sweet as anything until someone tries to approach her, and then she SCREAMS!

She loves her siblings. Watches everything that they do and tries to keep up with them. She laughs with them and loves to play. She really has her eye on Elliot--he's going to be in trouble!

After a slow start, she's become a good eater and weighs 18 lbs. She only weighed 13 lbs at 9 months, so she is gaining and growing fast! She eats pretty much everything and anything, and we feed her exactly whatever we're eating--she's been done with baby food for awhile.

She's not the best sleeper but that's party my fault-I'm just not persistent enough with her at night. Given the choice, I'll put her in bed with us at 3 AM to nurse instead of listen to her cry. It's so quiet and still at night and I love the alone time with her. And she is not a good napper at all--she can happily get through the day with a 45 minute nap (this is scary to me---I live for nap time!).

Louisa has the most beautiful big dark eyes with long lashes. We love her little dimple and crooked smile. She has a great belly laugh. Happy Birthday Baby Weezy!