Letters to London: your first year

My darling baby,

I guess I shouldn't call you that anymore, because you're as "toddler" as they come, but you are and always will be my baby. Today was your first birthday. Your dad & I spent the whole day with you and I hope that's something we can do for years to come. You explored Marbles kids museum for the first time, hugging a stuffed bear, making friends and splashing in the water table. You also ate ice cream and drank chocolate milk with dinner, and loved them both. You were signing "more!" emphatically after each bite and it made me so proud! 

You are a little sponge these days, learning and copying words like "ow!" and "hot" and "up". You entertain everyone, everywhere we go, from the post office to the pediatrician. I love how friendly you are and I hope you are always able to make friends so easily. 

Daddy let you pick out your bow (another word you like to day) and you chose a huge red polka dotted one that made me very happy. You know exactly where your bow goes, and you show us how to put on (and take off) hats, and you can show me where your shoe goes. You are such a smart little girl and I'm impressed each day by how much you know. 

I made you a red felt one and pinned it to your shirt, so everyone would know it was your birthday. People always tell us how adorable you are but i wish they knew that your beauty is only surpassed by how sweet, smart and funny you are. You make me laugh every day!

My mommy always made my birthday a very special day for me so I hope I can do the same for you each year. You deserve to know how special you are every day of the year. You are my shining star, and besides marrying your daddy, being your mom is the best thing I've ever done. I hope you always know how much I love you, my precious girl. The first year of your life has been nothing short of a miracle and I can't wait to watch you grow. 

Happy birthday my sweet girl, 

-your mama

London Claire is twelve months old

She is, I swear. For three more days. I know I'm the worst blogger ever. In my defense, we had a first birthday party, two out of state trips, and a little thing called moving. Plus multiple house guests, ve and doctors appointments, etc. Needless to say it has been a crazy month or so.

But our sweet girl is ONE and her birthday was such a fun day. So before she turns thirteen months (or just "one" as Ben has requested we say now), here's an update on our toddler (!!) in her twelfth month.

Age: twelve months, twenty seven days
Height: 30 1/4 inches
Weight: 21lbs 9oz
Hair: she just got her first haircut by aunt sissy, because the little side curls were getting a bit out of control. She's now rocking an adorable pixie cut!

Favorite outfit: she wore a black halter dress with white chalk drawings of sights from London for her birthday, so adorable. She's wearing a lot of neon pink lately to match the amazing neon pink vans tennis shoes her aunt brenna bought. There's also a gorgeous pink gingham smocked dress that my mom bought her.

Sleep: surprisingly nothing has changed much from her 11 month update! Still on two naps. Lately she's been waking up as late as 7:45 (after nursing in the 5:00am range).

Eating: she's recently taken to grapes and apple chunks, she was even whining for some plastic grapes today while we were looking at a house. She loves chocolate milk (!!) and smoothies. She LOVED her chocolate birthday cake at her party, and the ice cream she had on her real birthday. She tried some tofu tonight and was not a fan, can't say I blame her! She also seems to really like cheeseburgers.

Illness: she had a rough cold / ear infection right around her birthday, but antibiotics and some children's Benadryl (doctors orders!) made her an absolute dream on our flights. Also, we're up to seven teeth!

Development: she has peed in her potty twice, which is pretty awesome I think, considering she has only sat on it a handful of times. She points to her high chair when she wants to eat, signs eat, more, all done pretty well. She knows quite a few body parts, is starting to consistently blow kisses, and knows where her bow and shoes go. Ben has taught her to call herself Lala, and she knows mama and dada. She says Georgia (brenna's dog). Oh, and she's started to say "I love you", what could be sweeter than that?!

Movement: this girl loves to climb! Stairs (up and down), in or on boxes, on her nightstand shelf, pretty much anything. 

Favorite toy: My favorite thing is that she got a baby doll for her birthday which she takes everywhere, and gives hugs and kisses. She thoroughly enjoyed the inflatable pool we bought as her birthday present, and her Spider-Man action figure from Aubrey & Matt. She's starting to really get into books. And of course, her stuffed penguin from Uncle Yang. 

Funniest habit: she calls her baby "daDA" with a very specific inflection, different than what she calls Ben. And she mimics things we say with her intonation "don't drop it" or "I love it!" And other funny phrases. Oh, and she loves shoes!
Firsts: birthday, trip to the pool (she loves it!), trip to Erie, trip to the lake (she did not love it), trip to DC (we visited the American history museum, she was not impressed), front facing car trip (it was just while we were visiting family, we are keeping her rear facing for now)

Best moment of last week: last night as she was nursing before bed (please don't ask me how long I'm planning to continue nursing her, I really don't know), she paused, whispered something very intently to me, to which I replied "I love you too". Then she smiled and went back to nursing. This is one sweet little girl, y'all.