Happy 1st Birthday, Brooke!

Dear Brooke,

Today you are 1 year old! I can't believe how fast this year flew by. You've been such a peaceful, happy baby. You rarely cry unless you needed something. You were my little breastfeeding champ! You just always go with the flow.

 

You simply adore your big sister and could just sit there and watch her. You giggle your unbelievably adorable giggle when she entertains you.

Even when the priest was baptizing you on the alter, you just looked up at him with your big eyes and smiled making him laugh. I can already see that you're going to have a great sense of humor one day.

 

It took you a little while to get used to eating solids, but then you loved everything that we'd feed you. And all your first foods were pureed with love by mama. Now that your eating big people food, you shovel it into your mouth as fast as you can. Especially if it's your favorite, strawberries (or ice cream).

 

We got more snow your first winter than we've had in many, many years, but that didn't stop you from enjoying it!

You have 4 teeth now! The first came in on February 19th and the other 3 all came within the following few weeks. Now your little smile is even more heart breaking! Your favorite game is rolling a ball back and forth, and now you're even starting to throw it (and you're getting daddy's hopes up for a future baseball player).

 

It took you a long time before you started sleeping through the night. We did a little cry-it-out which seemed to really work for you, but once you started doing well we had teething setbacks. Mommy has a tough time not running to you when you cry. I think we're finally on the right track and you're starting to sleep until (almost) 6am now!

Even though you're not walking yet, you have no problem getting around. You started crawling at 8 months old. Now you'll walk behind anything that you can push. You'll be walking on your own in no time, but please don't hurry! You love being a part of everything that is going on and don't want to be left out. And we love having you a part of our lives.

Happy Birthday, baby Brooke! I hope you enjoyed your first journey around the sun.