Firsts

To explain the title of the post... I feel like time is moving so fast and everything Annie is doing seems to be a first for her over the past couple of weeks.

She had her first car ride in her front facing seat. She loves it. She talks and sings constantly in the car now because she can actually see me and have "conversations". This particular seat has a cup-holder, which Annie associates with being a rock star. We all know that all rock stars have the best cup-holders. Annie knows this, too. Nothing gives her more joy than her cup-holder.

Annie has officially first stood and is now doing it like a champ. We have known for weeks that she had the ability do this, because if she is concentrating on a toy, she will be holding it and not even notice that she is standing on her own. Once she notices, she immediately collapses out of fear. For Annie, this is one of the many disadvantages of being tall. She is now standing willingly!

She started to do official sign language. Her first signs were showing us how big she is at 8 months or so (arms overhead in touch-down position), which we weren't sure if we could count since we had never heard of it before. At around 9 months she started waving "hi" and "bye" and shaking her head "no" (pretty helpful in determining if she understood what she wasn't supposed to do or if she didn't like something). Now she does what we feel are more official baby signs- "more" and "please." We say more official because these are ones that she uses instead of yelling when at the table (sometimes :-). Here she is enjoying the fruits of her labor.

Oh and by the way.... TODAY is her FIRST BIRTHDAY.

We had a first birthday party over the weekend with some family and a few close friends. This party was in honor of Annie's actual birthday today! It was such a blast. We couldn't have anticipated how much she would have loved the whole thing. (Or how much I loved planning it!) This picture features me and the piñata we named Dolly-Llama. J and I obtained this ancient treasure at Fiesta. What you may not know is that Fiesta is not known for their candy. Much to the delight of all the children at the party, the piñata contained salsa flavored twizzlers, salted fruit strips, and tamarind flavored goo. (Note the sarcasm. The kids 3 and over really hated it and were really upset until I gave them some real candy.)

At the party, she had her first bite of cake... and then was on her way to eating the entire thing before it fell to the ground. Then she polished off her first cupcake after eating a huge chunk of the big cake. Pretty impressive. My sister, Molly made this cake- coolest cake ever!

Some of her first words- "hey" (when I come in her room to greet her after a nap), "dad" (for J), "dada" (for everyone and everything), "mama" (only when she's upset), "up" (occasionally she says this if she is feeling generous with her performances), "that" (sounds more like "dat", but we count it), and "uh-uh" (her attempt at "uh-oh" used when she drops something).

Annie at 1 year has the sweetest disposition. She is really easily excited. If something suits her fancy she will most likely get stiff as a board, red in the face, and scream! She is also really active and keeps you on your toes. She is not very sensitive we have found. If we try to take something away- she gets mad, not sad, if she cares at all. If we have to discipline her (squeeze the hand or a flick on the hand) for something she knows not to do (evidenced by taking two paces towards it, looking at me and shaking her head "no", and then going for it), she won't back down until she has finished what she set out to do, she'll take the flicks (oh, boy). She startles easily (loud noises, anything by her face, or anything that moves too quickly). She loves to be outside on a windy day. She hasn't yet figured out empathy. She still laughs when other kids are crying. She LOVES dogs (still going strong), stuffed animals, and now baby dolls more than any other toys. Books and pictures are close seconds if she is permitted to handle them herself. I am convinced her favorite would be laptops if we would let her near them. She also has a developing passion for throwing and rolling balls. A little secret, if you have on jewelry she will always come to you. She is still a dancing and singing machine and adding new moves everyday. This is our Annie. We can't wait to get to know her even better.

Happy Birthday, Annabel! We are so blessed and honored to be your parents and raise you. You are an amazing gift from God and we thank Him for your life daily and pray you grow up to love Him more than anything else in the world.