Once upon a time, my beautiful baby girl turned a year old. I was working on this post the day my brother unexpectedly passed away, on Amberly's very birthday, near the hour she was born. I have decided to finish this post.
A cherished year of my life, undoubtedly, to become a mother to my Amberly Faith.
It's been a very special week as I finish up her birthday movie and reminisce on these past 12 months.
Isn't it remarkable to see how fast a baby can grow in a matter of 365 days?
Just look at our daughter change as you compare these photos side by side. It blows my mind.
3 days old
1 month old
2 months
3 months
My 4 month chunk!
5 months
6 months
8 months
10 months
12 Months
And thinning out already! It's amazing how she is losing chub so fast now that she's so mobile. I have to stay on top of feeding her and that is my biggest adjustment now that Amberly isn't nursing nearly as much. I don't sit down three times a day to eat a meal. I eat healthy smaller meals/snacks as I go and have a sit-down meal for dinner with the hubby. But this little one needs calories for her growing body, and I'm working on remembering to give her three solid meals each day!
A few of our favorite things about our Amberly:
- She is becoming quite the cuddle bug. If you pull out her favorite blankly and hold her close, you're bound to get cuddles
- She blows kisses and it's just the sweetest
- She loves to wave
- She can entertain herself with toys for up to 45-50 minutes because she's so bright!
- She loves to laugh when she does something she's proud of
- She points to places she wants you to take her
- The way she gets around still with her army crawl
- Her big kisses she gives Mama, Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa
- Her dark long eye lashes, compliments of her daddy
- She loves to tease and pretend to give us our food but then quickly put it in her own mouth
- She squints her eyes at us to make us laugh, it's adorable
Amberly's Faves:
Her "E.T." finger - loves to touch other peoples' fingers
She loves her walker
She adores books and loves loves loves story time before naps/bedtime. Her favorite stories are '10 Monkey Jamboree' 'Where's Baby's Belly Button' and 'Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you See' to name just a few
She still likes to watch "Ellie" on Baby Videos on Mom's phone
Falling off the bed into Daddy's arms
Playing on the floor with Mama or Daddy
She loves to put objects inside of other objects and gets really excited about it. She's very intelligent and I wonder if she'll be an engineer one day
She loves to dance! THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER FOR MY LITTLE HEART - to see her bouncing to her music box that Aunt Ginny and Aunty Brittany gave her. She's got rhythm and I'm already looking into local dance studios or wondering if I should teach her clogging at the studio I teach at. Or all of the above. ;)
Favorite foods:
- Graham crackers
- String cheese
- Shredded chicken
- Pasta
- Bread with peanut butter
- Raisins (little sugars, Jon used to call them:)
- Graduate Puffs
- Loves to drink out of her water bottle
- Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate! Grandma Mecham gives it to her always and now she expects it when she sits on her lap in her blue chair...uh oh
Amberly has also mastered a variety of scowls, she is very expressive and certainly becoming more and more opinionated. She understands the meanings of many words: Mama, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, Amberly, light, kisses, loves, come, water, sleepy, blanket, food, story, diaper, milk, sleepy, bye bye, outside, monkey, doggie, cat, eyes, and baby are a few that come to mind. She is very bright and I know we have some fun adventures awaiting us as she learns how to express her will power...and stay within the limits I will attempt to set for my emerging toddler...
And now, just a few pics from her smashing birthday party. We obviously rain checked her party, I'm glad she was too young to be upset about it. :)
Yeah...she didn't appreciate everyone staring at her for her first bite of sugar.
I'm so mean I still think this picture is cute and hilarious.
She made a HAUL, our spoiled little one year old.
Read this onesie from Aunt Mary. LOVE
I say it all the time, every child should be loved this much.
There are so many people who love and care for my daughter, it makes me emotional.
I'm so glad Anthony, Sarah, their darling kids, and my gracious Aunt Ginny were still in town so they could celebrate with us. My little nephew Eli helped me make some of the owl cupcakes, a standstill moment for sure. Family is everything, truly. And I adore mine. Love you all Mecham and Ditto and Austin clan. :)
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