It's Fun to be One!

Exactly one year ago today, I gave birth to Isabella. By this time actually, I was probably in a drug-induced snooze, having only seen my little one for 30 seconds as they brought her over, held her over the sheets, let me kiss her cheek and then whisked her off to ICU. I was so upset! But that seems a million years ago; hundreds of bottles and diapers, quite a few "no-no's", a bunch of baths, a couple of "Isabella Volere's!" and loads of smiles and laughs.

Isabella has changed so much in the past month! She looks older, bigger (no longer a size or two behind her age in clothes), she crawls like a speed demon, is pulling up on everything and might possibly be growing two teeth. She is energetic and loud and happy and inquisitive and cheerful in clapping for herself. She uses a sippy cup, holds her own bottle (then tosses it on the floor when she's done), she can turn the TV on AND change channels (a new trick she showed DaDaDa this morning), she prefers to feed herself over being fed, loves to turn the pages in her books and throw her clothes out of her dresser drawer, is fascinated with opening doors and covers her ears to play peek-a-boo. I even found her out on the deck one morning! She had learned how to open the screen, crawl over the threshold on her hands and feet, then spend some fun time opening and closing the screen.

She has been a little "strung out" lately; probably a combination of some congestion she's had for a few weeks in addition to teething, her first stab at chocolate cake (sugar!) and the overstimulation of her big birthday weekend. Hence, she's not her usual chipper self in her one-year shot. I'll probably take her somewhere to get some nice ones done. In the mean time, enjoy these:


Remember when she was smaller than Tigger?




















Something else she can do as a "big girl"-use the big tub! I attached non-skid ducky pads to the bottom and once she learned what waves she could make by splashing her feet, she was good to go!














I thought she looked tired, (not sure she slept during the two times I put her down) but this proved it! Asleep in the high chair.

She frequently falls asleep "butt up" in her crib. It looks horribly uncomfortable, but Mom assures me I used to sleep the same way.

One of the best parts of her birthday weekend was spending it with family! Here she is with Maga and Papa, as well as Uncle Jeff, and cousins Brian, April and Rachel. She absolutely adored the attention and they all adored playing with her!





















A rare shot with Grammy and Grampy.

Yep, she still puts her thumbs in her mouth. It's one of the easiest ways to see if she's really tired.

This is an "Over the Hill" hat I threw on her just for kicks.

Uncle Jeff coaxing her to stand up and take a few steps.

Isabella gets "lemon eyes."

And Uncle Jeff gets in on the action as well.

Bella had a great time with April!

And even Brian decided to get on the floor with Bells and Rachel.

One of her favorite pastimes is rolling pop cans across the floor. DaDaDa was shocked to see that his little girl had picked up his drinking habits!

DaDaDa checks the safety of her new forward-facing big-girl carseat. I didn't include the picture of him tipping it almost face down on the carpet for fear of DCFS taking her away from us!

Pre-party party with April.

This is my new favorite picture of us.

Here's the cake that Maga and I made. I'm not sure why we baked such a ginormous cake for just 13 of us!

I love Bella's face in this shot. She's just not quite sure about that bear or the flame!

At first she didn't know what to do with her chocolate bear, but once she got a taste of the frosting, you can see the progression to total bear destruction.

Happy 1st Birthday, Isabella!

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