Ava Noelle at 1 Year

Dear Ava,

The craziness of your birthday celebration this weekend has long past and today you are a whole 12 months old! It makes my heart ache and swell at the same time that you've reached your first candle. On one hand I want you to stay a tiny little baby and the other, I'm thrilled to watch you grow and learn new things.



You have been a delightful baby thus far. It's sad for me to realize that our nursing days are coming to an end. You've made that such an easy and enjoyable part of our relationship. I treasure our moments together just before bed time. I give you a bath every night, lather you with lotion and put you in your footed PJs. You're not a fan of getting dressed because you want your hands free at all times to grab things. We go brush your teeth and to tell the boys goodnight and then off to your rocker we go. I nurse you for a few minutes with the lights on and then we read a short story if you're not too tired. I rock you in the dark for 1-2 minutes and then you go to your crib almost asleep but you usually roll over and I don't hear from you until the morning.


*Photo by Julie Nickerson

Oh how you love bathtime. You make several trips each day to the bathtub just to stand beside it and smack your hands on the top of it. You squeal and splash the water. You laugh when I pour water on your head and it runs down your face. When your hair is wet, it stretches halfway down your back. It's only a small amount of hair that is that long so when it dries it just curls up and seems short. Your hair is growing so fast and full. You stop traffic with your hair pieces that I put on you. You're so tolerant of anything I put on your head. Thank you for indulging your mommy! I hope you're always a good sport about my fashion choices for you.



We love to watch you play. Mommy is especially proud to see you pushing your pink stroller around. You're not walking alone yet but you're cruising and pushing anything that moves around. When you see one particular doll in the stroller, you crawl over to it and pull it out on the floor. It's the funniest thing. We gave you doll for your birthday that you seem to approve of in your stroller. To show your babies love, you lay on them. It's the cutest thing ever!



I can not tell you how much we enjoy feeding you. Just yesterday you killed a whole kid's meal (except for the drink) at Qdoba's. You had your own chicken quesadilla and applesauce. Your brother had to be begged and bribed to just taste his quesadilla. We give you anything that we're eating and you devour it. You make the cutest humming sound when you eat. You've done this from the first spoon of cereal. We have no idea why you do this but it certainly makes you, you!



Your speech is really taking off. You currently say mama, dada, uh oh, ca ca (Jacob) and a whole lot of stuff I can't interpret. You are very vocal and are probably saying more words than I can make out. You are starting to mimic things that I say. You blew your first kiss to your daddy just last week and I know it melted his heart into a puddle. You are a real charmer when it comes to your daddy. Last week he was leaving when I told you to say bye-bye to him and you started to cry and crawled down the hallway to find him. You crawled right to his feet and pulled up to him. Once he picked you up you laid your head on his shoulder. I think he's pretty great too.



Jacob is also wrapped around your little finger. He is smitten with you and will give you anything you want. I know he would give you his last piece of candy if you could eat candy. And you still think he hung the moon. Nothing makes me more happy than to see you two together. When you get fussy in the car, Jacob will grab your hand and you instantly quiet down. You hugged him a few weeks ago all on your own and we all sung out a loud "awwwwwwww". You've got the magic touch with the men in this house that's for sure.



You have your bottom two teeth and have just cut your top two teeth a couple of days ago. Other than being a little drooly, you've been a great teething baby. We recently started using a toothbrush and you enjoy that. You will grab the handle and wiggle it in your mouth as if you're brushing it. You are taking notice to the purpose of objects. You will put the phone to your ear, my sunglasses on your face, your hair brush to your head.



Ava bird, I love you so much! You are the sweetest and happiest little thing I've ever seen. When your daddy and I pictured our future children, we had no idea that it would be this awesome to have kids.

I'm so glad you're mine! Happy 1st Birthday Baby!