Happy First Birthday, Melanie Grace!

"The days are long and the years are short" is sooo true, no? Not ALL days are long, of course, but while you're in the moment, it doesn't feel so much like time is flying. Then, suddenly, you wake up and your little baby girl is ONE YEAR OLD!!! It has been a blast watching Melanie learn everything over the past year. When you catch her at a good point, she'll even hold up one finger to tell you how old she is!

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Miss Melanie is now in 6-9 month clothes, size 3 diapers, and says the words "dada," "hi" (nonstop), "kitty," and something that sounds an awful lot like Sh-t. Over and over, of course. She continues to be very happy, and very active. She likes all food put in front of her - particularly if she can feed it to herself! Bananas are back into the favorite, after a brief stint on the "possibly allergic" list. She fluctuates with her formula intake, and is currently in the boycot stage, so we struggle to get 20oz a day - although she, as her daycare provider reports, "is the first to start eating and the last to stop" for table foods. She's in a clingy stage where she doesn't like to be left - especially by Mommy or Daddy. She's developing a longer attention span, and the thing that makes her giggle the most is getting Lucas riled up. She's moving to the next car seat (still rear facing) since I can't bear to carry the pumpkin seat any more. She sleeps through the night, with a bottle at about 5am or some such time when I am not aware of the time (she has a fabulous Daddy who takes care of that!) She is starting to get to one looong nap a day rather than two shorter ones - except, of course, at daycare. She claps most anytime she hears music - even if it's a church hymn. She continues to LOVE bathtime, her silky, and her favorite toys are a choo-choo train, Tad the Frog who sings to her, her Fridge DJ, a caterpillar that plays music, a horsey on loan, her kitchen, and the stacking rings. She has eight teeth that we can see (middle four on top and bottom)

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The above photo was taken at the house today, but we also got professional photos taken. If you're reading this, I'm sure you'll be a lucky recipient of one of the 85,000 wallet pictures we got with the package :) In case you can't see the writing on the dress, it says "Birthday Girl" with a cupcake above it.

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We're looking forward to celebrating with the immediate family this Saturday with, of course, monkeys as the theme!