Happy First Birthday, Annive Maura!

Annive had a great first birthday! We had her party last weekend and were blessed to have many friends and family join us in celebrating her special day. I planned the theme around the Eric Carle book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Annive and I spent several weeks preceding the party making caterpillar decorations, and we were pleased with how they all turned out. Annive had cake for the first time, which she loved, and ice cream, which made her cry. Ice cream is Scott's favorite food, so I think he was a little disappointed that she didn't love it at first bite. She enjoyed the balloon pit, playing with other kids, and being the center of attention. I enjoyed watching her, although it was a little bittersweet to realize that my baby was turning 1.As for her weight, she is finally headed in the right direction with weight gain. She's still tiny and in the 2nd percentile but she's gaining and not just maintaining. At her 1 year checkup, we were released to visits every 3 months instead of monthly weight checks. Scott and I are so thankful for all the people who have prayed for us and her as we've battled for weight gain the past year.

I've discovered Annive is the outgoing, social, vocal child. We met a new friend, Lindy, who is 3 weeks older than Annive and her mom at the park across from our house this week. The first time they played together Annive crawled right over, started playing and smiling, and talked and talked and talked. Lindy watched while Annive was into everything. Annive talks to everything she encounters-stuffed animals, toys, food, Bailey, me, Scott, trees, flowers, dirt, books, the floor, windows, furniture, curtains, literally everything she sees. Scott says that Annive is more vocal than he is. And her new favorite game? Empty the bookshelf! She looks right at me, crawls towards the bookshelf while sometimes taking a detour to see if she can trick me into thinking she's not going to the bookshelf, and proceeds to take every book off the shelves. Literally, she can empty the entire thing in less than a minute, and as a former teacher, I have A LOT of books on those shelves. After she empties it, she sits down in the middle of her mountain of books and starts looking through the pages. At least she loves books!