She's officially a little girl now. She's had her first paint job done. The other night Jenn and I worked together to paint Abbi's toenails. She didn't really seem to mind all that much, and once it was done she was definitely intrigued as to what we had done to her. She looks cute walking around with her little feet all painted up.

Paint Job

Continuing on the trend from yesterday, this picture today is of Abbi's birthday cake that we had for Abbi on her actual birthday. Jenn figured that since Abbi didn't have any ice cream during her birthday party she should get her an ice cream cake. Abbi loved the ice cream cake and we thoroughly enjoyed sharing it with her.

And to mom, I will get a picture of Abbi playing with her kitchen real soon.

Cake

This picture isn't really of Abbi, but it is of Abbi's gift from us and her balloons that we had to decorate and celebrate with. In the big box with every ribbon from Saturday's party is her kitchen. Its a little plastic kitchen that is one height now and then when she's taller we can lift it up and it will be come taller and hopefully more fun for her all over again. She did good opening the box and seems to love the kitchen.

The Big 1

On Abbi's actual birthday we of course celebrated with Abbi. This week I'll be sharing pictures from last Tuesday regarding the different aspects of her big day. Since it was her birthday we of course took pictures of her with a card stating the date, and as things have been going recently, it was incredibly hard to get her to sit still and let us take a picture of her with the card.

Of the pictures with the card, I think this one turned out pretty good and actually kinda represents Abbi at this point in her life. She's all over the place these days with her walking and desire for exploration!

The Card

Yesterday, Abbi went to the doctor for her one year check up. Here are some of the highlights:

• She's good and healthy!
  
• She's up to 22 lbs now, putting her in the 70th percentile for weight.
  
• She's 31.5 inches long, putting her in the 95th percentile for height.
  
• No more formula. We're now giving Abbi whole milk for her bottles. Over the next 3 months we'll be weening her off the bottles completely, something I'm definitely looking forward too.
  
• She got four shots and seemed to do well after getting them.
  
• Her speech is right on track, and she's on the right track!
  

Oh, and she looks super cute in her chair here!

Chillin in her Chair

Since it rained on the day we had Abbi's party, we decided to invite people down again on Sunday to enjoy some time outside with the water inflatables on a day with some sun. So we had a few of Abbi's friends over and we played on the same stuff again Sunday that we did in the rain on Saturday. As you can see, Abbi had a great time!

Birthday

I can't believe it. Abbi turns one year old today. I was telling her this morning that maybe it sounds better to be 12 months old. Its a bigger number after all.

This past weekend we had Abbi's party to celebrate her first birthday and hopefully everyone involved had a great time. Even though it rained, we were still able to head outside with the kids and watch them enjoy the water activities. I think Abbi especially likes the slip and slide, given that she's a natural little daredevil.

So much has changed in the year that she's been alive. Yesterday Jenn and I reflected often about where we were in the delivery process throughout the day. Basically all day July 12, 2009 Jenn was in labor. It wasn't until early in the morning that Abbi was finally here. She was from being this tiny little newborn who couldn't do anything, to a little kid who can walk and regularly communicate with us the things that she wants. Its amazing!

She's walking like a champ now, cruising all around the house. I'd say she's down to probably 5% crawling, and thats really more as a last result or use or creative maneuvers, like getting around my legs, or something else in her way. She's into just about everything. Under the cabinets. In the refrigerator. In the trash can. On the sofa. Off the sofa. In a chair. Out of the chair. I mean she's everywhere, all the time. Its really cute to watch her walk around they way she does.

She's getting back to talking again after taking a bit of a break. She's gotta mama, or mom down pretty good. She's got dada down as well. We're confident that she's also picked up wawa to indicate she wants her drink. This morning we were telling her to jump and she was doing her best. She also yells "ma" sometimes at Max, so I think she thinks she's saying his name. They get along well, although I'm still confident Max resents her being there. Hopefully as she gets older and plays with him more, he'll warm up to her.

She's using all those teeth the best she can. She's got 4 up top, 3 on the bottom and one bottom molar. She can eat anything in sight and loves to do so. She is truly as kid just like Jenn and I. We love to eat, and she loves it too. I can't believe the amount of food she's able to put away sometimes.

She's nothing and everything I expected all rolled into one. I never expected that I would love her as much as I do. She's definitely a special little girl to Jenn and I. Its amazing how much things change in just a short year. A year ago we had no kids and were perfectly happy. Today we have Abbi and we're even happier. She brings a new level of enjoyment to our family and certainly to my life. I look forward to the days in the future when she'll want to sit with me to read, play legos, or barbies, or talk about stuff, watch movies, tv, and anything else she wants. But for now, I'm definitely content to enjoy her walking around the house like she owns the joint and helping her learn how to love.

Happy Birthday Abbi. We love you!

One Year