to lola grey: 1st birthday.

my sweet lola bear:

you are one year old! i'm not quite sure how that even happened but i am pretty happy about it. you have been the sweetest light in my life this past year that i didn't know i was missing. you're our little rainbow baby - maybe that has something to do with it.

you are so brave. you are such a little dare devil. you want to climb on everything and get into everything and go wherever everyone else goes. you started walking just before your birthday, and now, almost two weeks later, you are perfecting it already.

you are so smart! i think you understand more than we even know. you say momma, dada, 'uh' for uh oh, and your own version of 'zo zo' for our pup, zoey. you shake your head no (you've been doing that one for a while now ;)), and you nod your head yes.

you think your sister is the funniest. she makes you laugh all the time. she also makes you cry a lot when she rips toys from you. we're working on that one. but you love her all the same and love to be around her and give her loves.

you have the sweetest little dimple in your left cheek, up next to your nose. i don't know where it came from, but i love seeing it when you smile big.

speaking of giving loves, you give some seriously sweet hugs! big neck squeezes that make anyone lucky enough to get one so happy. you also like to give open-mouthed kisses, but only when you're really feeling lovey dovey. they slobbery and awesome.

you gave us a beautiful 3 week streak of sleeping through the night when you were about 10 months old. before that and since then, you wake up during the night and are a little needy for mom or dad. but honestly, it's hard to be mad. i just want you to be happy and if you need some extra snuggles, i'll spare the sleep.

you are SUCH a binky girl. you've loved them from the start and learned very early on how to pick them up and put them in your mouth by yourself. you also know how to take them out and put them in my hand when you're ready to eat :) it's the funniest.

food! you are such a food lover. totally your dad's daughter. you will eat anything and everything we give you and you don't ever really seem to be 'done' eating. you'd probably just keep eating or snacking on whatever if we kept giving it to you, all day. you still don't even have any teeth!!! but you sure don't let that stop you. some of your favorites are fruits, pb&j sandwiches, waffles, puffs, and chocolate pudding. yes i let you eat chocolate pudding a couple times a week and you enjoy the heck out of that. you are a foodie for sure.

you are just a little thing still. you are currently about 17lbs, which puts you at about the 2%. and i love it. you are the sweetest littlest thing there was, and i wouldn't want you any other way!

since you were very little, you've been pretty hesitant with anyone but mom and dad. you used to cry even being with your grandmas. you've gotten a lot more comfortable with them and other people in our family, but you still would rather have mom or dad holding you or close by most all the time.

lola, since the day you came into this world, you have made our days so incredibly happy. it doesn't matter if we're having a bad day, if we spend time with you we are so so happy and forget about all the rest. i'm not sure i can put into words the impact you've had on our little family. you've brought this light into our home that i just can't really explain. you're the best thing, and i cannot imagine our lives without you.

love you to the moon baby girl.
mom.