One year ago today...

...my world was turned upside-down, and I couldn't be happier. My sweet Kiernan Sienna came into the world, and she has brought so much joy and love to me and to my family. I am so blessed!!

Here she was on day one...


And here she is at her spunky best on day 365...


I just love her to pieces. I can hardly believe it's been a whole year! So much has happened since those first days, and I am so thankful every day for her. Right now she's pulling up on absolutely everything and cruising around the furniture...not crawling, though, which is something I was looking forward to. I don't think it'll be long before she takes her first steps by herself...she loves walking around from person to person, grasping their fingers for balance. She's found her perfect method of scooting around on her butt, which seems to work for her so she's not interested in figuring out how to crawl. She jabbers away constantly, with "Mama" a frequently-heard word, and so much of her jabbering sounds like actual language. I can't wait for her to start using actual words for different objects! She loves to snuggle, especially right before bed when she snuggles right into my arms and falls asleep. I'm hard-pressed, though, to get up off the couch and bring her up to her bed right away...many evenings I've enjoyed just holding her for an extra hour, sometimes two, as she sleeps. It's quite addictive.

I've just started her on whole milk (often mixed in with her formula) and we're still working on finger foods, which has been slow going because she seems quite picky about textures (she gags) and doesn't seem interested in eating many table foods except Cheerios, teething biscuits, and puffs. She seems slow to accept new foods, but I'm hoping that she will eventually. Her top two teeth have just broken through, so I'm hoping that once it's easier for her to actually chew with her bottom and top teeth together, the table foods will come. We keep trying, though. She's getting really good at drinking from her straw sippy cups, and she also loves drinking from "regular" cups as well.

She loooooves her toys, and has definite favorites, and she also loves exploring and discovering new objects, many of which Mom is NOT happy that she's found. She knows how to keep her mama on her toes! I love the fact that she is enjoying books more and more, and she seems to love playing with the board books she "finds" (that I've left out for her) as well. So much more to say, and not enough hours left in the day. I'm exhausted! (state standardized testing at school this week) So I'm off to bed. Happy birthday, baby girl--I love you so much!