Goodness, I’ve really slowed down on the picture-taking; it’s been almost 2 weeks. So here’s one. Isn’t she cute?

Yep, she is.

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Anna isn’t quite walking, but she’s close! The past couple of days, she has dared to stand unassisted for several seconds, and this morning she actually took two or three quick steps before tumbling over. The look on her face is priceless—she’s so proud of herself! Isn’t it funny how babies just know when they’ve done something great?

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This is just too cute! Anna loves her bongo drums on loan from cousin Addie! (You may have to turn your volume up a little bit to hear it.)

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Well, this is it… the last in the series of month-birthday photo shoots and blog posts. Anna is 1 whole year old today! What a year it’s been. Yes, it has gone by just as fast as everybody said it would. From the moment we brought her home, I had this sense that “the clock is ticking” and her little baby stage was disappearing before my eyes. But even though the time has flown by, I can honestly say I have no regrets. I am incredibly blessed to be able to stay home with her and have spent most of my time with her. I’ve taken lots of pictures and have recorded her milestones and notable moments on my blog. We’ve gone on outings, read books, sung songs, played games, snuggled sweetly… and you know what? It still went by fast! There’s nothing you can do to stop the clock, so you just have to soak up as much as you can.

I think one of the most enjoyable things about Anna has been her wonderful smile. She smiled early, and from the time she was just a few weeks old, everyone said she was the smiliest (is that a word?) baby they’d ever seen. She would flash smiles at friends and strangers alike—anyone who would make eye contact with her. She’s such a joy!

Here are a few pictures from today. The first few are from the library, where we went this morning for story time and play time.

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My baby girl is turning 1! We had her birthday party yesterday out at my parents’ house. My parents, David’s parents, my brother and his family, and Anna’s godparents and god-grandmother were all there. Anna was in a great mood and had plenty of those wonderful Anna-smiles to go around.

And thank you, Jenny, for letting us borrow your DSLR camera for the day!

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Ahh, the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. When we went last year, I was one week away from giving birth to our sweet Anna, and I found myself looking ahead to this year as we would enjoy the festivities with our little girl. I envisioned a warm, sunny day; maybe little Anna could wear the green-and-white striped sundress and matching hat I had recently bought her; perhaps she would even be walking, toddling around in little sandals, the sunshine illuminating her golden curls…

… instead she looked like this:

Yep, it was a cold gray day, so we were all bundled up in layers. Weather issues aside, she’s not walking yet, that particular dress is still way too big, and she still doesn’t have much hair. But that’s ok. We had a great time and our little girl was absolutely wonderful. We manipulated her schedule a bit so she would take a nap before we went, and it worked—she was in a great mood the whole time! She seemed to enjoy watching everything and everybody and being with mommy and daddy.

Our friends the Allisons went with us. Here’s Emily with the youngest of their three daughters:

The Lyon College Pipe band:

Our friend and fellow musician Joe with his Irish Wolfhound:

Dancers from the O’Donovan School of Irish Dance:

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Did you know the Faulkner County Library has a program for babies under 2? I didn’t. I just found out on Saturday, and I took Anna there this morning for her first story time! She was certainly attentive; she just sat in my lap with a wide-eyed expressionless face, staring nonstop at everything going on, probably wondering what in the world her crazy mommy had brought her to. But towards the end, she finally cracked a smile. I feel certain she’ll warm up to it if we go every week.

Afterwards I let her play alongside the other toddlers in the little kitchen play area there. I tried to get Anna interested in the pots and pans, but as soon as she discovered that she could push the chairs around, that’s all she wanted to do. (She rearranges the furniture in our kitchen pretty regularly these days!)

We’re definitely going back. It’s on Mondays at 10, if you have a wee one and want to come along. The library website actually says it’s on “Monday’s”—jeez, they ought to know better! But then, they also have it listed under their “teens” tab rather than their “kids” tab, which may explain why I’ve never heard of it.

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For a couple of weeks now, I’ve noticed Anna holding out her arm toward Sasha like she’s waving. How sweet, she’s waving at the dog, I thought.

But then I realized that’s not what she’s doing at all! Whenever we tell Sasha to sit, down, or stay, we use hand signals. We don’t even think about it anymore; it’s just automatic. Apparently Anna has picked up on this, and she’s going around flinging her arm out in Sasha’s direction whenever she’s around her. That’s obviously what you’re supposed to do around a dog, right?

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… especially when it keeps her occupied while I’m cooking dinner.

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… er, month, that is… Anna is eleven months old today! But it also seems like the “eleventh hour” in that the deadline for soaking up every moment of her sweet baby year is all too quickly approaching. I can’t believe she’ll be one year old in one short month. My baby is disappearing before my very eyes and is being replaced by a little girl!

Anna is quite active right now; consequently, David and I are too. It’s incredible the things she tries to get into, some successfully, as the rest of you parents know. She loves taking things out of things, like pulling stuff out of her diaper bag, pulling laundry out of the laundry basket, pulling her books off of her bookshelf, etc. She’s really cute with her books; she’ll sit there surrounded by the little pile she’s made and just flip through them and look at them for a few minutes. She likes music and will smile and rock back and forth excitedly when she hears it. She’s cruising everywhere now, just crawling when there isn’t something to hold onto to get from point A to point B. And she’s finally eating some solids now; she likes bananas (as a whole chunk she hold and eat), yogurt, cheese, peaches, applesauce, and most any kind of bread/crackers/cereal. Oh, and taco meat. She is definitely my child.

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