The big ONE!!

Ok, I know you have all been waiting for this update, the big ONE... Katy is 1yr old!! She officially turned 1 at 10:30pm PST this past Saturday, August 18th. We held her party that afternoon, which was well-attended by friends from our small group at our church and from Las Madres, the mom's club Katy and I joined about 6mnths ago. We had about 20 adults & 10 kids at a beautiful nearby park that is just a few blocks over and down from our house. Benji marinated & grilled chicken, and the menu included his homemade garlic hummus, chips, salsa, blueberries, strawberries, grapes, and buns & fixings for the chicken... and most importantly, birthday cake! (I will do a separate post for Katy's first experience of eating cake... it was just too cute!) We had a really good time with everybody, and Katy was thrilled to have so many of her friends there. With everybody arriving and leaving at various times, which happens when you have a bunch of almost 1 & 1 yr olds on different nap schedules!, we didn't open gifts there. The party started at noon, and by 3pm, a happy but exhausted Katy was putting her head down on my shoulder and very close to falling asleep. So I took her home so she could nap before her photoshoot at JCPenneys at 6pm. After getting her 1yr old photos taken there, we returned home and let her open a few of her presents, which she gets very excited about, as you can see in this photo!

So today (Wednesday), I took Katy in for her 1yr old checkup. Her stats... Katy has jumped up from being barely 5th percentile in weight to a solid 10th percentile, at 18lbs 3oz. She is very tall for her petite frame, at 29 1/2", which is almost 60th percentile. She is the picture of health. (She evidently has a strong immune system, as she has not come down with the stomach flu her mommy had on Sunday, which is to blame for my delay in blogging about her birthday!) Katy's pediatrician was very impressed with her fine motor skills and her talking. I pulled out Katy's cellphone which I bought her for her birthday (as she is obsessed with phones), and as she took it Katy spun herself around on the exam table so she was sitting with her back to her doctor and I, as she put the phone up to her ear and started a conversation. This made the doctor laugh, saying, "Oh, do you need some privacy while you talk?"

In addition to Katy beginning to crawl a week ago, about 10 days ago we discovered that she can finally sit herself up. Now more often than not, when we hear her awake in her room, we'll walk in and find her sitting playing with her stuffed animals, or kneeling looking over the crib at the door waiting for us. About the same time, Katy added a new word to her growing repertoire, "Hi!" It's especially cute when she answers her phone. And while just a month ago every question was answered with "Yah!", now I'm beginning to sometimes hear "Nonononono!" Katy loves all fruit, any kind of bread, frenchfries, chicken nuggets, quesadillas, & icecream. Since she has not been readily eating her veggies of late, our recent concoction is throwing carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, etc, along with 1/2 an apple, into a blender with some water & ice. We give her this in her cup at dinner, and she always downs it, and seems to really like it. Also just tried peanut butter this week, and that has appeared to be a hit! While she has become more opinionated about what she wants to eat, Katy still has a great appetite... she easily out-ate her almost 4yr old cousin Jackson during his week visit with us.

So there you have it - Katy at one year old. I just have to post this comparison picture, from exactly one year ago, of Katy during her first few days at home. What happened to that tiny newborn all snuggled up with Mommy??? It has been an incredible, amazing year of firsts for all 3 of us. I have absolutely loved being Katy's mom, and while it's with some nostalgia that I say goodbye to this precious newborn that is all grown up, I'm so looking forward to all this next year will hold. Thanks to all of you for sharing her 1st year with us! And don't worry... there are many more photos to come from Katy's birthday.