Uno!

Our baby girl celebrated her First Birthday last week! We didn't have a party for her (I know, we're bad parents!) We realized after Grayson's first birthday that having a party for a one year old is really more about the parents than the child. And as the parents, we just don't want to deal with the stress of a party until she is old enough to appreciate it (maybe age 3?) :) Luckily for Camdyn, various things brought several of our family members to our house in the days surrounding her birthday, so she was plenty spoiled with gifts from grandparents and aunts and uncles!

And of course we let her experience the wonderful rite of passage of shoving cake in her face! And because she is already pretty much obsessed with food and eating (although you would never know it by her little petite size), it didn't take her long to dive in! I think the best part was when she decided to poop while she was eating the cake, which made for pretty much a disastrous bathing experience because she was covered in nastiness from head to toe!

I'm not walking yet although I'm still fast enough to get into all kinds of trouble (like regularly trying to eat dog food and removing each tip from every door stop in the house.) I am little miss independent. I don't really love to cuddle or be held; I'm way too busy exploring the world for that kind of non-sense. I am expanding my vocabulary daily with my first official word at 11 months (uh-oh). I've since added "Da-Dee," "Ma-Ma" (although I think this one means "more" because I don't usually say it in correlation with mom, but usually with food),"Hi," "Bye," "Ta" (for our dog Tag), "Yay," "Yum," "Sop" (Stop - an important one to know when it comes to my big brother and Grandma's pesky dog), and "Tanks" (Thanks). My Daddy already has me trained at giving out high-fives. I adore my big brother; he is the only one who can always get me to grin even when I'm at my grumpiest. On the rare days when I wake up before him, I quickly find my way back to his room and bang on his door until he comes out. I'm growing by the day and my parents are soaking in every minute of it! I am one loved little girl!

Our sweet one year old! What a joy you are in our lives! What a testament of God's perfect plan and unending faithfulness! We love you Camdyn McLaine!