{first birthday: take one}

Olivia had two first birthday parties...this was the first.  We celebrated a couple of weeks early with Josh's family.  She was so cute with her first cupcake. 

She wasn't sure what to think of it.  I'll give commentary through the pictures.

First off, she decides to stick her fingers in and eat some frosting.

She then realizes that there is actual cake down there, and pretends to be a bird {no hands}.

 

You obviously can't shove as much cake into your mouth when you're using only your mouth.  So, she tries the smoosh-it-into-the-mouth-with-the-hand method.

 

And then, she takes a quick break to flash a cute smile at the camera {frosting face and all}. :)

 

Slowing down.  We're back to the eat-it-like-a-bird method.  

 

I never tire of watching my kiddos eat their first piece of birthday cake.  So much fun!  I'll share round two of the first birthday very soon!

{uh-oh}

Poor Olivia.  Claire and Meredith carry her around a lot {A LOT!!}...she's taken 1 step about 6 different times.  She's our latest walker yet.  Hmmm....wonder why.  

Verbal skills?  She doesn't really have many.  She babbles from time to time.  She says "dadadadadada" quite a bit.  She's just so stinkin' content all the time.  She is seriously one of the most pleasant babies that I've ever known.  {She's certainly the most laid back of all of our kiddos.}  Today, however, I figured out that she does in fact have at least one verbal interaction.  She dropped her sippy cup {time after time}, and of course there was an older sister right there to pick it up for her {time after time}.

I started to notice that after each dropping, she would respond "ah-ah".  Picture it this way:  first ah-short and high pitched; second ah-held longer and lower pitched.  Yep.  It was a very clear "uh-oh" in "ah-ahhh" form.  

I must admit it was pretty cute.

And later, she was playing with her toys, and each time she'd drop the toy she was holding, she would comment "ah-ahhh".  Goodness...adorable!! 

{prepared}

Meredith just walked out of the house carrying a small plastic bag filled with bandages, cotton balls, and triple antibiotic ointment.

Me: Where are you going with that?

M: Outside.  I'm going to go practice riding Claire's bike.

Well, at least she's prepared.

{olivia 1 year}

Happy birthday to my sweet baby girl.