The Real Housewife of DC: Twelve months

Dear Elizabeth,

You are 1 year old!

Happy Birthday! Our darling, sweet girl, today is your first birthday. You (and us) made it through the first year and I can't believe it has gone so fast. You continue to amaze and surprise us everyday with your love, courage, smile, and growing personality.

You are wearing 12-18 month clothes, size 3 diapers, and size 4 shoes. You are eating three meals a day and also getting 1 snack bottle in the afternoon. For breakfast you still eat baby oatmeal with fruit (you love it!) but for lunch and dinner you eat regular/big people food. We also switched you to whole milk around 11 1/2 months.

You love most fruits, but your favorite is a banana. You also like honey dew, cantaloupe, and avocados. You love cheerios and can't get enough of them. Your other favorite food is cheese. You would eat cheese for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if we let you.

You currently weigh 19 pounds (you lost some weight while you were sick) and you are 29 inches long. Your dad and I are taking bets on how tall you will be (I'm thinking volleyball/basketball player tall).

You celebrated your first Valentine's Day this month and all three of us went to Chili's. You loved your grilled chicken and corn while Dad and I enjoyed Ribs and Chicken Fajitas. You got cute red and pink shoes for Valentine's Day and you really like the sparkles on them.

All three of us have been sick a lot in the last month so we have not done too much else except relax and try to recover. There was a 10 period in there where you had a fever, your Dad was sick, and I wasn't getting any sleep because I was taking care of both of you. Then, I got sick for a week and the cycle started all over. You still have a cough and a runny nose but I'm hoping it will be gone soon.

For this letter I wanted to recap some of the things you have done/seen in the last year.

You have been to the following states/places: Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, the Florida Keys (including Marathon Island and Key West).

You weighed 9 pounds 14 ounces and were 22 1/4 inches long when you were born.
You now weight 19 pounds and are 29 inches long.

You have flown on a plane 6 times.

You took a 20 hour car-ride to Marathon, Florida for Christmas and were great the whole time.

You went to your first football game over Thanksgiving at Heinz Field.

You have seen the Atlantic Ocean and played in snow. You love to play in the pool.

You have learned to roll-over, crawl, stand, and cruise. You play with your friends Sam and Alice almost daily. You have met all your Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins.
You met Tycho, Kepler, Ada, Emmie, and Ellie.

You can say mama, dada, hi, and red. You love to laugh and be tickled.

You were Baptized.

My darling girl, you are such a blessing to us. We love you more than you will ever know and we want you to know we are proud of you. You have seen and done so much in one short year that I can't wait to see what the next year brings. You continue to amaze us, entertain us, and give us reason to love more than I knew possible. We are so proud to be your parents. Happy Birthday.

Love,

Mom & Dad

Below are some pictures from today: