One

Our girl is one!! She turned one on July 18 and her party was so great. I wanted it to be so perfect, that I spent hours and hours planning every detail and spending way too much money. It was all so worth it. I've been excited about this day for some time. She loves music and the Bob Marley version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow is one of her favorites. We had fun with this theme with a special cake by Adrienne and Co, a yellow brick road on our sidewalk complete with music playing, lots of rainbow balloons and decorations, foods in rainbow colors (fruit, sandwiches, chip bags, juice boxes, rice krispie treats, gumballs, candy, etc). We had the Wizard of Oz movie playing and after everyone ate, we played a video of photos of Ella's first year of life.

Her 9-month clothes are about too little and its time to move up to the 12 month clothes. We have just moved up to size 3 diapers. A couple weeks ago, we noticed a top tooth coming in and just last week, we see the one next to it is also appearing.

At the beginning of July, she had her first beach trip to Florida and didn't seem to excited about the sand, but sure does love the water. I was nervous every time she was out. I keep the high SPF lotion on her, but I still was worried about her getting burned. All was good though. She also did so great on the long car rides. She's a trooper. Luckily she had her 7-year old cousin Matty to entertain her on the ride down. She enjoyed him playing with her and even offered him kisses. She's usually stingy with the kisses, they are usually just reserved for her mom and sometimes daddy.

Ella continues to say "Mom" and "Dada", but also says no, bye, and "PopPop". She loves clapping, giving 5, waving, and blowing kisses. And of course, smiling, singing, and dancing are expected around her.

Her hair is getting thicker and she is crawling around like crazy! She pulls herself up on anything she can, but gets nervous to plop down and crawl again.

She's eating more, but still isn't a huge fan of the fruits. She loves her veggies and any kind of meat, cheese, and bread. The doctor gave us the green light to go to whole milk and wants us to taper off of the bottles. We just got down to 4 about a month ago, and I think it might take us some time. But this kids surprises me, so we'll see. I feel like we're having to constantly adjust to her growing. Our schedule is ever changing and she keeps us learning!

Night time is a fun routine of playtime, bathtime, then the bottle right before she crawls up to our shoulder and falls asleep. That cuddle time is the most precious part of my day and I love it. Usually it doesn't take long for her to conk out and we can lay her down in her crib, but sometimes I just want to hold her a bit longer and savor that feeling.

What a fast and amazing year it has been getting to fall in love with this baby girl. I would do anything for her and she is our world.