Happy 1st Birthday Rori!

Today Rori officially turned 1 year old which is amazing. In some ways her being born last year seems so long ago and in some ways it feels like it has gone by so fast.

The first few months of both kids lives were a little tough. I know some people love those first few months, but with both of our kids they have been all about survival with the lack of sleep, nursing, hormones, acid reflux, and fussiness. For us it just gets more fun as time goes on. Thankfully both kids were great sleepers from about 6 weeks which helped make the often fussy awake hours survivable. At about 4 months we feel like a switch went off with Rori and she really started to enjoy life.

We feel so blessed that she is healthy and beautiful. We wanted her very badly before she was here. Finding out she was a she after already having a he was icing on the cake. For the entire first month of her life there was some concern about her hearing which added a lot of stress and concern to our lives. When it finally came back that her hearing was 100% we felt so grateful. We want to remember that feeling of horrible unrest followed by extreme gratitude always. These little ones and each new step they take are miracles and never something we want to take for granted.

She is such a fun baby. She makes us laugh all the time with her big grins and her assertive little personality.

Here are 12 things we'd like to remember about her at 12 months old:
1) She loves to laugh and be tickled.
2) She flirts with everyone but will only let the men hold her.
3) She often prefers to be on Mom's hip.
4) She loved to give her Daddy kisses and swim with him.
5) She thinks it is a fun game to chase Kai around the house with the fastest crawl ever.
6) She points her little finger at what she wants and seriously tell us about it.
7) She prefers big people food- even slightly spicy stuff.
8) She does not love having Mommy out of her sight or being trapped in the carseat.
9) She still has some red hair on top and bright blue eyes.
10) She is often reffered to as fiesty.
11) She rarely sits still.
12) She continues to be a fabulous sleeper.

We love our Rori very much!

We spent her big day enjoying some more time with Grandma and Grandpa Whitney. We drove them around showing them some of our favorite spots, put together and checking out some of the new birthday gifts, had lunch with Daddy downtown, and took Grandma and Grandpa to the Gateway to check out the Planitarium, the Sporting Good Store, and the fountains. Rori was a big fan of the Orange Julius from the food court now that she has mastered the straw. Then we dropped them off at the airport and headed home for much needed naps. Birthdays are fun but exhausting. Good thing we have a whole year to gear up for next time.

Many thanks to everyone who make our kids feel so special and loved!