Happy 1st Birthday Belle

One year since you showed up smiling into our lives. “But newborns can’t smile,” we heard. But you did – you were born smiling and squealing with laughter.

It’s been One year since you made Nathan cry when you came home. One year since you illuminated our lives with excitement, joy, gratitude, intensity, and a lot of plain old fun.

I have watched you evolve into a strong, self-confident, funny, loving little girl. In this short year you learned to roll, crawl, walk, talk, run, get into everything, and share endless bits of joy. You wake up with a scream which quickly becomes loving hugs and kisses as you snuggle in bed with us. You help daddy get Nathan ready for school, lathering him up in the bath, choosing his clothes, walking him out to the bus. You decided to stop nursing one day and love eating all sorts of foods.

You learned how to fall asleep on your own, sleep through the night, go down the slide at the park all by yourself, climb up and you’re working on climbing down stairs, climb up on all sorts of things, and to assert your independence.

Your favorite word is “nonono” – and most of us love offering you things you don’t want just so we can watch you shake your head, arms, and whole body while you say “nonono”.

You’ve got grandma and grandpa wrapped around your little finger and have taught them how to do your bidding at ALL times (including at 3 am in the morning when you make grandpa rub your back while you sleep during your Friday night sleepovers).

You are a daddy’s girl and a mommy’s girl, but most of all you are Nathan’s girl. You love your brother to pieces and he loves you just as much back. You can’t get enough of him! You love hanging out with him in the morning while mommy and daddy squeeze a few more minutes of sleep in – just you and Nathan, chilling. We can often find you covering him in kisses and love bites. You bring him toys, make him laugh, caress his face, suck on his toes.

You’re an all-terrain type of baby – you’ve already been to Brazil, Colombia, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Catalina Island – all with so much excitement. You love to travel, explore, experience new things – and you take everything in with your serious face and beautiful big brown eyes.

I am in love with your expressions – I haven’t been able to capture on camera even a quarter of them! So many expressions and faces from such a young little baby. A baby who is now 1 year old! Oh Izzy I can’t believe you are already ONE!

And it’s been the best ONE of my life. Thank you for everything you bring to our lives. Thank you for being the most amazing daughter and sister. When I was pregnant and dreamed of having you in my arms, I had all sorts of ideas of how I wanted you to be. You are so much more than I imagined, so much more than I could conceive, so much more than my wildest dreams.

Happy 1st Birthday my beautiful daughter!

Birthday Party slideshow: