this is the life.: April 2013

Our sweet baby girl is ONE year old today...

...and while I have sadly gotten too busy to blog lately, it had

to make its return for this precious little lady's special day!

Just like her quick and crazy arrival, this last year has gone by fast and been pretty crazy. We have learned how to handle life with two kiddos, even though how to do that changes pretty much daily. Laila is an amazing and caring big sister, especially lately, and I think she is really enjoying the fact that Juliet is growing up and starting to become more of a playmate. Laila is always sweet if Juliet is crying and asks her what's wrong, and always tries to make it better by giving her a paci, a toy, or a snack. Don't get me wrong, she gets plenty annoyed with her at times too, but overall they love each other and I am so excited to watch their relationship develop as they become more like peers and friends.

It is amazing how much these kids change in a year. In a month. In a week, even. Juliet is now standing on her own rather solidly for longer periods of time each day, and takes a few steps on her own here and there...mostly from one object to another, rather than in an open space. I am sure she'll be fully walking in a few weeks or so. She is babbling a ton and so far she says, "juju", "dada", "baby", "baba" (for bottle), "ba" for ball, "ariel" (her favorite disney character!), "poop", "shoe", and probably a few others I'm not remembering. She signs "more" and "all done" when eating or playing. She eats pretty much everything now and has a very good appetite. Some of her favorite foods are avocado, olives, mac n cheese, cheese sticks, black beans, and green vegetable pouches. We are currently transitioning from formula to cow's milk...mostly she is getting a combo right now but just because I am trying to use up the rest of the formula I have! She is wearing size 4 diapers, mostly size 18-24 month clothes and size 4 shoes. She sleeps 7-7 at night and is napping 9:30-11 and 2:00-4:00.

She has done a lot of new things lately like learning to crawl through structures on playgrounds, has gone swimming and daddy took her for her first bike ride!

We visit Disneyland often and she loves it. Her favorite ride is The Little Mermaid ride at California Adventure. Her face lights up when we walk in and she sees all of the familiar characters on the wall. She will point and say, "Ariel!" It is fun to see how much her awareness has changed since I started taking her there when she was only 5 months old. She takes everything in, gets a little startled here and there, but is generally very brave and has never cried on any of the rides.