One Year Old

The day came.

I knew it would.

But I had hoped I could stretch out a whole year to seem like it was lasting longer. I was hoping it would wait. Maybe for another year or two. That would be good. Then maybe I'd be ready to move on. Maybe.

But it didn't wait for me to decide I was ready. I guess that's the thing about time: it's pretty pushy. When it says "now!" you better be ready 'cuz there ain't no other choice.

That's how I feel about my baby's first birthday.

It came and I wasn't ready.

But I had no other choice.

For a few days, I resisted. Okay, sometimes now I still find myself resisting. I still call her my baby. I still long for her to cuddle on my chest and sleep. But I'm learning to embrace this new period in my life - and hers. I'm learning that I love being a mom to a toddler as much as I loved being a mom to a baby. I'm learning all about my little girl now, her personality, the things she likes to do and most definitely does not like to do. And even though I wasn't ready and wanted to beg time for some extra, I love where we are at now. I really do.

For Livie's birthday, we were pretty low key. We had pancakes for breakfast. Fun pancakes in shapes from letters of our names. I didn't do a fantastic job, but when your child is only a year old, you can get away with pretty much anything.

See that pancake? I know, I am a stellar pancake maker. For sure.

She had fun getting a whole pancake to herself.

That morning I helped a family in our ward pack so they could move so we didn't do much in the morning. But later in the day we took her to the zoo for the first time. She had a lot of fun people watching. I'm not really sure if she cared a whit for the animals but she sure thought all the people were great!

She likes hats.

Proud as a peacock can be, this one was. It acted a little put out that I would make it stop grooming itself so it could pose for pictures. :D

I love how regal lions look. No wonder they are called King of the Jungle.

Baby zebra! :)

Sloth bear. Not the most beautiful creature on this planet, if you ask me.

Playing with her hat.

I just realized that this picture looks a tad bit like an elk. It's not. It's a camel.

Flamingos are so cool! I mean, a pink bird? Yes. Very cool. And some of them were sitting on nests, so that was especially cool.

This turtle looks bigger than it actually was.

We also went to the park, where she had more fun people watching. She didn't care at all about the slide {which she usually loves at our house} but she sure liked watching all the other kids run around. The only time she seemed focused on the activity she was participating in was when she was swinging - I think that's because she couldn't decide if she liked it or not! And, she found that if she didn't pay attention and keep her hands in just the right position, she would fall forward, which she knew she wasn't fond of. So she paid attention. :)

Look at that smile! At this point of the swinging experience, she liked it. :)

Then that night she had a grand time discovering the game cupboard for the first time. She really likes cards. We waited to give her her birthday presents until her party the next day. Again, just another advantage of her being so little is that she didn't know and didn't care. And we decided that it was gift enough to unload all the cards from the game cupboard.

"Now I know why you and daddy like playing games so much. This is fun!"