Happy First Birthday Mylee

On the first day of spring, March 20th, our sweet little Mylee Jo turned one year old. I can't believe how the time has flown this past year and how much having Mylee in my life makes me so happy. We truly have be blessed and are so thankful for our healthy girls. Jo-jo is so sweet; I really can't get enough of her. I've loved having a baby in the house again this past year and so thoroughly have enjoyed watching her grow and develop. She has learned so much so fast, which I believe can be attributed to her watching and playing with her older sister. Maddy has been such an amazing big sister and I love the admiration the two of them have for each other and am afraid that it will be short lived. So I'll enjoy it while I can.

The month approaching her first birthday has been a lot of fun. We seemed to finally get over all the sicknesses and Mylee has been sleeping better although has her occasional nights where she needs daddy to find her a paci. Developmentally, she continues to amaze us at how quickly she understands and picks up on things. She goes up and down the stairs in the blink of an eye and knows how to turn around and go down on her tummy when she's at the top. Its super adorable because she'll turn around and lay on her belly and push herself backwards until she finds the first step. Sometimes she runs into the wall first but eventually gets it. So proud of her! She is really trying to run these days and loves to stomp when she is wearing shoes. She'll spin in a circle and lift one of her legs and stomp...so cute! She has learned to walk in the grass and down the driveway as they were new to her once we finally were able to get outside...and she LOVES to be outside...she'll throw a fit when its time to come it. She's obsessed with the water drain at the end of our driveway, which she knows she isn't supposed to go by. She'll walk down by it and shake her head no-no in anticipation of me telling her. I'm saying it now...Mylee might have been an easy-going, laid back baby, but she's going to be a handful of a toddler, possibly worse than Maddy! I guess when both of your parents are stubborn and bull-headed you have a good chance of being as well.

Mylee continues to love baby dolls, dancing, music, and playing chase. She'll participate in a few nursery rhymes with hand motions, such as "If You Are Happy and You Know It", "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", and "The Wheels on the Bus". She understands a lot of simple questions/commands, such as "where is your blankie/paci", "can you give that to mommy", "go get your shoes", etc. She is starting to help us get her dressed by pushing her arms through, but still won't sit still to get her diaper changed. She loves to feed herself with utensils and is much better with fine motor control than I remember Maddy ever being. Maddy would still eat with her fingers if we let her. She likes to put things in and out of each other, such as the bubble wand in and out of the bubbles. She waves bye-bye, blows kisses, and gives an occasional open mouth smooch as well. She loves to cuddle and pelvic thrust the floor when she's excited. It looks a bit inappropriate, but I think it's adorable.

Now if we could just get her to talk and drink milk from a sippy cup. She'll say "ah-oh" and uses it appropriately almost always and will actualy find things to do just to say it, like throw something on the floor. The only other word she uses a lot is "ba-ba", but not appropriately. She uses it a lot for Mac and Moe and I'm not sure if she picked it up from us calling Makinac, Bubbas or what but that is always what she says when she sees them.

She had her one-month well-ness visit on the 24th. She got a great report of health and development. Her stats are as follows:
Weight: 22 lb 6 oz (70th %ile)
Height: 31 inches (95th %ile)
Head circumference: I forget exactly (95th %ile)

So it's been an amazing year and I just love being Mylee's mommy!