Happy Birthday Elle!

One year ago today I found out I was having my precious little girl! I woke up and realized my water had broke (sort of!). I went to my already scheduled doctors appointment at 10:00 a.m. and found out it was THE DAY we had been waiting for! Elle Marie was born at 9:05 that night and our hearts have been so full of love ever since. 

Sweet Elle,

I could not have asked for a more precious baby to call my own! You are so much fun to be with everyday and I catch myself trying to soak it all in b/c it is going by so quickly. I feel like we just brought you home! But, now you are a big 1 year old and have changed so much since that first day :) You started out a snuggler with me and daddy but once you got older you would keep to yourself. You really wanted to be independent! Now you are back to being a snuggle bunny and we just love it. You have this game that you have started playing with us and it is just the funniest thing to watch: You "run" from us with your arms moving across your body and then you turn around and run back to give us a big hug. You think it is the best game ever! It is so sweet! 

When you are eating in your highchair you reach out your arms for me and give me a big hug. It is in those moments that I know how special you are. You have such a love for life. It is obvious you are going to be a happy and positive little girl. 

You love to be outside and get pretty mad when it is too cold or rainy to go out. I will go to let the dogs out and you get so mad when you can not go with them. I usually find one of your favorite books and try to lure you into the play room that way. 

Speaking of books, you love to "read"! I am so happy about this b/c I am not a big reader. But, your daddy is and I hope you grow up to love books as much as he does.

You eat everything and love everything. Thank goodness! The one thing we are having trouble with is milk. You love your milk but you have never taken it cold. I guess since you were a breast fed baby you liked it nice and warm. This is totally my fault...I should have just stuck it out and given you the cold milk until you finally took it. So, we are working on that one. It is not fun but you will like it eventually.

You adore your daddy so much! I love to watch the love you two have for each other. It is everything I could have hoped for. You wait for him at the door and say "da-da" over and over everyday. The moment he walks in, you drop everything and run to where he is. 

You are a smarty! You point to objects all day long while I tell you what they are. You are not saying a lot of words but you "talk" constantly. You have gotten down the vowel sounds but haven't figured out the words quite yet. But, I will ask you where something is and you will go right to it.

We love you sweetie and look forward to lots and lots more birthdays with our sweet girl!