Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

I can't believe it, but my baby girl is one today!  It seems like yesterday that we were driving to the hospital, hopeful that we were going to have a baby that night, and now here she is, a year later.

This little girl is such a delight.  She is constantly up for anything.  One of her current favorites is to have Parker push her around on his "lawn mower"

She is afraid of exactly nothing, which means that her Mama is afraid of EVERYTHING.

Cecily is crawling like a maniac.  The instant you put her down, she takes off for the nearest possible danger.  Keith has taken to calling her "our little pink rhino" since she will barrel right through anyone or anything in her way.

She is the most expressive baby.  We might not always know what she wants, but there's no question when she wants something.

For the third time in three months, we tried crying it out with Cecily.  So far, so good, we've had three nights in a row of Cecily sleeping through the night.  Of course, following her previous pattern I fully expect her to go back to her old ways by Sunday.

This little girl will eat just about anything.  If we dare to eat anything in-front of her that she doesn't have, she will scream bloody murder until she gets it.  The other night, she screamed all the way through dinner because we wouldn't let her have any wine.  She still doesn't have any teeth yet, but that doesn't seem to stop her.

We are excited to see who this little girl turns out to be.  She's not afraid to speak her mind and she is going to be a force to be reckoned with when she's older.

But look at that smile, isn't she just the cutest ever?

I have been trying all week to get a decent photo of Cecily for her 12-month photos.  It's nearly impossible because she refuses to sit still for more than two seconds.  I might have to recruit a helper if I want to get a shot of her in her birthday dress.

Some of the things that make Cecily especially adorable:

When you hold her, she often pats you on the back like she's the one doing the comforting.

When Cecily picks up her stuffed animals, she scrunches them up into a ball & crams them onto her face.

When she's excited to see you, her entire body shakes with excitement.

Cecily is constantly pulling herself up to standing, and now she can often stand with just one hand supporting her, and she can occasionally stand for a second or two unassisted.  She's not too eager to take any steps yet, but I think it's just around the corner.

Cecily is still a total Mama's girl at the moment, but she's warming up to Daddy more every day.

We are so lucky to have this little lady in our lives, we can't wait to see who she turns out to be.