It’s official. My beautiful baby girl is now a one-year-old. I swear that she actually looked older on Monday morning when I came into her room to wish her a happy birthday. It’s so surreal. The year just seemed to fly by. Our close friends just had a baby last month and it’s just so crazy to think we were in the same position only 11 months ago, how much L has changed since that first few weeks, how much we have changed. It’s hard to even picture my life without her in it now, but it was only a year ago that she first entered it (not including those 9 months we shared a body). I feel like she woke me up. And every day since–even the really tough days–is better than the last.

We had a busy family-filled weekend with her party and Easter and a visit to the aquarium. All her aunts and uncles, grandparents and cousins came by. It was actually the first time we’ve hosted a family thing at our home, which felt really nice even though our space is on the cozy side. L was a bit overwhelmed by all her visitors, but it was still a lovely day. We’ve actually kept all the decorations up (at least while the helium lasts in the balloons) because she seems so fascinated by them. Why not?

We went to my folk’s house for Easter the next day and got to spend more time hanging out with the clan, which was a nice treat.

And then on her official birthday we went to the aquarium with her grandparents, Auntie Erin, Hayden and Gemma. It was our first time there and it was a total hit. She was just so excited by all the different underwater creatures, pointing to everything she found especially cool and saying “da daaa,” which I assume means something like, “whoa, look at that!”

The pointing has really been ramping up in the past couple weeks actually. When she gets up in the morning or up from a nap, she points to her Tin Tin prints, says, “tin tin,” and smiles or giggles when you take her to look more closely. When she comes into the living room she now points to the balloons or the pom pom banner I made and says, “da daaa” or “gee gee.” I mean seriously? The cute factor can be off the charts sometimes. This kid of mine, I tell you.

Yesterday she had her one-year check up with her pediatrician. Apparently we have to nix the bedtime bottle? Sigh. Just when you think you’ve figured it out…