Katelyn is One!

1 year. 12 months. 52 weeks. 365 days. Anyway you slice it, Katelyn celebrated a big day yesterday! We really, truly can't believe how fast this year has gone. The newborn baby that we were holding what seemed like a few months ago, is now a wobbling, walking one-year-old! 

We will never forget the day our lives changed forever in the most amazing way on February 17, 2010. At the time, we had no idea how much fun, laughs, and love was in our future - and we still don't know what's ahead of us now. But we have made every effort to savor each day with Katelyn because so many of our friends and family warned us how fast the time goes (yep, they were on to something!)

At a year old, here's what Katelyn is up to:

~ She is on the move! She does not like to be "contained" anymore and wants free reign to roam the house. As you probably saw in the previous post, she's a pretty good walker, but when that doesn't get her where she needs to be fast enough crawling definitely does the trick (she's speedy too!)

~ She loves the stairs. While we have a gate up at the top of the stairs, the bottom is open and she zips over there in no time and starts her quest up them (Michael or I are right on her tail!)

~ Blueberries are her absolute favorite food. She chows on them like I've never seen her chow on anything before. When she wants more, she arches her back in her high chair and squeals. She even recognizes the "blueberry bowl" that we use and excitedly points to it.

~ Napping has been a bit of a struggle lately. Katelyn thinks she's such a big girl that she only needs one nap a day. (Mommy thinks otherwise :) It's somewhat hit or miss, but usually 3-4 days a week, she just takes one nap a day (and not necessarily a longer one). Generally on those days, she does go to bed between 6 and 6:30 p.m.

~ Katelyn understands shoes. She always walks over to our shoes by the door and tries to put her feet in them! She also sticks her little tootsies up toward me when I say, "Time to put your socks on."

~ She loves to "share" her food with us by reaching toward us with a little fistful of food. She thinks it's hilarious when we pretend to gobble it up.

~ Her official 1-year check-up is next week, but when we were at the doctor on Wednesday, she weighed in at 21 lbs. 3 oz.

~ Katelyn is a climber. This little monkey climbs up, on, or around anything she can. At school, they have all kinds of climbing opportunities with an indoor "tree house" and other larger toys (that our town home would not be able to accommodate), so she has fun on those.

~ She continues to be able to identify her favorite toys and other objects. When we ask, "Where is your phone?", she picks it up and holds it out to us like, "Here it is!" She also does this with Sophie the giraffe, her toy cow, her dolly, stuffed green beans (yes, you read that right), and any kind of ball.

Last night Katelyn had her first taste of the above (giant) cupcake (yes, I did get one with 2 inches of frosting knowing all well that Michael and I would be batting "clean-up" on that bad boy!). She plunged her hands right into the hot pink frosting and put it right in her mouth. She seemed to like it, but equally enjoyable was squishing the frosting between her fingers! She also ate her dinner off of our "You Are Special Today" plate... we got this as a wedding gift and use it on special days and note the date and occasion on the back.

What a big milestone for sweet Katelyn Clare! We are so humbled to have been given life's greatest gift. We look forward to all the fun ahead, but not without enjoying the present (whether in times of calm or chaos) and being full of gratitude for every moment with you so far. Happy 1st birthday, Katelyn! Your smile and spirit bring our family so much happiness and love.

{Tomorrow is our sweetheart's birthday party at Gramma and Grampa Ridnour's house in Ames. Stay tuned for what is sure to be an overabundance of photos and stories from the fun!}