1.11.11

my little girl's birthday. it is such a cliche, but man, time really flies! when i think back to that night of her birth, which (thankfully?) i can remember in vivid detail because of my labor's short time-span and a lack of any medication, what i thin of the most is the surprise. i watched the video (immediately after the birth, not during!) recently and i just kept saying over and over, "it's a girl", and the nurses were laughing at me. i was certain she was a boy. of course i secretly wanted a girl....my second thought is that my mom was going to be ecstatic. she made no bones about the fact that she wanted a girl.

her birthday was really a lot of fun to plan. i am sure that the three people who read this are facebook friends, so i am not going to post any photos, but i am pretty sure i will not take on so many crafts for another birthday. unless benson really loves me and lets me be a stay at home mom once ALL the kids are in school too! crafting with a baby (or gods, 2!) means having everything else done in time for naps, so you can utilize that time efficiently, or more likely, staying up until 1 am for a week or so! of course it was worth it, it turned out quite well, but i can see with 2 kids it would be too much. also, having family members (mal and trey) come down a day early to help/play with sibby while i was cleaning, is necessary!

so happy birthday to my little grumpkin! you wont remember your party, but we have some awesome photos of you with black icing covering your head, face and torso! i am thinking rehearsal dinner!

Sibyl O'Connor at 1

so sibbs might not have changed much in size over the past year (born at 6 lbs 14 ozs, now weighs 14 lbs. 13 ozs with clothes on) but her personality has definitely bloomed. first of all, she is going through a really loving stage right now which i am trying to appreciate every moment, because they fly through stages. she loves kissing. she does the open mouth kiss to most people who request one, and even some who don't, such as my dogs, sadie especially. when she wants you to pick her up, she puts her arms all the way around your neck and pats your back. it seriously makes me want to weep! she also loves to copy you. so right now she is "smelling flowers" but actually blows air out instead of in, shaking her hand and saying hot, and blowing when she sees a candle, or steam from cooking...pointing to herself when we say sibby, pointing to her nose when we say nose, and says moo everytime she sees a cow. her signature smile right now is her head thrown back, huge grin, with a crinkled up nose. it is ADORABLE! she also has a temper. i am not sure where this originated because benson and i are mellow people (unless he is in traffic) but she has been known to throw herself backwards in anger. i would say 98% of the day she is easy going and happy, but when something doesnt go her way that she wants....it is on like donkey kong.

she seems to play well with other babies. i try to make play dates at least once a week for her (and me!). sometimes they do the thing where they both want what the other one has, but otherwise she loves other babies.

she is almost walking i think. she holds on very loosely to your hands now when she is trying to walk. she pulls herself up constantly. she loves for me to crawl with her and "race". FINALLY she is into books. up until now she wanted out of my lap and into the floor. now she wants to stay there for like, 30 minutes at a time, and seems to choose books (by throwing the one i am reading on the floor and reaching for another). she prefers Beatrix Potter's the "tale of tom kitten" and Dr Suess' "ABC book".

we have her watch a 10 minute reading dvd about 2-4 times a week but otherwise (unless my family is here) we have a no tv on while sibby is awake rule. she doesnt even seem to notice when the tv is on in waycross unless it is sports, which made benson really happy! i want to continue this rule until she is 2 or 3. it makes me deliriously happy that the few times she has been in with the tv on, it doesnt hold her gaze more than a few seconds. i am hoping to keep technology away from her for as long as possible. she tries to take my iphone when i have it out, so i have had to not "play" on it when she is around, although i do use it for phone calls and put happy and poppy on speaker phone! i dont know, i have a lot of ideas about this, but we will see what happens in the long run. you cant hide it forever.

on another note we are starting to talk about possibly moving. i am very ambivalent about our house but i now that we could not survive with another baby in here for very long. we have to use the third bedroom for my parents (the goal would be to have the baby sometime in or before summer so mom can spend a lot of time here) so we could only stay here long enough to keep the baby in the bassinet in our room....although i have lived in atlanta for 4.5 years i do not know much about the neighborhoods here. i am getting nervous already because it is just not easy here....there are so many factors....what is quickly becoming a huge factor for me is distance from benson's work. he sees sibby for about 30-45 minutes a day now, and if we moved further out, that would only decrease. i am not willing for that to happen. so if we have to stay in a cruddy neighborhood like the one we are in now, so be it.

oh and here are her favorite words at 1: 1) hot. this has to be her absolute favorite! everytime she sees a candle or smoke/mist/fog etc. she says hot! 2) mama and dada and gaga 3) moo when she sees a cow 4) dog 5) clock tick tock etc. she is obsessed with clocks, and when she says tick tock she whispers 6) cracker (one of her faves too) 7) night night 8) hi/bye

anyhoo---i have to hurry and get ready for church! maybe i will update in another 6 months!