Happy Birthday Sloane!

Oh, Sloane. How can it be that it’s been a year since we first met you? When we were snuggled up at Swedish totally unprepared for how deeply in love with you we instantly fell. How I knew the minute I held your slimy little body that I was meant to be your mama. We love every stinkin inch of you.

We made it through the first year without killing you – the number one goal for any first time parent. Besides the dreaded “cardboard tag left on stuffed animal incident” you sailed through your first year of life relatively unscathed. I didn’t drop you – my biggest fear that kept me up at night when I was pregnant. I still want to put a helmet on you during your waking hours, but have been able to resist that temptation.

What are you doing now, at the ripe old age of 1? Dancing – you love to dance. You wiggle your butt and shake your arms and move like crazy. You still let out low pitched grunts when you are excited but now there are some high pitched shrieks mixed in. You kick your feet and flap your arms when you see something you want. You love to throw your head back and laugh and yell. It’s awesome. You still love to say da-da-da-da for hours on end, but you finally started mixing in a few mama’s here and there. You often say “la-la-la” in a singsongy voice that makes me smile. You also say “hi” and “hiya”. I love our "conversations" and the gibberish that comes out of your mouth when you are "reading" a book out loud. You love music and anything that makes noise.

You have 6 teeth – four on top and two on the bottom. And you use them to eat pretty much anything we put in front of you. Occasionally you get picky and then fling all of your food onto the floor, which Cooper loves. You love hummus and peas so you are definitely my daughter. You love cheese and ice cream so you are definitely your dad’s daughter. You rock your sippy cup like nobody’s business and don't want any help holding your bottle.

Your hair is getting longer and curlier.  Unfortunately, you'll no longer tolerate any bows are headbands.  And I made you some really cute ones.

You really are the worlds best/easiest baby.  We try really hard not to brag too much about how much you sleep, how well you eat, and just how generally awesome you are.  But we thank our lucky stars every day that you are such a rock star.  You've definitely spoiled us.  You are just so darn happy.  But, you are starting to have lots of opinions so I have a feeling we're going to start seeing more of this face.

Peek-a-boo makes you belly laugh and you are a great copycat. You think it is hilarious when I smell your feet and tell you they are stinky. You are ticklish like your mama. You laugh a lot. You love mirrors and pictures of yourself. Bath time is your favorite and your splashing has gotten a little out of control.

You clap, wave, give high fives, and throw your arms into the air whenever anyone asks, “how big is Sloane?” You are starting to blow kisses. You are quite the ham and love to wave at strangers when we are out and about.  You are also very generous with your smooches.

You love your sister…you shriek when she comes into the room and always want to pet her. Her tail is very tempting to you and, while it’s so cute to see you lean in to give her a kiss, I’d really prefer you not try to make out with her. She is, after all, a dog.

You are a lightning fast crawler and love to just scoot from place to place on your behind. You pull yourself up on things and are starting to cruise around objects so I wonder how soon you’ll be walking. You want to explore and are constantly trying to get down when you are being held. I miss when all you wanted to do was snuggle.

You still love your binks but we limit its use to in the car and nighttime (and sometimes when you are being whiny). I’d hope to be done with it now, but I’m just not ready to give up the instant soother.

Your dad and I mostly call you Sloane but I often refer to you as buttercup, sweets, punkin, snuggle bunny and McGee. The kids at daycare call you Sloanie and sometimes one of your uncles will slip in a Sloaner but I don’t hate either nickname near as much as I thought I would.

This first year has flown by way too quickly and I just wish time would slow down.  But each day with you is more fun that the last.  We love you so very much and are so lucky you are our daughter.  Can't wait for your 12 month stats at the doc on Friday and the big bday bash this weekend.  Happy birthday, Sloane!  We love you!