My Lady Lou

My sweet baby girl turned 1 a couple of weeks ago.  I can't believe it has already been a year!

A few things about my girl from her first year of life...

 I'll never forget this moment.  Here she is, just minutes old.  It is amazing how one tiny person can hold so much of your heart.

And here she is, only a day old.  I remember this moment as if it were just yesterday.  Trent had left for a little while, and it was just the two of us.  I couldn't bring myself to put her down, even for a moment.  I just couldn't get enough of her.  She kept looking at me with her dark, dark blue eyes; the deepest shade of navy; looking at me with all of the trust in the world.  I was smitten.

 She was blessed by her daddy when she was 2 months old, on Father's Day no less.  :)  My mom made her blessing dress, and it turned out absolutely beautiful.

2 months old

She was such a little cuddle bug.  (Still is.)  And a great sleeper to boot.  I spent many of her nap times with her in my arms instead of putting her in her bed.  I just felt like the rest of life could wait for a little while if it meant I got to snuggle with my baby.

3 months old

These are some of the first pictures I took of her using something other than my cell phone camera.  It took me long enough, I know.

 

 4 months old
She has always been a very happy and smiley baby.
 

Even in her sleep.

 I just had to throw this one in.  She was such a little peanut.  What is it about babies and kids when they are sleeping?  They look so angelic and peaceful.

5 months
Still smiling.  Don't let her fool you though.  This girl has had a temper from day one.  She has always been very content and happy, but the second she became (becomes) bothered by something, you best watch out.  There is no in-between with this girl.  We're talking 0-60 in less than 2 seconds.  No warning whatsoever.  We are very lucky that 99% of the time she is all smiles and happy.  :)

5 months
Her first taste of a lollipop.  We only let her have 1 or 2 tastes.  Yep, she loved it.

6 months

She loved her first taste of cereal.  She had no problems chowing it right down.

 However, she was not that thrilled with her first taste of squash.  I used to make homemade baby food all the time for Trenton and Colson.  I don't know what my deal was with Vivi and Preston.  I guess I got lazy, but I was determined to make homemade, organic baby food for Jilly.  Except for the fact that she wouldn't eat it!  The little stinker.  I tried several different foods.  All to no avail.  But when I would giver her the same foods from a store bought jar of baby food, she loved it!  Oh well, at least I tried.  She'll eat anything you put in front of her now though.  I was eating a Caprese salad for lunch the other day, and I swear she ended up eating half of it.  She LOVES food!  It literally makes her giddy.  I can't blame her one bit.  I feel the same about food.

6 months

I love her chubby little cheekies.

6 months

It's just like her outfit says... This girl is "wild" about her daddy.  She loves him to pieces!  When she was just a tiny little squirt, she would just stare and stare at him whenever he was in the room.  Her eyes would follow him wherever he went.  And she could totally recognize his voice from the time she was just tiny.  It's probably from all of the talking he did to my belly when I was pregnant with her.  She is definitely a daddy's girl.

 My girl at 7 months old.  She had finally just started sitting up!  I love all of her chub!

 Jilly and I on Christmas Eve.

Her first Christmas.  The kids were more excited to show her how her new toy worked than they were about their own toys. :)

 In their new Christmas dresses grandma Guercio made them.  This was right after church on Christmas day.  Jilly was in serious need of a nap.

7 months
Her new trick.  She still does this sometimes, but not as much as she used to.  I love it.

 7 1/2 months
She wore this hat all winter.  So cute!
 
 Her first rally.  She would start clapping every time people would cheer.  She loved Mitt Romney! :)

 8 months old and still just sitting up.  Although I have to say, I was totally content with her not being able to crawl yet.  I was not going rush her on that one.

 8 months
She started doing the funniest thing.  Whenever she was tired, she would reach up and lightly run her finger tips back and forth over her eyelashes.  She also started reaching up and doing the same thing to my eyelashes when I would rock her to sleep.  She was really, really gentle too.  So cute.

8 1/2 months
She finally started to get up on her hands and knees.  She wasn't completely crawling yet, more just scooting, but she was really close.  She took off a couple of weeks after this and I actually had to start thinking about how to keep her out of things. ;)  

 Between 10 and 10 1/2 months old, she got a whole set of teeth.  She got two bottom teeth within days of each other.  About a week later, her four front top teeth came in, all within a week.  So she got 6 teeth all in about 2 weeks.  I love her little teethums.  Adorable!

11 months
Her first time in the swing, and she absolutely loved it!  She laughed hysterically! 

 Just shy of 1 year.

 She loves her siblings so much, and they love her to pieces!

And now she is one. 

Here she is, coming through her streamers the morning of her birthday.  We went downstairs after this, and the older boys, who really, really like their food, asked, "Are you going to make waffles?!"  I had just planned on giving Jilly a banana for breakfast (her favorite), but the boys quickly reminded me that waffles are our birthday tradition.  Needless to say, we had waffles.  We also turned on the "Birthday" song by the Beatles for Jilly, to which Preston promptly said, "Hey!  That's my birthday song!"  After a minute, he agreed to share it with her. :)

Standing at the sliding glass door, watching the older kids play on the deck.

Cake time! As we sang "Happy Birthday" to her, she looked around at all of us with pure confusion on her face.

I think she liked it though.

She didn't know what to think when we set the whole cake down right in front of her.  She spent a few minutes poking her finger in the hole where the candle had been.

When she finally started to dig in to the cake, we all started cheering really loud.  She loved that!

Getting her first really good taste.  Yum!  It was a pretty tasty cake if I do say so myself.  Strawberry Coconut cake with cream cheese frosting.

She did a pretty good job on her cake.  Funny story:  As Jilly was going to town on her cake, Trenton said, "I wish I could do that on my birthday!"  Uncle Sean started cracking up and said, "What... You wish we could strip you down to your undies, put you in a high chair, and let you dig in to a cake with your hands?!"  That brought on quite the mental image, and we all started laughing hysterically.

After getting nice and messy from her cake, Jilly got a bath in the sink.  Also a 1st birthday tradition at our house.

  All nice and clean.
 

Getting ready for the balloon launch.

The whole gang.

Jilly has been such a blessing in our house.  We all love her so much and can't imagine life withour her.  Happy birthday sweet girl!  We love you to pieces!