Dear Sugarpie,

Oh my goodness, baby girl, you are ONE WHOLE YEAR OLD today!! I simply cannot believe it. Our 68 hour labor seems like yesterday, but some of it seems light years ago.

You have turned into such a beautiful little human being. I am amazed to see your little (big) personality unfolding as you find new ways to express that little sassafrass who lives inside of you. I am overwhelmed every day with how much I love you and I am flattered that you love me too! You and I are constant companions and total BFFs.

I never could have imagined the child that was waiting to greet me when you were break dancing in my belly. I never thought you would have two eyes that I never tired of gazing at. I never knew how much I could obsess over a pair of tiny feet. I never imagined what it would be like fall in love with you every time you nursed. I just didn’t know. I did not know what an amazing and sweet child that was waiting for me. How could I?

And now you are one. No longer a baby, but officially a toddler…even though you aren’t toddling yet. You’re still so tiny! You’re still my baby 🙂 You’re so happy, it makes Mommy happy. You love people and love being out and about right next to me. And I love it too!

You have amassed a vocabulary of 5 words, and you use them with a purpose. You say Mama, and Daddy

(Dah-dee!), you say bye bye and you say hi. It’s very clipped and has no h. It reminds me of Ozzy Osborne at the beginning of Crazy Train, so cute!

You’re so affectionate! Mommy gets lots of unsolicited hugs

and kisses…it’s the best thing ever.

You love to say hi to everyone at the store. Sometimes when I’m buckling you into your car seat, you’ll start saying hi and I’ll look to see someone passing by!

And you say milk. All of the time, you ask for milk. It sounds like mee-il mee-il mee-il and you never just say it once. I tried to teach it to you in sign language, but who needs that when you have a word, right?

You also have an incredible repertoire of scat. Here are your faves: dooweedooweedooweedooweedoo, bee-yo-beeyobeeyobeeyo, gully gullygullygully, doi doi doi, and zoo-buh zoo-buh zoo-buh. Ella Fitzgerald would be jealous. The last few days have seen a lot oh-hohohoho, and oooooooooooh. You purse your tiny lips and my heart melts. It’s so funny!

You’ve started to reach up your arms when you want to be picked up. I cannot resist when that is accompanied by Mama.

Oh and Sugarpie, you LOVE YOUR DADDY. You have started to shower us equally with your baby obsession. You and Daddy spend lots of time together on weekend mornings while Mommy sleeps, that’s your special time together. You even cried when he had to go out-of-town last month — heart breaking! Your enthusiasm for him makes me SO happy and it makes me love you both even more.

How many songs have you and Daddy written together? Tons! And that’s a lot. I hope you’re lucky enough to inherit his extreme creativity, I think you will. Here’s a song with a slideshow that you and Daddy wrote on way back from Italy.

We’re planning a little party for you with our family. You’ll have cake! For the first time, you will have Mommy’s favorite dessert. All of your grandparents will be here and some of our closest friends too.

Today Mommy made you a new batch of blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs — two of your fave things! (Yes, eggs have finally made their way back into your good graces.)

You still love nursing, I’m so proud of us that we made it a year! There were times in the beginning that I didn’t think we’d make it at all, Sugarpie. But we did it 🙂 And hopefully we can keep going for a little longer, I know you’re not ready to stop! You must be growing because between nursing and eating solids like a horse these last few days, you might put a teenage boy to shame.

But my sweet girl, all I want to do today is squeeze your baby sweetness and smell your hair and try to remember every minute of who you are right now. I’ve seen how times flies and I know that tomorrow you will be just a little older, today you are just a little bigger than you were yesterday, and on it goes.

Here’s to many more happy years, Sugarpie!

I love you forever and ever ,

xoxo Mommy

ps–Wordpress said I can’t make a slide show right now 😦 I had one picture picked out from every month of your life! We’ll just have to make that a separate post.