The Princess turns 1!

Today is Annabelle's 1st birthday! We can't express how much we love this little girl and how very grateful we are to have her special self sent to us. It is strange to think that we have only had her for a year; it seems like it has been forever. It is hard to imagine our lives without her. Now that I am a mother, birthdays are so much more special to me. We have been so blessed to have Annabelle and she is such an amazing little girl.

Our little Annabelle is so sweet to others and we love the sweet hugs and kisses that she gives. She gives kind hugs and loves to her dolls, stuffed animals, toys, blankets, clothes, cup, the remote control, and pretty much anything. She is curious and friendly and loves to wave to strangers when we go out. She walks everywhere and even runs. This allows her to get around the house faster and get into more things. Sometimes when she walks off and it's quiet I wonder what she is doing. I then find her just sitting on the floor reading her books. She loves books. Her favorite thing to say is "yum yum" when she wants food. If I hand her a cloth she wipes things and tries to clean them like she sees Mommy and Daddy do. She will blow her nose when we put a tissue up to it, and she likes to clap and cheer. Annabelle is excellent at sharing and she is great at bringing things to us. In the mornings one of us will go get her from her room and then bring her to the other one of us to give morning loves. When we hand her off she immediately cuddles us and gives us a hug. I love these moments when she wraps her arms around me and rests her head on my shoulder and says "ahhhh". She picks up on things and is learning everything so fast. Needless to say, the girl has personality and talent and we love it! So, brace yourself for a lot of pictures... Happy Birthday to Annabelle!

Strangely she didn't want anything to do with her birthday cake. She refused to eat her cake and then scarfed down some carrots. I don't know how this girl can be my daughter if she doesn't want her sweets. It was her first experience with chocolate so maybe it will take some time for her to realize how delicious it truly is. It's great that she prefers her fruits/vegetables but we were hoping to watch her enjoy her cake.

It looks like she is thinking, "okay Mom and Dad, I've had enough of you".

This is the princess crown cake that I made. It's nothing impressive, in fact probably the opposite of that, but it was fun to make for her.

Mama and Annabelle. I love her!

She got so many wonderful presents from both sets of grandparents and she loved them all! Thanks so much!

She likes to put things on her head and she thinks its so pretty. She will wrap something around her head and say "ohhhh" with a smile and a head tilt.

She got a special pancake and buttermilk syrup for her birthday breakfast.

Annabelle had a lot of fun opening her presents.

We took her for a birthday lunch and she ordered her first kids meal (only because we had a coupon for a free kids meal.) She liked her pizza!

This evening we had a huge thunderstorm. We watched it from our garage and Annabelle was fascinated by it. She wanted to walk out and play in the rain so Daddy went with her. There is a great video of it at the bottom of the post. We were surprised by her bravery because it was a big thunderstorm. It's just recent that she finally let us put her on the ground outside. She has always been afraid of grass, snow, dirt, concrete... Now she enjoys walking on them though.

Annabelle loves to play in forts that we build for her.

We love this picture! What a cutie! She has 5 teeth now.

The weather has been beautiful lately so we have been doing a lot of playing outside. She had a blast at playgroup the other day and she loves the swing!

By the way, I never updated on what was up with that crazy reaction that Annabelle had a while back. It turns out that it was just some sort of infection. Her IG levels all came back normal and it showed no sign of an allergic reaction. It was excellent news and a relief to know that she doesn't have some common food allergy.

This is from St.Patrick's day. We had green crepes for breakfast.

Another picture with clothes on her head.

First experience playing with sidewalk chalk. Of course it was fun playing with something new.

Playing in the rain on Annabelle's birthday!