Happy Birthday, Julianna!

If you look at the ticker just to the left, you will see that my daughter, my sweet, funny, adorable, amazing daughter, is one year old today. One year ago she officially entered our world and it hasn't been the same since. She is a complete joy. She has been such an easy baby to care for. (Which was my deal with God, if you remember. "Okay, God, if you want me to have a baby at advanced maternal age, she better be an easy one." Yeah, that deal.) And she is so easy to love with all her cuteness and silliness and smiliness. So today, after one year of knowing her, I can't imagine my life without her. She has made my heart, and our family, complete.

In honor of her birthday, I'd like to tell you a little about Miss Julianna.


She is a dancer. Even when I was pregnant with her, I called her my little dancer. Josh was a kicker, Adam was a roller, and Jules was a dancer. Right after she could stand holding on to furniture, my mom asked her if she was going to dance. And she did! I didn't even know she knew that word. And now, whenever she hears music of any kind, she dances.

She loves buttons. Not the kind on the front of a shirt. But the kind on electronic devices. Buttons like you find on a remote or cell phone or dvd player or stereo. And she gets a little irked when she's not allowed to play with those buttons.

She is cute! And it's not just me. Since the day she was born, I have been getting stopped by perfect strangers to admire her in all her cuteness. People always comment on her eyes. They are big and blue and sparkly.

She is funny. She reminds me a lot of Adam. She loves to play and make people laugh. And she has that fun, silly, personality that charms the socks off all who know her.

She is active. She is only still when she sleeps. She loves to explore and move and play and does so all day long. (And sometimes at night.)


She speaks! She says mama, dada, hi, Adam, woof-woof, and meow. (But she only speaks when she feels like it. Not when I ask her to.)

She loves animals. She is fascinated by any kind of animals and loves to look outside at Jake and chase the cats (much to their chagrin). And she loves to hug her stuffed animals. It is sooo cute.

She loves books. Which I love. I'm hoping she'll be my book buddy since the boys would rather be, well, pretty much doing anything besides reading. I'm already saving some of my favorite books for her.

She is a gift. Not only that, she's the best kind of gift. You know when someone gives you something out of the blue that you didn't even know you needed but once you have it you use it everyday. Julianna is that kind of gift. I didn't even know I needed her. But now, after only a year of being her mommy, I don't think I could make it through the day without her.

So, today, as I think about the last year and smile with the memory of those early days, I will also look forward with great anticipation to those to come. Filled with even more love and laughter and wonderfulness with Julianna.

Happy birthday, baby girl. I love you.