A 12 month old update! My baby is a 1 year old!

I have a feeling many tears will get shed during the writing of this post.

How is it that a whole year has gone by since we welcomed this little bundle of joy into our lives?

How has she gone from this...

to this in the blink of an eye?

How is my heart so full thinking about all of the accomplishments she has made, and all the new things she is learning to do as a 1 year old, and yet so heavy at the realisation that she is no longer a baby anymore?

Many people will tell you that becoming a parent is SO hard, I'm not really sure I can agree with that.  Tiring? Yes
Endless things to learn? Yes
Adjusting your routine so your days revolve around another human being 24/7? Yes...

but hard? No.

Is it hard to love this little baby girl unconditionally? No, it's easy!

Is it hard to watch as she learns her first words and looks around for you when she is super proud of a new skill she has picked up? No, it's a complete joy!

Is it hard to watch your smiling happy baby light up when she sees you first thing in the morning, or better still when she sees Daddy get home from work/uni each day? No, it's one of the best parts of my day! 

Is it hard to not have one single night of unbroken sleep for 11 months? Not when that beautiful little face peers up at you as you go through to give her the night feed she wants.

Is it hard to give up the things you used to do when you had free time to yourself or miss out on date nights or social engagements? No, not when you get to spend all your time with the biggest blessing in your life!

I was born to be a mother, it's what I've always wanted to do.  I have spent years imagining how fantastic it would be to bring a little baby into the world, and now that I've had the opportunity to do just that it has been better and more amazing than I ever anticipated it would be! 

This year has truly been the best year of our lives so far.

I can't wait to see how much fun lies ahead in the next one!

When I initially found out my due date was going to be at the beginning of February I was less than impressed! I am a June baby...and for me that is the ideal month to have a birthday in! splitting up the year, and halfway between Christmas fun! For me...February was just way too close to Christmas and I didn't think it was a very fun time to have a birthday at all! 

However I've reconsidered my position...because what better way to get through those gloomy January weeks...than with the excitement and anticipation of an upcoming birthday to plan!

One of the the things I was most looking forward to about becoming a mom was throwing parties for my children! My mom was always an awesome party planner and we always had amazing themed parties growing up...so I had spent months planning Ella's little Hello Kitty party.

It turned out better than I imagined in my head!

and it was so lovely that she had a complete set of grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins all there to celebrate with her!

I'll have to do a separate blog post on the birthday as I have way too many photos of it! 

So here's what she's been up to at 12 months...


Her favourite pre bath time game...sitting in the corridor and knowing that Daddy is just around the corner, she kicks her legs so much at the anticipation! and screams when he appears even though she knows he's coming! She never gets tired of it...and loves the tickles at the end! I've tried to do it with her, and it's just not as funny for her when I do it!

She LOVES waving! to anyone and everyone, she waves to every person we pass in Tesco or on the street! she loves waving to all the characters in Baby Jake as the final credits come up...and her newest trick is waving to our budgie! Yes Ella has her first pet, sort of.  Byron has had this budgie since he was 19 but it has lived with us off and on as we've moved around so much, his mom brought it up to us this past week and Ella is just thrilled about our latest addition!

As you know if you follow this blog, she just loves birds! so nearly every 20 minutes or so of the day you will find her waving to Roxy the budgie! She doesn't even seem to mind that she doesn't wave back! 

She also loves feeding the birds outside our window! it's a fun little job that her and Daddy do together!

She is still massively into animals! which is why a birthday trip to Chester Zoo was a perfect day out for her (more on that in another blog post).

She loves making animal sounds and can now tell you what a cow, cat, snake and elephant say!

She LOVES giving kissies.  She is very fair...and if giving one to Daddy when he leaves for uni in the morning, she will always turn and give me one too so I don't feel left out - even though I'm not going anywhere! Also in the past two weeks she has started giving spontaneous kisses! One morning we were reading our stack of books together like she loves to do, and she just turned around and planted a big kiss on me - it was definitely a tug on your heartstring moment!! So cute!

Her favourite things at 1:

Fave TV Shows
Baby Jake
Curious George - after all it's about a monkey!
Yo Gabba Gabba
Hooplakidz - a youtube channel with kids songs and nursery rhyme videos

Fave Books
Bizzy Bear - she loves all the flaps and things that pop up
Zoo Fun - She loves when the baby Zebra reunites with the mummy Zebra and she gets to say hooray, and then she hi-5's the zookeeper, the zebra and the bird sat on top of the zebra!
Guess Who Animal Sounds - she likes to snap when the crocodile does, and give the baby a kiss at the end of the book




Fave Toys
Hello Kitty camper van (a birthday prezzie from the Ides) - she loves putting the hello kitty figures in and out of the van over and over
Ballapalooza - She loves to hold on and dance to the song and can even sing along to the same tune going 'ah ah, ah ah ah ah'
Little farmyard animals - she loves these so much! She's had them since she was 6 months after my friend Tash bought them for her and they are still some of the first things she will go for in a room full of toys.  The green cat is her firm favourite, with the purple horse coming in a close second!




Fave Songs
Two Little Eyes & I Wiggle - both kids songs from church
If you're happy and you know it - she can do the actions to 5 verses now!
Heads, Shoulders, Knees & Toes
When all the cows were sleeping - the Scarecrow song!

Fave Foods
Blueberries
Satsumas
Broccoli
Peas

What can I say? she's a healthy girl! I don't know who she takes after!

She still loves pulling herself up on anything and everything, and is doing it 1 handed now! so her confidence is growing! She will take some steps if you hold her hands - which is new as of this week, but she still seems to prefer being on her bottom! I think the walking will be a while!

and she's getting quite helpful around the house! She likes to throw her bath toys in each night, but she's equally good at tidying them up into the toy hammock at the end of the bath too!


We've been getting out about about lots, despite the chilly weather...we're really ready for some spring around here!

 In the meantime it's been about wrapping up warm and exploring...

Helping Daddy make a time lapse down on our local beach the other day, Ella of course was pointing at some birds she had just seen!

Checking out some nice views on a new hike in the next village over, Llanfairfechan.

I pushed her in the pram all the way up to the top of the hill in our village - it was more than hard work! So much so that by the time I got to the top the nice Mommy&Ella selfie I had planned had to be abandoned because I was so sweaty and red faced! Ella was still fresh as a daisy and full of smiles! 

Feeding the ducks in Llanfairfechan - all smiles, before we had to run away because the seagulls so savagely chased us down for our bread!

It's certainly a pretty spot to feed the ducks...we may or may not go back, but will have to take Daddy as protection!

and of course we always default to our fave little spot in Snowdonia - Cwm Idwal.  It's a nice easy hike with Ella in tow whilst still taking in the views.

Unfortunately this was as far as we got before we got attacked by horizontal hail! but hopefully with better weather on the way there will be plenty more hikes ahead!

Wow, that was a busy month!