It's Rosanna's first birthday today!! We're flying off to Sweden this afternoon so most of the celebrating will be done on other days but we did have cake for breakfast so I think she forgives us.
The cake was leftovers from one that my mum made for us last night after fathers day curry & Anna chose then to say her first ('proper') word. Just before waving goodbye to mum & dad she looked at them both & said "bye" I'm pretty sure I might have done a happy dance; I thought it was so cute. She's been waving goodbye for a little while now but that was the first time she spoke & it's what we'll officially call her first word. There have been others - like dog, cat, mamma, dadda etc. but this seemed like the first conscious verbal communication that we could understand as 'correct' & it was the perfect end to a lovely meal.
Anna has
6 teeth now (4 on the top, two on the bottom), her hair is still growing
through a pretty red shade & her eyes have definitely settled on blue. As
for mobility - she still prefers crawling but will happily walk holding someone’s
hands if the destination isn't somewhere that she wants to get to really
quickly. She's still not tried her first step unassisted but she has jumped
(two feet off the ground) on a few occasions now which seems incredibly
backwards. She also dances & climbs everything (including stairs - up &
down) which keeps me incredibly busy.
Anna
seems a little fussier with her food than Evie was at her age but that doesn't
stop us offering her everything to try & she generally doesn't get another
option if she doesn't eat what we offer her but she's still adorably
chunky so it seems obvious enough that what she does eat is plenty. She drinks
almost exclusively from a cup now too (unless we're out travelling) which
results in a few outfit changes every now & then but mostly she's amazingly
steady.
Her
facial expressions are absolutely amazing; there's so much personality shining
from her that I find it hard to look away sometimes. Her two favourites (other
than smiling) are her concentration face which is mouth wide open & duck
face which is possibly the most hardcore pout I have ever seen. I defy you to
look at the photo & not belly-laugh; the girl has sass.
I'm not
sure if I'm the only person but since becoming a parent my own personal
timeline has shifted; I used to, mentally, look back & think about what I
have achieved between each of my birthdays but now, not only do I look between
those two points, I look between my girls birthdays too. When Evelyn had each
of her birthdays I stopped to contemplate how I have changed alongside her
& now I do the same with Anna. It's like I have three years worth of life
rolled into one (which may explain why I feel so haggard some of the time).
Even with
both girls sleeping through12 hours pretty much every night, the last 12 months
have been some of the most exhausting of my life. My self-confidence has taken
a hit from how hard I find juggling things but overall I feel incredibly proud
of myself. It's the most natural thing in the world for me to be proud of my
girls & my husband but I don't think that I've ever sat back & felt
that I am, truly, doing as much as I can with as much care as I can possibly
afford & that feels like a pretty major achievement.
As for
the next 12 months... I'm so excited to see what they will bring & how Anna
will grow. I love her more every day.
