Our Big Girl

Yesterday we celebrated our little girl's first birthday.  Wow, she's turning into such a big girl!  Yesterday mommy made her a banana cake with banana cream frosting and some chocolate chips.  We wanted to give her a yummy but somewhat healthy cake that wouldn't completely overload her with sugar.  As you can see in the pictures, she seemed to really enjoy it!

This past year has truly been the best year of our lives.  She is just so incredible and brings us so much joy.  Gabriella continues to grow and change daily and we're afraid to blink or we'll miss the last moment of one phase or the first of another.

For the longest time we thought she just might make it to one year with her gummy little toothless smile.  But about a month and a half ago all her chewing and drooling finally gave way to her first little pearly white.  And since then several more have popped through too.  She now sports a very toothy little smile.  Three prominent teeth on top and two barely-there teeth on bottom.

Another recent development is walking.  Walking!  That's what big kids do!  She took her first steps a few weeks ago, but could only manage two or three at a time and only if she didn't realize what she was doing.  Mostly she still got around by crawling or walking on her knees (a super cute phenomenon that attracts a lot of attention and commentary).  Taking a couple actual steps happened very sporadically and unpredictably until one week ago.  At that point she started having more series of five to eight steps and was starting to get more consistent.  And today I came home from work to Andrew telling me how much more confidence she seems to have and she is suddenly walking from furniture to furniture and halfway across the family room and kitchen.  She is practically running around with excitement at her new wobbly skill!

There are so so many other amazing discoveries every single day.  What an incredible journey it has been.  And while it's hard to think that our little baby is growing into a toddler, we know that the journey will continue to be incredible and full of wonder.  There is truly nothing better than experiencing the joy and love of parenthood.