Rebecca's 1st Birthday

Our little girl turned 1 yesterday! It's hard to believe. We had a great day yesterday and were able to enjoy the wonderful spring weather. Rebecca "read" all of her birthday cards over and over. In the afternoon Mary and Rebecca played at the local elementary school playground. Rebecca was fascinated by all of the kids...but wasn't quite sure she was ready to join them :) She really enjoyed the rocking toy, though. And she got to try one of her new hats. Mary made Rebecca a special birthday dinner - chicken nuggets, sweet potato fries, peas and cheese. Rebecca had her first taste of ketchup...she wasn't sure what to think of it. At least Mommy got a laugh out of her funny face. After dinner we opened gifts. We gave Rebecca a set of mega blocks, 3 CDs of kids music, some sand toys and some wooden blocks. Rebecca loves all the blocks. She carried around a couple of the wooden blocks the rest of the evening. After gifts we had cake and ice cream. Rebecca dove right into her piece of cake :) She wasn't as crazy about the ice cream. We'll have to work on that ;) By bedtime Rebecca was so tired. All of the excitement and so much exercise really wore her out. We had so much fun celebrating as a family. We relaxed. We played. We enjoyed the outdoors. And most of all we had fun watching our little miracle play and have fun.

Rebecca is changing so much every day. She has already graduated from walking to running! And she's getting good at walking on the grass. She has adjusted to wearing regular shoes very well. Rebecca walks all over the house all day. She really wears herself out. Before we know it our chubby little girl won't be so chubby :) She loves playing outside. She immediately wants to take a ride in her wagon or swing when we go out. Rebecca adds to her vocabulary almost daily. She says too many words to count now. A few of her newest additions are "Grandma," "Carson," "crackers" and "don't." She still loves to read and dance. She danced along to her new music yesterday. And sometimes she'll even "sing" with her CDs or with the piano. She has learned how to sing "e-i-e-i-o" when you sing "Old McDonald" with her. Rebecca eats mostly table food now. She just decided this week that baby food isn't meant to stay in your mouth. Instead it should be spit back out :p So we're having fun experimenting with new food for her. So far her favorites are still cheese and avocado. But we learned this week that she also loves beans! She devoured the black beans we gave her. And she seemed to like pinto beans too. She loves peas. Although eating them is a slow process...one at a time. She is still teething and working on getting her molars all the way through.

Monday is Rebecca's 1 year check up. She'll get another round of vaccinations. Hopefully they won't bother her too much. We're anxious to get all of her stats.

Today we're hoping to go to Frederick Meijer Gardens in the afternoon. We want to check out the butterfly exhibit and see the children's garden. Rebecca will have fun walking around and seeing lots of other kids.

We have enjoyed our first year as parents. God has truly blessed us with this precious little girl. We look forward to watching her continue to grow and learn, and we pray that God will guide us as we raise her. Happy Birthday, Rebecca! Be sure to check out her birthday photo album!

It's amazing what a difference one year makes.