My baby turns ONE!!

One year ago this morning we welcomed this most amazing little girl into our family!!  I love her more than words can say.  She is a happy, quiet, and very observant little person.  She definitely has chosen to do things at her own pace.  Because she has been much slower at learning to roll, sit up and even crawling (she is still not crawling on her hands and knees), it has allowed me to enjoy the baby phase for so much longer.  I love her. Jaycee is working on using a few signs to communicate whats she wants like food/eat, milk/drink and more.   You know you are doing something right when you look over right before the dinner prayer and your now one year old has her arms folded.  We have never prompted her in any way. It has been through observance only.  There definitely is power through example.  She loves to eat what everybody else is having.  She KNOWS that snacks are kept in the diaper bag and if she sees me reach in there for anything, out comes the binkie!

I have been working really hard with her on her physical therapy these past couple of weeks.  Sometimes it takes a long time to see any results.  I have seen a little payoff this past week.  She is able to get herself up her knees and rock back and forth, but then drops back into the army crawl, but because she can get on her knees, she has figured out how to get up over the one and only step we have in the house and then her travels are endless!  She is slowly working on being able to hold her weight while standing, but only for a few minutes.  She does really well when distracted though!  I bought her a activity table yesterday and she stood and played for almost 30 minutes before she realized her legs were getting tired.

When Jaycee first was born and I saw her RED hair, I thought there is no way that child belongs to me!  It took a long time for me to love it.  As each day passes, it tends to get a little more brown and I think to myself, I should have enjoyed it more.  There are many days when I look at Jaycee that I see my late Grandpa Benson.  Sometimes I feel like Jay was handpicked by him.  Jaycee goes in for her one year check up tomorrow, so I will write about all that good stuff tomorrow.  I can't believe that this the last first birthday we will celebrate in our home.  I can't even fathem how fast time flies.  I need to be better about enjoying every moment because they go by way to quickly.  Jaycee, I love you.  I am grateful beyond words that you have chosen to be part of our family.  Love, mom.