Anna turns 1!

It is hard to believe that a year has passed since we welcomed Anna into our family! Her arrival exactly on her due date, March 6th, is typical Anna. All during this first year, she met every milestone when she was ready and not one minute sooner. Rolling, sitting, crawling, teething and walking (if she ever decides to try that one) have all occurred a bit later than it did with her sisters. That's just fine, she can not be rushed. She does things in her own time.

Anna is such a patient, easy-going child. I struggled with sufficient milk supply often during her nursing time and she was always so patient. (Hmm, chasing two other toddlers around, barely enough time to feed myself - no wonder I couldn't keep up my supply!) Her morning nap is frequently interrupted to take her big sisters to school and she just goes with the flow, sleeping a bit longer in the afternoon if she needs it. Anna has battled frequent ear infections this winter and has been such a trooper through multiple doctor visits, antibiotics and such.

At 1, she is a lightening-fast crawler and gets into just about everything. Her favorite demolition spots are the cookbooks and DVDs. She lights up when Maggie or Claire pay her the slightest bit of attention and loves to giggle with them. She squeals when it's story time and loves to turn the pages.

Anna is pure joy! I am so excited to watch her grow and see her bond with her big sisters. We are so very blessed!

Illness cancelled the big birthday party we had planned, so we ended up celebrating multiple times with different family and friends. Here are the highlights:

Under the weather, but still up for presents from family

Well enough for signing and cake on actual birthday

Mmm, first sugar!

"So Big" in my party dress

Mommy and Me - celebrating surviving our first year!

My very own smash cake


Party #3 - getting pretty good at this unwrapping thing

Princess Aurora

To say Claire is obsessed with Sleeping Beauty is an understatement. Aurora is her favorite Disney princess, hands down. Claire received the movie for Christmas and asks to watch it at least every other day. I often catch her just looking at the DVD case. At bedtime, she often requests "The Sleeping Beauty Song" as her lullaby. Recently, I caught this amazing video and am so happy to document this phase in Claire's life. I especially like Claire's dramatic exit at the end. A future actress perhaps?