happy first birthday, baby girl!

The birthday girl.

Kate is one year old today. I can't believe my baby's all grown up. I can't believe it was a year ago that I was in the hospital, seizing with every contraction, leaning on Tim for support. I can't believe all that has happened in this past year.

Kate somehow learned to roll over. She learned to crawl, to pull herself up on things, to sleep through the night. She learned to drink from a straw sippy-cup and chew people food. She has even started to run in place when she gets excited. She was so tiny last year; now she's huge in comparison. I can't imagine life without her.

We went to the Happy Rooster for lunch to celebrate. It was Eric's birthday last week, and Amber's birthday today, so there was lots to be festive about. We got the special room off to the side (I think this was a wise move by the staff, seeing the mess we left and the noise we must have made while there) and filled it with about 15 women and children. Kate had a blast. She had milk, cheese, fruit puffs, apricots, strawberries, blueberry pancakes, and almost had half of Jamie's sandwich before we grabbed it from her chubby little hands just in time. After that, they brought the rooster hat out and we sang happy birthday to Amber, Eric and Kate, and they gave each a slice of chocolate cake with fudge frosting. Kate really likes chocolate.

Wearing the rooster hat.

Uh, am I gonna have to have a bath when we get home?