Mari is one!

Above Mari is demonstrating her mad skills climbing stairs (James and I are both just outside of the edge of the picture so it isn't as dangerous as it looks). Below, Mari and I look at pictures from her birth. Some of them are really gross as we had someone actually take pictures of the birth itself, but we the picture she is looking at here is of James holding her for her first nap outside the womb. I still tear up when I think of how amazing it all was, I can't believe it was a year ago already!

I can't believe Mari is now one! Where did the time go? I don't know if it is because I have vowed not to do any school work from Friday night until Tuesday night (in observance of birthdays Monday and Tuesday and in preperation of the dual party that was held Saturday) and so I am able to just enjoy their company and see how much they have changed in the past few weeks (that I may have been too busy to fully notice), but she seems much older than she did last week. She is saying quite a few words although they aren't always clear. She still calls me Eye-ya (Isla) most of the time, but she does say Mama occasionally. She says Dadda alot and has even said Daddy a few times. She recently started saying Dake (for Jake) and here, there, okay and yeah. She can also verbalize baby (her dolls and real ones in the nursery and in the store) and bottle. Yesterday she brought me a diaper when she wanted me to change her (not the first time she has done that). She is mostly a happy baby, but VERY hard headed and determined. She bites a lot and we are currently working on breaking her of that habit. She is a good eater, (although I keep forgetting that since Jake was not able to eat well because of his reflux) and I hope to work on getting her completely off the bottle over the Christmas break. She likes carrots, sweet potato, english peas, chicken, rice, butter beans, pretzels, cherios, toast (not as much as she used too). She can drink from a cup with assistance, but doesn't really seem to like sippy cups. She doesn't like juice at all (neither did Jake) and I am about to start her on whole milk over the holiday as well. Her one year checkup was supposed to be Monday, Dec 1st, but the doctors office called and asked that we reschedule (I think Dr. Sheffield takes her vacation then, because we had this problem last year when we took Mari to her one week check-up). I will update on her stats on the 19th after her new appointment. She is walking almost everytime we take her shoes off and is just a right wee mess. Sunday she was trying to wake Jake up from his nap and I thought she was loving on him because she had her head on his arm. No! She was pulling his fingers out of his sleeve and biting them! He started crying and she started laughing and that is how we figured it out! She is adorable and dangerous!