These are the best pictures of Matney I have from her actual birthday. On Wednesday mornings she and I get up and head to church for Bible Study. By the time we get home it is late for her morning nap and she goes straight to bed. She gets up eats, plays a little and we go back to church to meet her Daddy for dinner and our couples class. It is a busy day for all of us and doesn't leave much time for a photo shoot!
Don't you like that she is showing you her bottle and paci? She just wants to make sure we all know that she doesn't want to give up either of them even though she is a year old.
Last Wednesday was Matney's first birthday. Jared and I can hardly believe that she is a year old but at the same time it seems like she has been part of the family forever and should be older. This year with Matney has been the most wonderful, joyful year either of us have ever had. It has also been challenging and frustrating many, many times!
I thought I'd post some of what Matney is up to now for those of you interested (and partly for me to have so that I can go back and remember!).
Our girl is on the move. After not crawling until about 11 months she has totally caught back up with all her playgroup friends. We have baby gates up in several areas of the house and she has learned the noise they made when we open them. As soon as she hears it she's off trying to beat us through. She is so proud when we let her climb up the stairs. Just this week has she started pulling up on everything and walking around whatever she's holding onto.
Matney doesn't eat much baby food any more. Sometimes if we go out I'll take a container but she prefers to eat whatever is on our plates. I understand now that my parents didn't eat a warm meal from the time that I was born until my brother and I were both grown. Her favorite foods are any kind of fruit and green peas. She LOVES mandarin orange segments and pineapple. She also LOVES American cheese. When I say "Matney do you want some cheese?" she grins and says "cheese, cheese" (it sounds like "ease, ease"). Ice cream would also be a favorite food if we let her have it often. I am pretty sure she inherited her mama's sweet tooth!
She is FINALLY sleeping through the night again. She'd started around 10 months but then month 11 she was sick and I was sick so she got spoiled because someone was always willing to pick her up when she cried and give her a bottle. Rotten. Once I was back on my feet we had a couple days of tough mommy love. She goes down around 7 or 7:30 and normally sleeps about 12 hours. THANK THE LORD FOR ANSWERED PRAYER!!!
She takes 1 or 2 naps a day for about 30 minutes each. At minimum she goes in her crib twice a day but sometimes she just "plays" for 30 minutes and I'll give in a take her out. She doesn't cry, just rolls around and talks to her puppy dog which is crazy cute to listen to over the monitor. If she isn't going to sleep but will entertain herself in her bed I am totally fine with that. Yeah for Mommy free time.
Matney has several favorite things/toys. The puppy dog and Elmo are a given. When she sees either of them she squeals and starts wiggling to get to them. She has both a princess and fairy doll/music box that she has LOVED since she was a baby. Jared and I often hide them because once she catches a glimpse of either we have to stop what we're doing and wind them up. I am content to be in quiet but I think Matney is like her Daddy and needs sounds. We have cds with fun songs upstairs and downstairs. If I don't turn them on when we are in a room she'll head for the CD player and if I start to head that way she gets very excited. I called my Grandmama not long ago because the CD she gave M for her birthday is a favorite and I am SO SICK of hearing it already.
Matney also loves books. Her favorites are touch and feel or flap books. I think if I let her she would sit in my lap ALL DAY and read the same 5 books. I hope she inherited her parents love for reading. Most of the time she can "find" cats, dogs, ducks and baby even in books she hasn't seen before.
Matney also knows where her head, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, belly button and toes are. She is working on shoulders and knees because they are in the "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" song, which she loves but is too fast for her to keep up on the cd. When we sing it slowly she gets them right a good percentage of the time. She also knows the names of most of her toys and can go find them when you ask her to.
I took her to the dr Monday and she weighs 22lbs 4oz (69th percentile). At least that is a good guess. She was SCREAMING and so glued to me that we had a hard time getting her on the scale. The nurse finally got that number and said "close enough, pick her up!". She is 30 inches tall (77th percentile). I never imagined Jared and I would have a child on the higher end of a height scale for even one day. The dr said that she looks perfect. What a blessing.
On a side note when I was leaving the dr office I asked about scheduling her 15 month appt. The doctor told me to wait and just schedule Matney's 15 month when we schedule her sister's 2 week appt. Can I just tell you that I almost FELL OVER! He is right, by the time Matney is 15 months old we'll have at least a two week old baby. CRAZY!!!
