One year.

My Bean is a year old. That a year has passed since she came into our lives is incomprehensible.

In this one year Bean has...

- Nursed herself from just under 8 to 20 pounds
- Learned to hold her head up
- Learned to roll over, first back to front, then front to back
- Learned to sit up
- Been extremely healthy
- Made a best friend in her silly dog Moomoo
- Learned to sleep through the night
- Brought joy to everyone who knows her
- Smiled and laughed more than she's cried
- Eaten and thoroughly enjoyed a wide variety of foods
- Spit up 8,374 times
- Learned to roll from one end of the room to another
- Learned that crawling is a more efficient mode of transport
- Had her picture taken by mom/dad at least a million times
- Cut three and a half teeth
- Learned to say "Dad-dee" and "Mum-mum" and "up" and "yeah"
- Developed an obsession with the dog's food dish and several other off-limits items
- Discovered a whole new world in her view as she pulls up on the furniture
- Taken a few hundred walks in her stroller
- Outgrown three huge bins of little pink clothes
- Cultivated a belly laugh that sounds exactly like her dad's
- Finger painted (her paper, high chair, shirt, face, hair)
- Learned to say "Aaaaah" (and then crack up) after drinking from her sippy cup
- Decided that mom's car keys, cell phone, and lap top are her very favorite toys

I too have learned a few things in this short year...and have experienced more joy (and less sleep?) than in all my other years combined. I still haven't lost the baby weight (not even close), some days I don't find time to shower, my house is in a state of perpetual disarray and dog-hair-infestation, and I bitch at my hubby (and the poor dog) way too much. But all in all I'm proud of what I've accomplished in this one year. Parenthood is challenging, exhausting, selfless, dirty, frustrating, and downright wonderful. And the Bean amazes me and melts my heart on a daily basis. On to year two!