Happy Birthday, Little Monster!

My, how time flies. Exactly one year ago today, Mama and Daddy welcomed a wrinkly, screaming critter into the world who was completely dependent and mostly content. Now we have a growing one-year-old, going on five, little girl. Miss Fuss is crawling like a Speed Racer, walking with her stroller, eating anything she can get her hands on (including cat food), and letting us know exactly who is boss in this house.

Today was all about Miss Madeleine. Mama and Daddy wanted her to feel very special, so we did lots of things that Little Goblin enjoys. For breakfast we had strawberry banana yogurt-cereal, a blueberry muffin, and a banana. After a some general room destruction in the form of tearing all clothes and blankets off the shelves Tickle Bug took a nice long morning nap. Meanwhile, Mama baked a cake and one lone cupcake just for Madeleine. After a beef stew lunch, Mama and Madeleine went to the park. We took the stroller-walker so Miss Fuss could work off some energy, and after a bit of wandering around we crawled through the tunnels (bumped our head when we got too excited playing peek-a-boo with Mama), took a swing ride, and walked/crawled up and down the playground equipment ramp. One of Madeleine's favorite things is going up and down ramps and steps, and she sure got her fill of the ramp today!

After the park, we stopped by Publix to pick up a few necessities, as well as a "1st Birthday Princess" balloon. Baby Girl loves balloons. She's not entirely sure what to do with them, but thinks it's funny when she bonks Mama on the head with one. After an afternoon nap, we had a graham cracker and custard snack while waiting for Daddy to get home from work. Once Daddy was home, Little Monster tore through her presents and had a tilapia, sugar snap pea and acorn squash dinner. She had her special birthday cupcake, which amazingly enough, she didn't seem too thrilled with. Madeleine licked a bit of the icing, ate a few bites of the cake, then proceeded to smear the icing everywhere. Ah, that's the girl we know. Now Baby Girl is in bed after a quick but thorough bath, and Mama and Daddy are reflecting on the best year of their lives, so far. We know there will be many more to come.