Happy First Birthday!

Olivia had a wonderful first birthday surrounded by good friends, food and fun. Here, the whole gang gathered for a photo (Kate and Lyra were in the other room starting a nap). The party was 'scheduled' from 11-1pm, but guests stayed until about 3:30 as adults and babies were having a good time, if beginning to get a bit ready for naps. Olivia crashed for an hour and a half when all was quiet again.

Olivia(Bob and I) blew out Olivia's candle on a lemon cake, and she tried some apple pie filling and a little sherbet. Her first refined sugar! I still think she prefers banana... :-) As per usual, Suzanne was racing toward the altar (let's blow out the candle!), when Kate saved the day by remembering to sing Happy Birthday first! It was a rousing chorus, with lovely harmonies - I had no idea we had such musically-talented friends!

Olivia has 8 teeth (4 top, 4 bottom), weighs 24 pounds and is 30 inches tall. She is crawling easily, pulls herself up and walks around holding onto things like an old pro, and is more frequently forgetting to hold on for a moment while she balances a bit before plopping onto her bottom. She says 'mama', signs 'milk', 'eat' and 'more' sometimes, smiles and laughs alot, and is beginning to test the upper and outer registers of her vocal range...
It really is amazing that a whole year has gone by since Olivia's birth. To think that at this time last year we were new parents of a surprise-arrival two-day-old baby. sigh. My, how the world has changed since then! What hasn't changed is that Olivia continues to melt our hearts...