Happy Birthday Baby Girl

Isabel, my baby girl, your first birthday is today, and truly the last year has flown by. I miss the sweet little baby you were, but love the crazy little girl you've become. I miss having you sleep contently, with your head rested against my chest. But I love the way you throw your head back and chuckle for no good reason. I love the way you come running to me, your mouth wide open, screaming "ahhhhh" because you want a kiss. When you're tired, you get ridiculously silly which makes us laugh constantly. You run around the room trying to kiss everything in sight.

Right now, you are loving your "Little People" farm books, balls, babies, and of course Cuzco. You follow me around, but also play on your own. You have managed to take every baking and cooking utensil I own out of the cabinets, but can't seem to put them back. The toilet paper is never around the roll, and I can't help but let you do unroll it every time. You laugh and giggle, and my heart melts!

Precious baby girl, our prayer for you is that you will grow up to love our Savior. That you will be a beautiful girl-inside and out. That you will cling to His faithfulness and goodness, no matter what the coming years hold. We love that God chose us to be your parents and truly cannot wait to watch you grow.

coming to terms

Messes used to make me cringe. I'd get the heebie geebies when I saw my carpets strewn with babies, blocks, and books. When Isabel first started "getting into" things, I would follow closely behind her. Putting away the books as she moved on to the blocks. But, as soon as the books were put away she was through with the blocks and back to the books. You know the drill. I spent all day: books put away, blocks cleaned up, books re-sorted, blocks neatly stacked. Then she discovered toilet paper, and I thought it was cute. She'd pull off one little square and eat it. So cute, right? Then she realized she could keep pulling, and pulling, and pulling...After most of the paper was on the floor, I would wind the entire roll back around the tube.

I was driving myself insane, all in the name of keeping a neat, organized home. Then, last week, I had a revelation of sorts. Why not save the mental and physical energy during the day and do one big clean up after Isabel is in bed for the night. Wow, earth-shattering.

I have learned to be OK with this (at least for the 12 hours Isabel is awake):

And this (quite possibly until she grows out of this phase):
Now, I have *huge* reserves of energy for things like reading and watching t.v. once she's safely tucked in bed, unable to destroy my house until tomorrow.

ideas

I am not one to collect "stuff." This has trickled down to Isabel. Poor girl. She has very few toys, and even fewer that we've purchased for her. But, as she's getting older, I've realized that she needs at least a few things to play with! ha. With her birthday and Christmas both right around the corner, I have been trying to come up with a list of toys, books, puzzles, etc. that we would like for her.

I would love to know what your favorite items were for your 12-18 month old! What books did your kids most enjoy? What toys kept them engaged?