Thursday, January 8, 2009

Happy 1st Birthday Joelle!

We finally made it to Joelle's first birthday! Today she turned 1! Wow! We celebrated a few days early with Justin's family while they were here for a late Christmas gathering. This was the birthday of little chairs.
We gave Joelle a rocking moose (no horses in moose country!)
My mom and dad gave Joelle a rocking recliner and ottoman:
And Justin's parents gave Joelle a rocking chair:
She absolutely LOVES all of these gifts! She eagerly climbs onto each one and is so proud of herself when she gets them rocking. She is very excited to have her own piece of furniture that she can get on herself.

Joelle also has been walking for about 1 month and last week decided that crawling is "so last year". She is walking everywhere now and getting into everything. We have designated her own drawer in the kitchen. It is full of lids and she loves to pull them out every chance she gets. She loves to get her exercise by climbing the stairs....however she still has not learned how to climb back down. She loves to clap her hands, laugh, and say "mama", "dada", "baba", and loves to move her tongue from side to side while making noises. She no longer eats baby food....which is making my life SO MUCH EASIER! She also can sign "more" for more food and "all done" when she's done eating. That has also made our lives SO MUCH EASIER!

Joelle has blessed our lives immensely this past year. We have watched her grow from a 7 pound 2 ounce baby into a 20 pound toddler. We have watched her cries turn into smiles and laughs, her little arms give hugs, her mouth gives kisses, and her presence turn into love.

Happy First Birthday Joelle! We love you!!!

2 comments:

Jon & Ashley McP said...

Looks like you guys had a blast- no messy pics of Joelle eating the cake though. Can't wait to see you at PWOC on Tuesday!
<>< ashley

HOUSE OF BOATENG said...

awww ... i can't believe joelle is one already. happy birthday joelle!!!