11 month -Countdown to 1

This past year has been happy, sad, frustrating, exciting, difficult, eventful, and every variation of emotion I can think of. I have probably felt it over the last year. And yes, as the year mark truly does get closer, I feel like I'm running through each emotion at varying parts of the day.

I am now the parent of a child who (at least for this post) is almost one.

Sadly, I am one of those people who far too often is bogged down by the social expectations of what I should be doing instead of being able to enjoy life's moments. My joys are often encompassed in the simple things that happen every day. I love waking up to hear Serenity talking to herself in the morning. (So glad she doesn't wake up screaming.) I love coming home from work to see her smiling and SO excited to see me. And it doesn't get better than hearing her laugh or watching her crawl around as quickly as she can move to get to something she wants.

I am not the mom who thrives on themes or accessories for parties. But that doesn't stop myself from measuring myself against the mom that does. It also doesn't stop my from trying to meet everyone else's unspoken expectations. (Don't you worry. They may be unspoken, but I try really hard to fill in the silence.) And this in turn, makes almost every celebration something I dread. So as Serenity's one year mark approaches. I'm trying to A) do some of the things I wanted to do -photos and simple parties B) abide by some social expectations -throwing a party.

At the end of the day, I just want to look back and be happy. All the fluff in the world isn't going to do me any good if I can't look back at the everyday without smiling too.

Fielding and I love to go in to see her in the morning or after a nap.

She is always so happy and excited to see us.

Dad gave her rice for the first time. She wasn't too sure about it until he showed her he could eat it too.

She wore mom's glasses for a second, but wasn't so happy when I wouldn't let her play with them.

She is a fan of food and already wants to feed herself.

Her smiles are infectious. She's such a goof!

She's practicing her maneuvers using a fork...and her fingers. She was more proficient with her fingers.

I can't decide if she's going to be right handed, left handed or ambidextrous.

She will pick up food with her right hand. Hold a fork in her left hand and sucks her left thumb.

She's so peaceful and nice when she's sleeping.

BUT

She's good at being a monster and standing up too.

She's still sucking her thumb

AND

She still thinks she's hysterical.

Found another tooth hiding on the bottom.

She's got 7 in total now.

She makes some of the strangest faces.

Normally because she's grinding her teeth together, sticking her tongue out, or trying to talk.

We started with peas and then added raviolis.

She was clean one second and the next...

Tiny person Smash! and made a mess.

Smile! It's bath time.