Rachel: 1 year old!

     Rachel turned one today!

  As I watch Rachel pick her ear with her toe while she's nursing, I can't believe it's been a whole year since she came into our lives. She has made many more significant accomplishments this month:

• she is finally starting to fit into 12 - 18 month clothes 
• she can now sign "more" 
• she blows spit bubbles (intentionally)
• she squeals whenever she sees dogs :)
• she claps (which she especially loves doing for herself, and it's becoming more and more obvious that she is a Ham) 
• she loves to eat green stuff: broccoli, asparagus, beans, and especially peas!
• she can point to things with one finger
• she gives kisses
• she's down to nursing 3-4 times a day, and usually two bottles at night. I would describe our nursing relationship as 'fragile', now. :/
• she shakes her head 'no' (she has been able to do this for a while, but only recently she started doing it on a daily (hourly?) basis, and accompanying it with the word 'no') 
• she can go down the metal slide at the park by herself
• and I've even heard her a few times trying to carry a tune 

Clever Bee. Probably her most notable accomplishment though, was that she took her first steps today!! I was fairly determined for her to walk before she turned one, as she was so close and so ready, so we were practicing today and she finally did it! Four big steps from Daddy's arms to Mommy's. <3
     Someone once told me that babies usually tend to either develop stronger language skills or physical skills first, and from what I can tell so far, it seems to ring true. While Laura was my early walker (and somewhat lacked in language), Rachel seems to be doing very well language-wise (she probably has about ten words already), but is a little slower on the walking. Lots of other babies I know are the same way.

Anyway, here is a 4-minute recap of Rache's first year. The slideshow is set to the song 'Baby Mine' because when I was pregnant with her, Laura was on a stint of watching Dumbo every day, and every day I would bawl my eyes out when that song came on. So, I figured it was appropriate to be 'Rachel's Song', and, to date, we sing it to her when she needs calming. Josh and I recorded this cover of it to go with the slideshow:

http://www.youtube.com/edit?ns=1&feature=vm&video_id=cgAm9PgGLiU

(I don't know why, but it won't let me embed the slideshow)

ETA: Rachel had her 12 month check up today (Monday) and weighed in at 17 pounds 12 ounces and 28 inches. :)