Brielle is 1!!!

 Our girl, too, is growing up oh so fast. I can easily recall the day we found out the baby growing in my abdomen was a girl. I cried tears of joy, what a blessing to have two sweet children, one a boy and one a girl. And she has proven to be a blessing. She is such a sweetheart, very social, loves to be held and around everyone. She is brave yet cautious, taking one step then waiting a week until doing it again, and continuing that process for a couple of months before she finally began to really walk at 11 months. She is very stubborn, just like her brother. She was truly a piece of cake for 11 months. She's still good, but we have seen the stubborn streak come out, even throwing a few tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants (three months earlier than my firstborn) and almost always refusing to sign, preferring to whine for what she wants instead. Im certain she understands, though. Today she was holding her Jessie doll and when told to pull the string she found it and obliged. I don't think I've ever told her that was the string before, yet she seems to have strong receptive language. She is also already starting to talk. The two words she uses frequently and discriminately are "lala" for Bella and "baba" for baby. She loves babies, anytime I pull out a doll she takes it and quickly hugs it to her saying "baba." She also adores her older brother, frequently trying to join him in play and kiss him. If he wants to, he can easily make her laugh. And she also adores Daddy, running to him when he gets home from work. She's a great sleeper, taking two naps a day and sleeping 11 hours each night. She's never used a pacifier, preferring her index and middle fingers, and recently also has a little pillow she likes to snuggle with. She has six teeth and is working on the next two. Her hair seems to have settled in at a very light brown, some even say blonde, although not as blonde as Wes. It is also becoming increasingly curly. Today I noticed that when wet it actually reaches her shoulders, but the bottom is now so curly that it rests up near her ears. She is also a very big girl, at her last check up she was in the 97% for height and 95% for weight, still holding on to her adorable leg rolls. And she has stunning eyes, I frequently get comments from strangers when we are out. (In her one year pictures you'll notice a mark on her nose, in typical child fashion she scraped herself up two days before the picture appointment). She is one happy little girl. Her favorites right now: giving kisses, bananas, grapes, eating in general, Wes, reading books, music and dancing, grandparents, baby dolls, crawl chase, necklaces and the pool.  We absolutely love our sweet little girl.