Happy late Birthday Valentine! On Saturday my darling little baby turned one- ONE! I am still in shock- I can't believe I have a one year old- so weird. I feel like I was pregnant yesterday, and yet I feel like Valentine's always been a part of my life. And it's still weird that I'm a mom- not weird that I have a baby (almost a toddler now- jeesh) but that I'm a MOM. I feel old. Anyways, Valentine's birthday was sooo fun. We took her to a darling Pumpkin Patch with slides and a petting zoo and pumpkins and a hayride and face painting. Don't know how much she loved the huge slide that Micah took her down, but she loved the little baby ones. Perhaps the funniest part of the day was when Jordan tried to take her down a huge slide lined with haystacks and bumped into the hay and twisted and turned accidentally doing like 180s the whole way down- SO SAD the camera ran out of batteries right before that. She loved the animals and touching them and walking around with them, she also enjoyed watching the gibbon monkeys swinging around their cage. My favorite part was getting her face painted like a cat- cutest thing I've ever seen by far, she is toooootally going to be a black cat for Halloween. So, after the Pumpkin Patch we had the family over for cake and ice cream and presents (which there were a million of- can you tell she's the first grand-baby on my side?). Valentine had absolutely noooo idea what was going on or what to think while we sang Happy Birthday but loved her own special cake. At first she just poked and picked at the frosting but finally she got into it and tore it apart. So fun- I love my little baby.
Here are 10 things I love about Valentine Jayne:
1. She seriously has the cutest face I have ever seen- more than several times a day I will look at her and say, "Oh my word you are so cute/darling/pretty/beautiful/the like."
2. Valentine is just like Drew- I love it, they are twins in personality and looks. She is energetic, smart, funny, adventurous, cute, extremely social, loud and climbs on everything just like her daddy. Plus they are soooo dang cute together. That baby loves her daddy and he loves her.
3. My baby is the energizer bunny, she just keeps going and going and going. She's running, she's throwing/kicking a ball, tearing apart any store I take her to, climbing the stairs, walking around yelling on her cell phone, chasing the dogs yelling "No, no, no!" A lot to keep up with- I love it.
4. She is the CRAZIEST nurser. My mom makes fun of us because of how Valentine nurses. It's not my fault that my baby can't sit still and happens to love nursing. She's just started to pull my shirt up when she wants to nurse and she'll do it for a second, come off with the biggest grin on her face ever, talk to people or go off somewhere and run back for more a second later. That's just how we do it. And I love how much she loves it. Nothing makes her happier than to see rosy cheeks and huge smile after she nurses.
5. Her favorite foods are mac n' cheese, ice cream and french fries- the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree eh?
6. I love how Valentine gives kisses. She opens her mouth as wide as she can and gets slobber and possibly her tongue all over your face and mouth. It's the best. My favorite is when she wakes me up in the morning with kisses. I love being a mom.
7. Valentine is sooooo social. I can't go anywhere without Valentine introducing herself to everyone. It's actually quite hard on me having a darling social baby- she goes up and talks to random people who then find her absolutely adorable because of that face and it's little personality, so I have to stand there and talk to them, it sucks. I mean, I love hearing all the time how cute she is and it never gets old to talk about it or to have people admire her, but I don't want to have to talk to everyone all the time. But I have to. It's a hard life.
8. I LOVE it when Valentine dances- she has awesome rhythm! She is definitely going to be a ballerina and musician- yes! She dances to Glee, Single Ladies, She Wolf, the Pride and Prejudice theme, Jordan playing the piano, anything and it's the best.
9. She is so smart. She does baby sign language (her doing the "more" sign is the cutest thing in the world) and talks and knows what to do with a phone and can say, "No" and "Dog" and "Shut" which sounds like sh*t, and "Ma-kah!" (Micah we think, but it's what she uses to refer to any person, pretty funny). She problem solves and understands us (sometimes) and is sassy. She's got a lot of personality. I love it.
10. As much as I complain about her being a bad sleeper, I love sleeping with her. She is the sweetest sleeper and there is nothing more comforting than cuddling with and sleeping with your baby and waking up with them and nursing them during the night. So, I kind of love that she sucks at sleeping. I love how much she needs me and how close it makes us. She loooves her mommy and I love being her mommy and I love her. She makes me happy to be a mom and to be her mom. I love my little Valentine.
