1 Year Down. . .

So my baby turned 1 this past Saturday. Can you believe it? Of course, she's always been a little older than her age, but it feels so strange to tell people that she is 1 year old! It's been an amazing year and both Brad and I agree that it was by far the best year of our lives. Katie has been the best baby we could have ever hoped for and we feel so blessed to have her in our lives. She is so smart, happy, fun, sweet, loving, and entertaining! We had a party for her on Saturday with Brad's siblings and his dad. There was a lot of food and we just hung out and let the cousins play on the playground. Katie ate way too many sweets, but I think she had a great time. She slept really well that night too. :)

Who Katie is now: 

• She LOVES shoes. This is a somewhat recent development. She is constantly bringing me different pairs of her shoes because she just wants to wear them all the time. She got a new pair from Aunt Jenna and her family, and also a new pair from me and Brad, and she has been wearing them almost non-stop since Saturday. 
• Candy. Yikes. Katie loves sweet things. She doesn't get them often, but she sure can cry if she sees a starburst on the desk or sees me eating a cookie and we don't give her any.
• She is SO friendly! She will walk up to random little boys at church or a the park and give them hugs. She flirts with everyone at the grocery store, especially men. She gives lots of kisses and has even kissed her brand new baby cousin Lucy on the head a couple of times. So freaking cute. 
• Pasta. Any and all, she loves. Cheesy, meaty, tomato-y, she loves it. 
• She's a climber. She climbs on anything and everything. Her favorite thing to do lately is stand on top of her little keyboard and look out her window. Sometimes she'll stand there for 5-10 minutes at a time, just looking outside. She also climbs on chairs, her activity table, boxes, and she spent Sunday trying to climb over the pews.

We love our little girl and can't imagine how dull our lives would have been this past year without her! She can make even the crabbiest person smile and make anyone's heart melt with her smile.  While she does try my patience sometimes (and I think one of my biggest talents is my patience!) she really is a wonderful little girl with such a great, loving, and fun personality. She's such a little person and I can't wait to keep watching her grow up. :)

We love you Katie! Thank you for being the best thing to ever happen to us.