Charlotte's Birthday.

{One of our great friends here took these pictures for us. We love them!}

Charlotte turned 1 on August 28th! I can't believe how fast this year went by. She is such a sweet, happy, and cute girl, and has brought so much joy to us (and to everyone else that meets her). We have been so lucky to have a baby like her for our first. She sleeps like a champ, her only sicknesses have been a couple of fevers, she eats well and tries new foods, she rarely cries, and most of the time she is super smiley.

Here are her stats from her 12-month visit:
Weight: 18 lbs. (7th%)
Height: 29.5 in. (64th%)
Head: can't remember the measurement but it's around the 50th%
Girlfriend is long and lean.
There weren't too many changes between this month and last month. She still pulls herself up to everything and does some cruising around furniture but I think it will still be a little while before she walks. She knows who Jesus is and points to our picture of him and smiles. She tries to say his name, and sometimes it sounds pretty close! She knows where our noses and mouths are and can point to those, too. She says hi, dada, doggy, duck (definitely her favorite word), mama (mostly just when she's really sad), banana (that was a new one today), and occasionally some variation of "thank you". She loves it when I brush her hair (not that there is much), and tries to brush her own when I hand it to her. She got her first tooth. She seems to like her real milk better than formula (and we are SO glad to not pay for formula anymore)! She has discovered over the last couple of days that she really likes peanut butter. She looovvves playing with my phone and having me take pictures of her on it. This is her new favorite facial expression:
On her birthday we had a few friends from the neighborhood over for some cake and ice cream.

I thought she would tear into her cake but she really just stroked the frosting over and over.
It was fun to celebrate her. Happy birthday to our adorable Charlotte. We love you!