Fastest. Year. Ever.

I must've blinked again. Christmas week is upon us, and our tiny baby girl is turning one in a little less than two weeks. Wait, what?! Seriously - how did this happen?! 

Things have been so busy the past few weeks, especially with my monogramming orders. Allie, Adam and I have had dinners with friends, a few Christmas programs, my birthday to celebrate, Christmas shopping, and a million other things going on. It's all so much fun, but so busy!

I started weaning little Allie the week of Thanksgiving, so that we could be through with the weaning process by her 1st birthday on December 30th. It was much harder on me than it was on her, to say the least. I was so sad to give up our special time together! I know it's time for her to take this next "growing-up" step, but it's hard for this mama! She has done very well with the transition, and I'm so proud of her! 

She's such a big girl, and is learning new skills SO fast. I love watching her observe the world around her, take it all in, and respond to it in her own, cute little ways. Today, she joined Adam and I in eating spaghetti with meat sauce for lunch. It would be an understatement to say she was a mess! She grabbed the noodles, meat, and sauce by the fist-fulls and shoveled it into her little mouth as quickly as possible. I'm not sure how much actually made it into her mouth, but she sure looked cute trying. She has seven teeth now - four top and three bottom. Just a couple of days ago, she learned to hold a graham cracker and take small bites of it at snack time! It's silly the things a first-time mom gets excited about, but I was pretty excited! It's so nice to have a snack that she can completely feed herself on her own! I managed to clean the entire kitchen while she finished off the graham cracker, which was a huge accomplishment.

Adam and I got to go shopping for Allie's first Christmas and birthday presents last weekend. So fun! We got her some fun little singing toys (one has a steering wheel and lots of fun driving noises, and the other is a singing pot/spoon where she can pretend to make soups), then went to the book store and got several fun board books for her. Allie LOVES being read to. She loves to turn the pages, open and close the books, and I love that she'll sit still and snuggle in my lap while I read to her.

I can't wait for all the fun and excitement that the next couple of weeks will hold! This is such a fun season of life!