Hoffe Family Fun: Hip, Hip Hooray!

Brooklyn is 1 year old!

Where did the year go? As Brooklyn's special day grew closer, my emotions grew stronger and my anxiety increased. I was so excited that she was turning 1, but also super sad that the infant stage was over. On Brooklyn's birthday eve, Ryan and I reminisced on what was happening one year ago. We remember watching the super bowl, eating homemade wings and nachos, and going to bed early when...oops what was that...little did we know the process just began....

At 8:19 on Monday, February 2nd 2009 our little girl, Brooklyn Renee Hoffe, weighing 6 lbs 3 oz and measuring 19.5 inches long was welcomed into the world!

Proud Mommy and Daddy!

I remember thinking.."I can't believe we have a little girl!"

Daddy admiring his little girl...little does Brooklyn know that she had him wrapped around her finger as soon as she entered the world!

Here we are a year later...we now have a gorgeous daughter who seems to amaze us more and more every day!

Brooklyn's birthday began with me quietly walking in her room at 6:00am and telling her "Happy Birthday Sweetie! I love you! I hope you have a very special day! I am sorry I can't spend the whole day with you!"

Ryan got her up as he usually does, dressed her, got her ready for her special day, and gave her her last morning bottle.

When they got to Miss Anne's they were greeted with her front door decorated for Brooklyn's special day!

Miss Anne and the girls had a special first birthday party for Brooklyn. They gave her gifts, they sang to her, I sent cupcakes for the girls (not Brooklyn) and they had a fun day!

I made pancakes the night before, cut them with a "one" cookie cutter, and sent them to Miss Annes for the girls to enjoy for breakfast on Brooklyn's special day!

Ryan and I both celebrated Brooklyn's birthday at our schools. I made cupcakes for all of our kids. My kids made her cards, we sang to her, we looked at pictures of her, and we all wore pink in honor of her. If I couldn't be with Brooklyn on her special day, I wanted to make it as special as I could for me (a little selfish, I know). They kids loved it!

After school, I quickly rushed home, picked up Brooklyn, and we went outside to play in the fresh snow. It snowed earlier in the day and it was nice outside, so I thought we would make the most of it. I shoveled a little while she was in awe of all the white stuff around her. She even made her first snow angel.

When Ryan got home from school, we gave Brooklyn one of her presents. She got her very own pink chair. I was thinking about getting her one from Pottery Barn, but I found this one instead. I love it and so does she!

For dinner we made her favorite meal - homemade mac and cheese (not the kind out of the box, even though sometimes you just can't beat Kraft Mac and Cheese)

We sang Happy Birthday to her and gave her her first little cupcake. She LOVES chocolate cake and pink frosting!

We took a plethora of pictures of Brooklyn on her special day! I wanted to be sure I captured every moment of her first birthday! Here she is with her monthly sign. After she went to bed, I thought about how I wrote "12 months" instead of "1 year old" on her sign. Oh well!

Mommy loves you SOOOOOOO much!

Daddy loves you SOOOOOOOO much!

After a very eventful day, Brooklyn was exhausted! I gave her her last bottle up in her room, rocking in the chair I rocked her in so many times, sang the songs I sing to her every night, teared up with joy and sadness, kissed her goodnight, and told her how much I loved her and was SO proud of her! I can't believe my little girl is ONE YEAR OLD!!!!!!

Before I went to bed that night, I tearfully wrote Brooklyn a special letter that I plan to give her when she graduates from high school! I can't even begin to think about that...(sniff, sniff)

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One year old stats:

Weight - 20 lbs (33 percentile)

Height - 28 1/4 inches (25 percentile)

Head - 45.3 cm (50 percentile)

At her doctor's appointment she had 4 shots (YIKES)...are they sure that is what is best for babies! All those vaccines still make me nervous! Dr. Franck said Brooklyn looks great, is doing well, is right on developmentally, and she answered ALL of my questions. She gave us the ok to start whole milk, honey, and to give peanut butter a try...still a little nervous about that one.

A few new things:

~Stands on her own really well (not holding on to things)

~On her first birthday she took her first two steps on her own. Every day since then she has taken more and more steps on her own. She walks really well behind her shopping cart, her lion, and a few other walkers. She walks really well holding onto our hands. She likes to grab one of our hands and that is all she uses to help her walk. I would say her main transportation is walking holding onto things.

~Says "hot", "bye", "dadda (really well), "hi", and "ma" for more (not Mom). She uses all these words with the correct meaning. That is about it for now. I can't wait until she starts talking more.

~She crawls up the stairs really well. She doesn't know how to go down quite yet. We haven't put our gate up yet because our stairs are uneven at the bottom and the only place to put it on the stairs would be on the second step. We aren't sure if that is where we want it to go.

~Brooklyn loves to look at books, play with little people, loves her stuffed animals and dolls (especially Gracie - a little doll we got from one of my families at school), is exploring her imagination and learning more and more every day.

~She shares things with others (gives people things) and then takes them back. She loves sharing her food and feeding us. She thinks it is funny.

~She giggles when she burps, which is SO funny, but we try not to laugh.

~Loves to eat by herself and get messy. She is getting to be more picky when she eats. She still only has three teeth (two on bottom and one on top) which makes it hard for her to eat a lot of different foods. She still has to "gum" foods. I am trying to give her chunkier veggies, but she still has a hard time eating them, so I find myself still pureeing them. Once she gets more teeth, I think eating will be much more enjoyable for ALL of us!