I Have A One-Year-Old

Eve Elizabeth Boston turned one year old on July 8. Truly a momentous day for many reasons, but mostly Ish and I celebrated the fact that we managed to keep a tiny human being alive and whole for a full year. She's not even scarred! Much!

I'm trying to figure out how to best describe the first year with baby, and overall I'd have to say it's been full of surprises and utterly delightful.

I know that's cheesy.

It's just that we had no idea what to expect. Everyone -- EVERYONE -- told us eighty different ways that babies change everything. That we couldn't possibly be prepared for how different our lives would be after the baby. That our grown-up lives as we know them would be gone FOREVER.

And I suppose that's true. But maybe it's because we're older? Maybe because we've both been around the block a few times? Maybe because both our parents always made time for their relationship? I don't know. Having a baby certainly made our lives different, but mostly it's just been great.

What I'm trying to say is: I was pretty well aware of how "disruptive" and all-consuming having a child would be, and she was. And it's been awesome.

I didn't quite expect how hard it would be to get anything done, like, ever. Or that working from home would mean I'd never have a spare second of time for me.  Or that I'd need to rely on a sitter/nanny a lot. Or that I'd look up and it would be three months later and aside from a non-scarred child, I'd have nothing to show for myself.

But I guess a non-scarred child is kind of a big deal. So I'll take it.

I said early on that Eve seemed to be an easy baby. The response to that was always, "Just you wait." I was warned over and over again that a terrible infant was lurking inside her, and would burst free at any moment to wreak havoc and misery on our lives.

Except that didn't happen. In fact, she was so good (and continues to be so good) that I don't even want to write about it because other new moms will hate me.

In the last few weeks especially, Eve has started to blossom. She is more interactive, and all of her traits are suddenly amplified. She is extremely chatty; she squeals and yells and squawks all day long. She understands plenty and communicates her needs better than ever, despite that her only words remain "da! da!" half of "cat" ("cah!") and -- just yesterday -- "wah-ah" for "waffle."

No "mama." No sign of "mama." But that's okay. I totally understand the importance of waffles in the hierarchy of needs.

She has one tooth on the bottom, and finally has one tooth that's just broken through up top. And that's it. She is a gummy, drooly mess most of the time, but those two teeth get a lot of play.

She's pulling herself up on everything she can get her hands on, and can crawl like the wind. She is completely disinterested in walking, and that's fine with us. We've already had to clear our home of everything mouth-sized or breakable within arm's reach of her anyway.

She doesn't care for her baby pool.

She adores Yo Gabba Gabba.

She sings. If you sing, she sings. If you sing a Yo Gabba Gabba song, she lights up and kicks and waves her arms.

She isn't overly attached to her pacifier. She sleeps with it, but in the morning when we get her, we just ask her to please put the paci in the crib, and she does. On the other hand, she hates the sippy cup and refuses to use it for milk; only the bottle will do.

She is a happy, happy baby.

And in case you haven't had enough of my Proud Mama-ing all over this blog, here's a Year In Pictures Photo Montage I cobbled together. If you don't feel like watching five minutes of my child's photos, I don't blame you.

But it's pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

Eve Turns One: A Year In Pictures from Kristy Sammis on Vimeo.