The first year has flown by

Ryan has already blogged a bit about Isabel's first birthday. I will too, so I hope it's not too repetitious. We had so much fun. I wanted to keep it small, but it ended up being a little bigger than I thought it would be. I guess I tend to think of families in clumps and not individuals. Besides immediate family, we invited all the babies from moms group. A few weren't able to make it so we had 3 babies + Isabel. Too cute. I baked Isabel's cupcake from a recipe I found on wholesomebabyfood.com. It was a sugar-free applesauce spice cake. I also made the sugar-free frosting. She loved it! I made a few mini-muffin sized cakes for the babies as well. And, as I always under estimate how long things will take, I made spice-jar shakers and hand sewed bunny finger puppets for party favors.

Isabel is usually a clean eater, so there was no cake smoosh in the face or anything like that. Just fist fulls going directly into her mouth. The babies played, the adults watched the babies play and everyone ate. Ryan's mom was in town for the milestone as well. It was so nice to have the help and the company. Isabel really enjoyed spending time with her, too. They went for walks together and did a little shopping, too. We're working on getting a webcam set up so maybe the distance won't seem so big.

By the end of the day she had 2 new teeth and was walking with the assistance of a toy that my folks got her. She cruises around the house and prefers to make right turns. She's not too interested in sitting on it and pushing with her feet - she'd much rather walk.

So, she's had a busy weekend both with her birthday and with growing into an incredible kid. I'm so proud of her - she weaned like a champ. I'm pretty sure she didn't notice anything was different. It was a little easier for me than I thought. It was just time for both of us. She's getting a little better at feeding herself from a spoon and she can hold her cup with no problem.

On a personal note - it's weird having a 1-year-old. I was pregnant for 8 months and that is a certain identity. Then I was a new mom & a nursing mom. Now I'm just a mom. I don't have to think twice before I eat or drink something. I can be gone from the house for as long as I want. How I was identified is changing and it's just a little weird. I wonder if this is why some women have many babies. Maybe it's more about how the mom identifies herself?

Anyhoo - enough of the theoretic stuff. I'm not in school today and so should not be thinking about theory. I should be enjoying this time of naps and the ability to get a few things done. I'm so excited to see what she has in store for us!