One Year

I love this picture of my girls.

We followed up last night's family party with a bigger gathering of friends and family. I was worried that Natalie would be overwhelmed by the huge group of people, but she proved herself a true cohousing baby and loved every minute of the chaos. We sang songs, ate cake, hung out and talked, and I barely even saw my daughter. She spent most of the afternoon attached to an aunt, a grandparent, a friend... But every time I searched her out in the crowd, she was grinning.

Some sweet moments:

• For today's party, she wore the dress that Jen wore for her first birthday. Made by Jen's grandmother.
• We circled up mid-party and did some singing (led by a good friend and her guitar). Natalie grinned and glowed and signed "more" at the end of every song. She loves music so much.
• Not only did she do a great job of smashing the little cake we made for her, she fed some to her Gram.
• Shelli and Malka came to town for the party and spent the weekend with us. It was delightful to watch the girls play together, and Shelli was wonderfully helpful--thank you so very much!
  
• Jen decorated the bigger cake (I baked it), and it came out beautifully!
• We took her 12 month basket picture before the party. She's so big!