Happy 1st Birthday, Maya!

It feels like it was just days ago we were bringing our precious newborn daughter home from the hospital, while at the same time, it feels like she's always been a part of our family.

A few days before her first birthday, I picked up balloons and a cupcake for photos.  We had family over, and we were all enjoying the afternoon, when I frantically realized the sun was starting to set and we had a very short window for outside pictures.  And this silly first world problem is where Collin gets his extreme dramatic flair from, as he watched me scurry around to get Maya in a ridiculous get-up, drag the table from his room outside, and make crazy faces and sounds to try and get her to look towards the camera!

Enjoying her first cupcake.  A photo play-by-play of every bite so you can feel like you were there.  You're welcome.

Will she be a chocolate girl like her mama, a vanilla-fan like her dad, or just a consumer of all sugary things like her big brother.  Jury is still out until she can talk, but she ate her fair share of the cupcake.

 Posing next to the aftermath of the cupcake

 Decided to sample a few more bites

 She was so consumed with the cupcake she didn't fight the huge bow in her hair

 Big brother, straight out of the pool, jumped into the final picture or two -

 Her biggest cheerleader, who daily tells of another word Maya supposedly says (she roared like a bear, etc)

Happy, messy, beautiful one year old!

Here are some of the things Maya is up to on her first birthday:
- She took her first step on April 19th in front of my brother, Cas and me.  Since then she has taken one or two steps, but if the object in pursuit is further than that, she crawls.
- She wore her first bow without a headband (as in she has just enough hair to hold a clip) on May 4th.  We took a pathetic amount of iphone pictures.
- She is expressing herself more and more.  She follows commands (wave, clap, high five, rub hands, all done with a meal), says quack and sometimes dada, and lets us know when she's not getting her way.
- She is starting to take an interest in books - hooray!  She likes the Brown Bear series, It's Time for Bed, and the touch and feel books - the same ones Collin preferred at her age.  We hope she's a great reader like Collin; it is such a joy to re-live some of my favorite books with my children.
- She loves being outside, swinging on the hammock or swing, splashing in the water table or pool, going on bike rides, taking baths, and dancing to music.  Her favorite animals at the zoo were the orangutans and chimpanzees, but I'm pretty sure that's just because she was able to get right next to them at the glass windows.  And she yells in excitement when she sees dogs walking or at parks.  
- She's a happy, smile-y baby.  We love to tickle her, sing to her, and cuddle with her.  Our whole family loves her to pieces!