liberty’s 1st birthday! {moments & memories from the mamarazzi}

leading up to the big day…

new to liberty: dresses. and dresses with bows.showing her true colors. i think she just might be the perfect combination of girly girl and tomboy.

either way, she’s 100% daddy’s girl!

and now: sporty liberty.
this outfit makes me think that if it weren’t for the lack of tennis courts here on the east side our girl would be destined for wimbledon.

but alas she’ll just have to learn to love the less classy, but way eastern version, badminton.

until then, she’s busy perfecting her standing and walking skills.

her gnawing skills.

and her posing skills.

yep, our girl’s got some serious skills.

oh, far be it from me to neglect to mention her brushing skills.

too bad she’s not compensated for double duty.

other than a pretty smile, that is.
liberty’s last night to be 11 months old.  and an emotional moment for mommy.

and here she is: the birthday girl. wearing a beautiful cotton butterfly dress handpicked by her daddy 4+ years ago.

opening her first birthday present, a “little mommy” doll.

unfortunately, the residual effects of teething and vaccinations did eventually catch up.

sterling was thankful to receive this bonus “big brother of the birthday girl gift”. (black eye came complimentary of a trip down the stairs, a week ago.)

her (failed) attempt at self medicating.

liberty’s 1^st birthday (8:38) kiss!one grateful mommy + one happy baby. ahhh.

lunch was messy.

which gave her opportunity to show off the cause (proof is in the bandaid) of so much of her discomfort.

followed by more discomfot (see that mean tooth?) and more unhappiness.
post nap time provided a new clothing experience and more presents.

followed by a chance to play dress up and a full on mamarazzi attack.

another dress. another bow. ahhhh.  thank you lao lao for all the dresses, especially this sweet gem!  .

and her first baby doll stroller.love that smile. makes the purchasing online 3 times over fiasco so very worth it.

even makes the frugal girl in me glad we took the financial dip.

it truly is better to give than receive.

though i must admit i’m reaping some pretty sweet rewards!

thanks nai nai & ye ye for the baby doll, the resemblence is uncanny. 😉

and so is theirs.

this picture literally makes me feel like i’m looking into the future, seeing liberty as she will one day look. no longer a baby, but a beautiful little girl. and in all honesty it makes me heart leap with joy and cry out against the march of time simultaneously.

my not so perfect attempts at recreating (from memory) jarod’s pose.

i’ll keep working on it.

during nap time we whipped up one large pumpkin pie and 4 individual pies for the sprouts.

very fun and festive table runner courtesy of nai nai. thanks too for the ribbon.  in my low key birthday manual, it is the perfect birthday pumpkin pie topper!

so surreal to dedicate a “1” candle to our baby sprout.

but before pie can be consumed we needed to get into something a little more casual.

we needed to take a few moments to enjoy our birthday gifts.

but most importantly, mommy needed to take a few more photos.

then… we ate dinner. crockpot chicken and apples. and for the birthday girl, an alvacodo

.

finally it was time to dawn the “birthday girl” bib and have a taste of the good life.

after all, that is the point of turning a year older, right?

first bite.

the verdict…
success! oh… that is what i call yummy goodness!

at the close of her first day to be one year old i was once again in awe of what a special gift, a perfectly timed blessing, liberty is.
and i was once again amazed at how good our God is.
we love you miss liberty praise.
and because it still causes my tongue to stick to the roof of my mouth to say it, i’ll tell you in print, “happy 1^st birthday baby sprout!”