1 year old

Having a 1 year old is like a little ticking time bomb ready to explode without any notice, reason, or disclaimers. It is giggles, and fun, and tantrums, and tears. It is snuggles and loves, and hitting and biting. It's about messy banana hair right after a bath. Insistent demands to read a book and then 3 seconds later being bored with it. It is about constant shrieking and yelling to get attention or trying to communicate. It's high 5's, and peek a boo, ripping glasses off someones face, and squashing mommy's nose. It's the awesome bed head hair, or the crazy do after Momma put in a rubber band and baby decided to yank it out. 1 year olds seem to have mastered the art of the limp noodle twist to squirm their way out of your arms. It is finding the contents of every drawer on the floor. Odd objects being carried around and lost all around the house. It is climbing, and falling, and crying and then doing the same thing over again. It's about racing up the stairs to get into brothers and sisters room's to destroy their belongings and then throwing a tantrum when you get caught. Having a 1 year old is having someone who fights sleep for 3 straight hours, ranting and raving while at church and then passing out within 30 seconds of the car ride home. It is the endless state of curiosity, mindless repetition, talking out loud pointing to everything. Having a 1 year old is like having a dog that plays fetch and gets over excited when anyone comes home. Being a 1 year old means that dad is the center of your universe. Even the mention of "Dada" makes them smile and get excited. The glean and pure joy in their eyes when reunited can compare to nothing else. 

Our little 1 year old is taking us on quite the wild ride. She is a riot. 

 Toy bins are way more fun to climb into and step on:

 Isabel is starting to sit and play with toys a lot more. She can have quite the attention span when she is figuring something out. She loves her little dog that she got for her birthday. It goes with her most places. 

 She only pushed this thing around a little bit. She more uses it now to climb up on the front and do a little dance. 

 She is completely weaned now. It was not as seamless as a transition as the other kids have been. After refusing bottles for most of her life, she now prefers them when drinking milk. We had to flavor it with chocolate syrup. Almost everything can be made better with some chocolate milk. 

 If anyone is on the floor, they are fair game to be climbed on. If you're lucky, you might get a snuggle, but she usually smacks. 

 Trying to figure out walking and drinking at the same time. 

 Cute as a bug. 

 Loves to wear shoes. Will bring them to us all day long to put them on her feet. She's still trying to figure out how to walk in these boots. 

 Little ham. 

 Has adopted her sister's baby doll as her own. She loves to tote this little doll around the house and give it loves. 

 She often tells me she's not happy with me. Nap time seems to be the ultimate betrayal. 

 She can have some pretty amazing hair styles. 

 Loves my phone. If she hears it, she will put her hand up to her ear. If you ask if she's talking on the phone, she'll put her hand to her ear and nod. It's pretty cute. 

 I have no words for this picture. It just makes me smile:

Isabel is 20.3 lbs (55%), 30" tall (77%), and has a head circumference of 17.5 (35%). She now has 4 teeth on the top and two on the bottom. She generally takes 2 naps a day, unless she's teething, then she screams bloody murder at me instead of sleeping. She has been consistently waking up between 6-6:30 most mornings, even though she is still grumpy and tired. She loves to dance to music. One of her favorite times is when we are having FHE and all of us will start singing, she thinks it's awesome. Sometimes she likes to help me "sing" to the kids at night, other times she'll get angry because she knows her bedtime is next. Her favorite foods right now are hot dogs, grapes, cheese sticks, tomato soup, eggs, and mandarin oranges. She can say a few words, "Dada", "Moh"(more), "Bawl"(ball), "Buh"(book) "Da" (dog). She is starting to snuggle more and more. I've seen a difference after weaning her, she will snuggle more willing now. She likes to take things that aren't hers and "run" as she giggles. The other night, the kids and I were reading scriptures. She had snuck up stairs into my dark bedroom, took the ipad off its charger and was dragging it half way down the stairs when we found her. Good golly. That cracked me up. Little stinker. Her favorite animal is a dog. She will trumpet if you ask her what an elephant says. It's fun to watch her personality shine.