First Birthday!

It's so hard to believe that a year has already passed since our sweet girl has been with us. What a celebration!
The last year has been filled with joy, sadness, trials, triumphs, learning and a lot of love! I feel like I have grown so much as a person since becoming a mother. My motivations are different, my relationships with people have changed. Some have grown, others have ended. My main goal now is to surround ourselves with positive loving supportive people who enrich our lives. I've realized the most that everything we do reflects onto how Grace will perceive us and how she will grow. That makes it a huge responsibility to help her become the best person she can be.
One of the greatest joys over the last year has been watching her turn into her own little person. As her personality has started to come through. What she thinks is funny and her own likes/dislikes. She is such a mover, never wanting to slow down. Her toys don't get touches much as she would prefer to be walking around and exploring. The few times of calm she can usually be found looking through a book. Hopefully our love of reading will be passes onto her, I hope she realizes that a love of reading is a love of knowledge. Our smart girl seems to already be very sharp and easily learns new things. I am such a proud momma when so many people not only tell us how cute she is but also how smart she is.
While I am sad that this first year has come to a close, I look forward to all the new and exciting adventures we will have over the next 12 months until we celebrate her next birthday. I am also hoping that for her next birthday the weather will be a little more "normal". Last year it was 85 the day she was born. This year it was only around 28! I prefer 85!

As today closes, I can fall asleep with a smile knowing what a healthy happy girl we have.
Happy Birthday to my wonderful baby!!

The night before

I can't help but reflect. A year ago at this time I had gone into labor. I just hadn't realized it was actual labor. After spending the day together, enjoying the beautiful 80 degree day in march we had gone to bed around 11 or so. I quickly moved to the couch because I had felt something I my stomach and thought maybe Grace was on her way. From 12-2:30 my contractions got pretty close together and painful. I finally woke Nate up around 2:30 not wanting to go through the process any more by myself . From 2:30-6:00 it was the long painful labor at home. We both ate some cereal and took showers. We packed up the car and because I was in so much pain I thought I was much further along than I ended up being.
It's funny cause a year later I'm still on the couch but this time I am listening for my sweet baby hoping I can care for her any way possible.
A year goes by too fast. A year ago all I wanted was to meet my sweet baby girl.

Disney World

We've been back for over a month and I keep meaning to get my thoughts down about our trip. It is still fresh is my mind and the memories bring a smile to my face everyday.
Ten days is a long time to be at WDW and it would be impossible to write about everything. Yet there are few high points I hope I never forget! We had three scheduled days at Epcot, two at Magic Kingdom, one each of Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom and two down days. We started out with our first two days at Epcot. I love walking around all the different countries and seeing the sights. There is something neat in every corner. Epcot is a definitely a place that needs exploring. The only part about our trip I was bummed about was that we missed our third day there because Grace ended up getting sick. But there is always next time!
Animal Kingdom was a short day for us. The park was pretty crowded and as much as there are lots of neat animals to see it didn't take long to do everything we wanted. I especially enjoyed the Safari ride and our character breakfast at the Tusker House.
Hollywood Studios has grown on me over the years. There are a lot of fun rides including Tower of Terror and rockin roller coaster. We only spent one day at HS but we could have done two. There is a lot to experience there. Hopefully when Grace is older we can do more as a lot of their attractions aren't baby friendly. That is fine though, there is a lot to see just walking around. We attended Fantasmic for the first time and it was very impressive. The crowd was pretty intense but the show was worth it. Disney definitely knows how to put on a show! The music, fireworks and effects were amazing. I especially loved the part that they incorporated Fantasia and sorcerer Mickey- he's my favorite!
During our down days we went over to downtown Disney and spent some time at the hotel. Downtown Disney is fun with tons of specialty shops. I'd like to look around there some more next time. Nate and I got to have dinner just the two of us at House of Blues and then stick around for a few drinks afterward. It was fun to be able to go off by ourselves for a bit.
Grace really enjoyed the pool and we had fun taking her swimming! There are so many things to do at the resort even just walking around taking in all the beautiful scenery. Port Orleans Riverside is a great place to stay.
All in all our trip was fantastic. I'm saving our Magic Kingdom experience for its own post as it deserves.