Happy 1st Birthday Miss Audrey!

My dearest little Audrey,

When you wake up this morning you will be 1 year old.  Your mom and I can't believe how fast you have grown, yet it is hard for us to remember life without you!  We love watching your personality develop, you are so much fun to be with.

You take amazing naps and can sleep for hours on end (like from 6:30 pm to 8:00 am).  Your expressions are priceless, when you get overwhelmed you put one hand up to your face and give a blank stare like you just can't believe what just happened.  You LOVE to dance to music, just like your sister, but for now your best, and practically only, move is a side to side body giration that is a cross between "A Night at the Roxbury" and the gopher on "CaddieShack" (you have no idea what these are, when you are old enough I will show you).

See these stairs?  You LOVE them.  What you lack in walking skills you vastly make up for in climbing. If we leave you alone for 5 seconds downstairs and it gets too quiet, we know where you are.  Each week you gain speed on them.  The other day I came around the corner to see your sister at the bottom of the stairs.  I asked her, "Annika, where's Audrey?"  She looked around and smiled, "She's upstairs!"  You came around the corner and looked at me with a huge smile on your face.  It was your first solo stairs flight and you were so proud of yourself!

And while this is not the best picture in the world, it is rather accurate of you now.  You have this great urge to make the biggest mess possible on the ground around you.  You do not like things put away, rather you like them out so you know where they are.  (If this sounds strangely familiar to someone else you know, I'll give you a hint, she brought you into this world.)  Each day you are now setting records on how fast you can clear the magnet wall in the kitchen of all of its magnets.  I am pretty sure you can throw things farther behind you over your shoulder than you can in front of you at this point, it is really a site to be seen.

You love to sing with your sister and mommy, even though it is really just a hum.  We are convinced you will be talking in no time and you are pretty good at fighting off my zerbert attacks on your belly. You absolutely adore your sister (most of the time), and she loves you so much (almost as much of the time).  You are becoming much more generous with your kisses, and the amount of tongue you give is getting less by the day!

Life with you is so sweet, and while we can't wait to see more of who you are becoming, we don't want you to grow up, because we love this stage of life with you. Happy Birthday Miss Audrey Leigh.  You are such a delight and your mom, sister and I are so proud that you belong to us.

We love you.