ONE!

It's been a week and a half since Ellie turned one.


Time seems to be going faster these days.


A while ago someone in our ward asked how old Ellie was. When I told her about 11 months, she asked, with a bit of a knowing look, "Has it gone soooo fast?"


I think I might have disappointed her when I answered, "No. Not really."


It has actually been quite a long, rough year. Well worth it, to be sure. But quite a hard year with reflux and all that goes along with it, Brady's internship, cross-country moves, etc., etc.


I worry that when I mention the difficulties we had with reflux, people might think we are complaining or that we don't like our baby or something. Just perusing these pictures, who couldn't adore this little girl? We absolutely love Ellie to pieces and would do it all over again if we had to just to have her. There are so many things that could have been more difficult than reflux. As much difficulty as she did have, she has every right to be a grumpy, cranky baby. But she is so happy and excited about life, she's just fun to be around. And thankfully, reflux is something she has outgrown. I hereby declare reflux over! This birthday was quite a milestone for all of us.


We had a small party to celebrate our mutual triumph.


Ellie caught onto the idea of presents pretty quickly.


I got this teddy bear at a consignment sale and then made a dress and bow for it. Ellie doesn't have a lot of girly toys. Being the first granddaughter on this side of the family in about ten years, Ellie has had a lot opportunity to play with dinosaurs, trains, and cars Grandma has collected over the years. So this was my attempt to give Ellie a touch of the feminine.

Mostly she just pokes the bear's eyes and nose and then goes back to the orange monster truck she was pushing around. She's not much of a cuddler.

On her birthday Brady made a pound cake and lemon curd to spread on it. Because that's what every one-year-old wants to eat. Brady is trying to refine Ellie's pallet.


Later we had a party with more family and had the traditional first birthday chocolate mess, which Ellie also loved.


And finally, here she is modeling the dress that Brady's parents sent to her. I love it. I think Ellie does to, though she hasn't said so outright.


Sometimes I am completely in awe of this little girl--that she already is becoming a little girl, her own little person with separate thoughts and personality from my own. There are moments I wish I had captured (I know, hard to believe that I missed any based on all the pictures in this post--congratulations to anyone who has made it this far; sometimes I go on a binge and take a million pictures, and sometimes I forget all about cameras and want to experience Ellie face-to-face, not through the view finder of the camcorder). I miss the little "game" she made up last summer, yelling into a little cup "ha, ha, HAAAA," then handing it to me to do the same, back and forth. Or when she would crawl up to where the sun shone through onto the carpet and try to pick up the sunbeams. It was a rough year, but lots of good moments in there too. We can't wait to see what she has waiting for us in the next year.