Bethany is One April 18, 2014

showing off  little red eyelashes that go for miles.

My darling Bethy turned one.
It has been a fast year, and she has fit in perfectly.
If I had to describe her in one word it would be sweet.

I feel like of other kids her start was rough.  A few trips to the ER and the hospital for illness.  We spent a lot of time cuddling in my bed together which I miss terribly. And a constant rash on her chin we have fought all year too.
Maybe it is that or maybe it is because she is my baby, or maybe it is because of the way she looks at me with so much love.  But she seems to need me.
She certainly is more of a mama's girl than any of the others for sure.
She even would cry for me when Jake had her sometimes.  And lean against me and suck her thumb.

At one she is

weight 28.5 30 %
height 28.5 inches- 33%
head 4 cm- 76%

she has several words.
Mama being the first, followed by Dad, dog, baba, nigh nigh,
She has four teeth- a record for any of our kids at this age.
She doesn't walk, but will walk along furniture.
She loves to clap, and wave, and giggle and giggle and giggle.
She loves to eat ice like me,  and blueberries and grahm crackers.
and read books
and have her siblings dance and entertain her
and her blankie, especially while sucking her thumb.
and music.  Boy he is a dancer, bouncing to even the few seconds of jinggle that play on the tv when a commercial is on.
She also crawls up to kneel at the ottoman and half way folds her arms for family prayer at night.  It is incredible. and endearing.
I think she is our first kid to not really like being in the car though
And she only will sleep in her bed or my bed, not in my arms or the car or at church or something.
And she still wakes up a time or two or three even at night.  I pull her into my bed and nurse her and she seems so content.
And she is very curious.  And crawls and disappears in seconds to rooms with open doors exploring the toliet paper, or her sisters books, or Sam's trasnformers he has hiden under his bed, or the finger nail polish in my bathroom drawer.
She also ha the least hair of any girl at this age, but is a sweet red pink color that I love and most everyone else does too.
She is so loved.  By me, and her dad and all of her siblings, who are always bringing her toys, singing her tons and tying to make her laugh.
After four kids, I feel like I have realized how much of a child's personality can be seen in these first 12 months.  I can see Bethany's o much too.
Eager to please, and eager to have fun and laugh. Loving and smart, and content and curious. She seems to have pieces of all of the other siblings personalities.  Smart, curious and silly like Kate, giving, obedient and spiritual like Sam, Loving and happy like Marianne.
No wonder she feels like she fits in so well.
We call her our dear, our fox, our darling, Bethy, Beth-a-roo, Roo, our turtle, our butterfly, Dot, Thee Thee,