We made it! One year down with 5 kiddos. I feel like we should be celebrating that accomplishment as much as Lily's first birthday. Especially when you consider the last 6 months have included selling our house in Edmonton and moving to a new city! It's been quite the adventure for us, and so the last half of her first year has really blown by.
\ 
Lily is a sweet girl who loves a good squeezy hug or snuggle. Many times when you pick her up she will wrap her arms around you and squeeze as hard as she can. She adores anything fleecy, and sometimes if she's upset, I'll put her on the carpet and throw her fuzzy blanket over her, and that's enough to chill her out for a few minutes.
She absolutely hates having her diaper changed, and as soon as you grab a diaper or wipes she starts losing it before you even put her down. Even when you're done, she might writhe and scream like a feral child for 5 minutes.
She only has her two bottom teeth, but the top ones will hopefully be making an appearance soon, because she was a miserable wretch the week before her birthday. She eats most things, and has started pointing at whatever she wants to eat or drink. Anything not wanted gets promptly handed back to you, a vigourous shaking of the head, or dropped on the floor.
She LOVES chocolate, and knows exactly what packaging her favourite treats come in. In the picture below, I ran upstairs for a minute and I could hear her getting into the groceries. She was shaking the oreos up and down, like she was trying to dump them out. Mostly she just loves to lick the icing off, then hands me her soggy cookies.
We are halfway between 1 and 2 naps a day. Most of the time it's one, depending on when she wakes up and how cranky she is, but as long as she has her blanket she doesn't waste any time going to sleep if she's tired.
In the last two months she has started walking (watching her toddle around is the best), clapping, pointing, and playing peek a boo. She is obssessed with phones and remotes. Her day normally consists of opening and emptying as many cupboards and drawers as she can around the house. If there is a basket of laundry around (every day seems like laundry day here...), she will drape herself in as many items of clothing as she can.
Lily is a fairly big daddy's girl, which I'm ok with! She loves when he comes home, and usually beelines it for the stairs if she hears his voice when he walks in the door. If I'm holding her and she wants her dad, she will just scream and flail until he picks her up. She gets really upset if he walks by her without acknowledging her or picking her up.
She wants to open all the doors, but thankfully can't reach any handles.
She knows when she's doing something she isn't supposed to, and when you come near her to stop her she starts shaking her head all over the place.
Lily is fairly cautious when it comes to new things. She is not a fan of toys that move on their own, masks (like dress up masks that cover your eyes... not covid masks-she's pretty used to those haha), or her big brother's shark stuffie. She is pretty happy with new people though and tends not to make strange. Despite this, she tends to get herself stuck in all kinds of places, especially our walk-in shower. I usually just hear her calling for me, and then I go on a hunt to find her.
Right now she just babbles a lot, but she can say mama, dada, hi, and go. As with most kiddos, her understanding of language far exceeds her ability to communicate.
I know the next 3 to 6 months are going to be explosive with changes for this little girl (hopefully just for her though, and nothing crazy for us again!). I'm so looking forward to watching her grow!
