Celebrating Amaia's First Year

My heart is full.  We celebrated Amaia's very first birthday today with a breakfast party full of family and friends.  I am beyond thankful for this little girl and for the so, so many people that love her just as much as I do.  

I know that Amaia does not actually care about having a fancy birthday party at this point in her life, so I wanted to make sure that we did something that was truly for her.  I saw an idea online of making a time capsule and loved it!  She will get to open this mystery box on her 16th birthday.

I made a little photo timeline of our year together.

Amaia and her second cousin Evan.  Is his expression not the cutest?!

Birthday girl and her birthday muffin!

Amaia still refuses to feed herself, but she thoroughly enjoyed the muffin and lots of other yummy breakfast foods!

We love you Amaia Ruth!

And I think it's pretty safe to say that you love us too! 

One Year!

My sweetie Amaia,

You are ONE!  It has officially been an entire year since I first held you in my arms and you made me a mommy.  You have grown and changed so much over this past year.  It is incredible!  I have been reminiscing over the last couple of weeks and looking at old pictures of you and you have changed so much!  Your daddy noticed that when you were first born his finger was the same length as your shoulder to waist.  You are not so tiny anymore.  Here are your current stats:

Weight: 18 lbs. 14 oz. (36th percentile)
Height: 29 inches (44th percentile)
Head: 18.5 inches (86th percentile)

You are becoming an independent girl with your own likes and dislikes.  You get in silly moods.  You communicate with us.  You move around on your own.  You are quickly transitioning out of babyhood and it is exciting!

You have started crawling - sort of!  You still very much prefer to cruise around on whatever you can get your hands on, but if you see something you want you will crawl if you need to.  Last night you started off in the living room, made your way to the coffee table, walked around the coffee table, along the couch and chair and then crawled the rest of the way to join me in the kitchen.

You are an excellent eater! You are very good about eating most things that we give you.  Your favorites are still veggies and yogurt - such a healthy girl.  Many nights you are able to have the same dinner as daddy and I.  We gave you a taste of chocolate milk this week and I think it is safe to say that you loved it!

I can't say for sure that you are saying any meaningful words yet, but I have my suspicions.  I think that you might be saying "dolly".  You have started to sign "more" when you are eating.  You have also started pointing at pictures and saying "da".  I just cannot wait until I know what you mean!  Normally you speak softly like your momma, but sometimes you get very loud and you love to laugh!  You are not currently a huge fan of car rides, but sometimes you entertain yourself in the car by laughing - so cute little girl!

We love you so much Amaia Ruth!  It has been my absolute privilege to spend this last year with you.
Love,
Mommy

An Entire Year

One year ago today...

I was sitting at my desk working and mostly wondering if my little girl was EVER going to make her appearance.

I was eating spicy foods, eggplant, and going on walks every day trying my best to not need to be induced.

I was on my hands and knees on the living room floor in pain wondering, "How do I know if this is 'real' labor?"

I was calling Adam to tell him I wasn't feeling the best, but he didn't need to come home.  Good thing he didn't listen to me :)

Adam was grilling steak and I was eating bites between contractions.

I was pulling my first all-nighter since college.

I didn't know how beautiful my little girl was.

I didn't comprehend the life-changing all encompassing nature of motherhood.

I didn't understand the absolute joy and swell of affection and emotion I could feel for a tiny little girl we call Amaia Ruth.

LOVE: Food Style

"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach"

A common saying and so very true for my man.  He loves food.  He loves good food and he has very good taste!  So I really, really try to be good cook.  I occasionally fail.  For example, our first Valentine's day together as a dating couple I attempted to make salmon and completely burned it.  I believe the smoke alarms even went off.  Needless to say I was scarred by the experience and no longer attempt to make salmon :)

However, sometimes I am quite successful!  I found a new recipe for Thai Basil Chicken and Adam loved it!  I made it for the first time last week and thought it would be perfect to make for my love on Valentine's day.  Do you have a husband that loves spicy Asian foods??  You really should make this! Personally I find Asian recipes intimidating to make on my own, but this one was actually quite easy and quick.  It is actually pretty healthy too with the exception of the fish sauce which is a bit high on sodium.

Thai Basil Chicken (adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons chili oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 hot chile peppers
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 5 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 cup fresh mushrooms
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 1 bunch fresh basil leaves

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the garlic and chile peppers until golden brown. Mix in chicken and sugar, and season with garlic salt and pepper. Cook until chicken is no longer pink, but not done.
2. Stir fish sauce into the skillet. Mix in mushrooms and onions, and continue cooking until onions are tender and chicken juices run clear. Remove from heat, and mix in basil. Let sit 2 minutes before serving.

A couple friendly tips:

*I buy the mushrooms that are already sliced.  They cost the same as whole.
*Buy a good quality fish sauce!  From what I hear it makes a difference.
*I served over brown rice

I also made chocolate covered strawberries to celebrate! Last year we went to a local chocolate shop that shall remain unnamed and purchased ONE chocolate covered strawberry for $6.  This year it cost less than $6 to make ALL of these and I am pretty sure they were just as good.  Just sayin'  :)

It was a tasty Valentine's day!

LOVE: Family Style

Happy Valentine's day to you and yours from me and mine!!!

We are really, really enjoying the start to our first Valentine's day with our little sweetie.  Amaia and I brought daddy a mint condition coffee drink at work this morning!

Daddy loves Amaia.

We also tried to do a little photo shoot.  Amaia is not currently a fan of photo shoots.  In her opinion there are far more interesting things to do.  She is probably right :)

But she is just so darn photogenic.  

Amaia doesn't know it yet, but she is going to have strawberries and her first taste of nutella this afternoon for her Valentine's day treat.  Yum!!