Jaida's First Birthday!

 March 15, 2011 was our little Jaida's First Birthday. We couldn't be more thrilled to be celebrating her! She has been an absolute joy in our lives. We started the morning off with a pancake breakfast. She loves pancakes.

 After taking a bath and sprucing up in her birthday tutu and pig-tails. I couldn't help but take pictures of her. She was all smiles as long as her brother Pierce was around.

 She took a good long nap! She doesn't looked thrilled in these pictures, but really I promise she loves her daddy. There was a short period when she would only let me hold her, but she is now starting to branch out and let him hold her now. She pretty much has him wrapped around her little finger.

 Cutie Pie.

 We thought that we would take her to do something that she loves to do for her birthday. She loves to ride on the carousel at the mall.

 She had the best time and was all smiles there. She was giggling the whole ride. It was so  cute to see.

 After that we came home and Papa Russ fixed us an excellent dinner of roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots, green beens, and of course some special jell-o!

 We are pretty lucky to have both sets of grandparents here to celebrate this cute little thing. She got spoiled with loads of the cutest new clothes--EVER-- stay tuned you will see all the pictures of her in her outfits to come! She also got her very own stroller. She actually can walk behind it too.

 One of her most favorite gifts was this singing card. She danced as soon as she heard the tune! She absolutely loves music and will dance on cue.

 My creativeness was lacking for her cake. But we did a Princess and the frog cake. We kind of nick-named her that princess because of her frog Wub-a-nub pacifier that she has had since week one of life.

Guess who LOVED eating every morsel of her cake?? You guessed right, this cute face!
Here are some things about Jaida:
*She is finally a crawling machine. We love that she reached this milestone after so much hard work!
*She loves her brothers and always wants to be a part of whatever they are doing. For the most part they let her join right in too.
*She is pretty independent, she wants to do things her way.(Might be in trouble later with that one!)
*She finally got her first tooth 2 weeks before she turned one. She still only has the 1 tooth.
* At her 1 year check up she weighed 20lbs. 3oz. (25th percentile) and was 31 inches long (95th percentile). I didn't ask about her head, but all my kids have big heads so I am sure it is right up there.
*She hates a sippy cup, how am I going to part with a bottle?
*She has REALLY STINKY feet! I am not kidding. They really stink bad, they always have. Poor girl.
* She is still on oxygen at night as well as monitors. We hope to get this resolved!
* She has not taken any steps yet!
* She loves to dance to the Scooby Doo theme song.

Jaida really has been such a blessing in my life. Even after all the trials, I wouldn't change one thing. She has taught me so much in her short life. I feel so blessed every single day to just have her alive and with us. The togetherness that she brings to our family is undescribable and unlike anything I can ever explain. I thank my Father in Heaven for giving me this sweet angel. Just about every day Brock will ask me, "Mom can we please keep her?" I feel such joy everytime I get to answer, "yes, Brock she is ours forever!" I am so lucky to be her mother. Thank you Jaida for giving us a year filled with love and happiness! I love you with all my heart.