Happy 13 Months Birthday!

geez. t am still coming to terms with you being a year old, and already a month has passed since your birthday.

you are right on the verge of walking, it seems, but you really don't seem to be in much of a hurry. i'm not all that worried about how quickly you do things. to put it in perspective, we worried that sam wasn't really talking until he was almost 2, but then he could legitimately read at 3. so, you just take your time with all that. i'm sure very soon you'll be running around and getting into all kinds of trouble. you already climb enough that it makes me nervous, so it's probably best for all of us that you're not completely independent in your mobility.

i realized today that you now have 5 pairs of shoes that you wear on a regular basis. that's almost as many as the rest of the family put together. we're not really a multi-shoe family. the trouble is, little girl shoes are not neutral at all. the white ones have pink stripes. the brown ones have pink flowers. that means they don't really match any red or blue. the black ones are patent leather, and therefore will not match your casual clothes. so, that necessitates buying 5 different pairs of shoes. i won't argue that they are dang cute; that certainly helps the cause. and in defense of my frugality, we only really spent about $12 altogether on the shoes. some were gifts, hand-me-downs, etc. i think the red sparkly ones we bought today are my favorite. they look like dorothy's ruby slippers from the wizard of oz. and they were on sale!

we think you're saying more stuff. like "yes" and "this." they sound very similar and may in fact be one or the other or neither of those words. we do notice that you understand more and more all the time. now is the age where we start noticing you doing and understanding things and we wonder how long you've been understanding them. like earlier when i asked if you wanted another cracker, and you reached out for me to give you one. and when i asked if you wanted more milk, and you handed me your cup.

your sleep habits got disturbed a lot over the holidays. you were doing pretty well, only waking up once at night for a few nights in a row. and then we started traveling. we know that you really really really need your own room, in order to sleep the best. that's a little weird, since you slept with us until about 10 months. but now if you're in the room with us, you wake up about 75 times. we finally had to stick your port-a-crib in the laundry room at grandma and pappy's house, in order for anyone to get any rest.

since i failed at taking pictures on your 13 months birthday, here are some shots of you from Christmas! the first and fourth pictures are a pretty outfit from your aunt michelle. the second one is you in your Christmas dress that i bought you way back in february. i'm so glad it fit you so well!
the third one is an outfit that your aunt keri bought you, including the fabulous and classy black patent leather shoes. people sure do like to buy you pretty things! i can't get over what a big girl you look like in these pictures.

love, mom