Sledge Family: HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, BETHANY!

Is it just me, or is it really hard to believe that our sweet little goose is really one year old?! Here's a little update on our favorite girl:

Bethany remains a tiny little thing. Yesterday I went shopping for her and came home with 9 month sized clothes. Even though she is a year old now, the 9 month outfits I bought are still quite baggy. Don't be fooled, however, Bethany is charismatic to say the least. She's a fighter, and when Emmett tries to takes her toys, she doesn't give them up to him easily and swings and flails her fists at him. Of course, she loses every time against her big brother, but now that she is finally crawling, she's beginning to go after him when he takes off with her toys.

I am in love with Bethany's gummy smile. The poor thing still has no teeth. Emmett will frequently remind her of this during meals and say, "Oh Bethany, I'm so sorry you don't have any teeth!" I don't mind the lack of teeth yet because they have a way of suddenly transforming a little baby into a little kid, and I'm still not quite ready for that.

Bethany jabbers, squeals, and talks constantly. She loves and adores her daddy and will shriek fiercely if he comes home and hugs anyone else before her. Next to the cat (who gets more giggles and squeals out of her than any of us combined), Dad is definitely her big favorite.

We all know that Bethany is the one who makes the rules at our house. She likes to crawl and explore, and while she does play well by herself for up to about a half hour at a time (which is pretty good, I think), she still prefers more than anything to be held and to cuddle. If she had it her way, she would sit in someone's lap all day long and feel very content and pleased with herself. Her newborn banshee cry still returns with a vengeance several times a day with it's ear-spitting powers whenever she is angry. Every need that she has is an emergency. For example, whenever we get Bethany up from a nap or in the morning, we carry with us a prepared bottle. Unless she is soaked through her diaper or had a blow out, the bottle comes before everything else. If we try to change her first, we can count on having ringing ears for several minutes following the diaper change. There should be less than 30 seconds between the time she sees us enter the room and the time the bottle is in her mouth. I'm not exaggerating. Once she's had her bottle, she's sweet and funny and charming to be around, but she is not to be trifled with beforehand.

Bethany loves to give "five" and waves and says, "Hi!". She claps with excitement over almost anything, and if you ask her any question she will always respond, "Yeah." This comes in handy when Casey and I disagree and are looking for someone to take sides with us. If she doesn't want something or is getting frustrated she will shake her head. She loves to give big sloppy kisses. She'll lean forward, stick her tongue out, slime the side of our faces and then say, "MUAH!" and laugh. Also, since flexing our muscles after every bite we take at dinner is the common practice at our house (thanks to Emmett), Bethany will frequently stick her arms straight out in front of her and shake her fists while growling fiercely as she eats her meals. I love it!

One year ago today, every pain and every difficulty we went through to get our sweet girl here became worth it. I'm so glad we did what we had to do and got her here safely, and each time I look at her I remember not only our sacrifices, but the sacrifices and loving help of family and friends who came to our aid and worked so hard for us and for her. Her birthday will, for me, always be a time of remembering and thanksgiving. The memories of the struggle we had one year ago are now sacred to us as we thank our Heavenly Father every day for the miracle of this sweet little girl He has given to us.

And now, of course, it's picture time!

We opened presents after Casey came home from work. Bethany got her very first dolly! She loves all dolls and stuffed animals, and we felt sure that a little doll was just what she needed. Hopefully they will become good friends. :)

We also got Bethany a wading pool, a new board book, and several puppets. Four of the puppets came in a set and are "glove" puppets of different kinds of bugs, and another puppet is a stuffed fox. The fox was a huge hit with both kids, as you will see in the video below.

After presents we had birthday cake. Bethany has turned into an Elmo fan as well as Emmett, so I made "Elmo" cupcakes. I'm not completely convinced that they really do look like him, but they sure were cute! Emmett enjoyed the novel decorations more than Bethany, but that still made it fun. They were easy to do as well, and that's important to me!

And of course, we decided to allow Emmett the honor of blowing out Bethany's candle since she had no idea what was going on. Next year we'll guard her privileges more carefully, but I don't think it mattered much this time. :)

At first she had no idea what to do with the cake, but after a while she caught on. Still, she had more fun smearing the cake around her tray than eating it and her face didn't get all that messy.

However hesitant Bethany was to eat her cupcake, Emmett had been dying from anticipation all day long and knew just what to do!

Emmett believes it should be someone's birthday EVERY DAY. :)

For Bethany's "birthday party" we were going to go swimming at the local "Surf 'n Swim" but arrived only to find out that their summer hours close early to accomodate private party reservations. So we very sadly got back into the car and went home. In order to avoid melt downs and complete disappointment from Emmett, we saved the day by bringing out the sprinklers. As you can see, Bethany was in heaven. I've never seen a baby enjoy water as much as she does! It is so fun to play with her and see her enjoying herself. Honestly, I'm a little envious of the joy children experience over such simple things. One more reason God loves the little children so much.

Emmett's favorite sprinkler is this long one that he can use to spray everyone else with. We try not to let him spray Bethany because he gets a bit carried away and aims for her ears and eyes, but she will put up with and even enjoy moderate amounts of spraying and has no problem if she's the one directing the stream of water into her own face.