She walks!

As of Tuesday, June 29th, Gemma Rae is officially a walker! Video to follow!

1 YEAR, 1 week, and 2 days.

ONE YEAR! She's one year old. That boggles my mind, honestly. I feel like there's no way she could be a year old already, but at the same time it feels like it's been decades since we brought her home. This really has been the longest, craziest year of my life.

How'd we go from this...



...to this?



Well, we had a party. A lot (I mean a LOT) of people ended up not coming, but that's to be expected for June. People are going on vacation, people are getting married. It's a busy time. That said, it still ended up being a lot of fun. Gem was happy, so that's all that matters. She was very social and interactive with everyone. I was afraid that she might get a little clingy and scared with so much going on and everyone fawning over her, but she did great.

The best part was when she got her cake. First, she loved having everyone sing to her. She looked around at everyone and smiled and kicked her feet. I could tell she was really enjoying it. Then when we gave her the cake, she would only take bites from it with her mouth. She wouldn't touch it with her hands. And I don't mean face-in-the-cake, big mess bites. I mean little dainty lady-like bites. At one point John smushed her hand in the icing to try and give her the idea, but she just cried and held up her hand to be cleaned off. Why is this story so cute? I was the exact same way at my first birthday party. She may look just like John, but sometimes she's just like me. :)



Also, did I mention she wore the cutest dress ever?


In other news, Gem can walk! She's a beginner walker still, but she's proven she can do it. She doesn't have the confidence or balance control to walk 'around' but she walks from one thing or place to another like it's nothing now. It's seriously the weirdest sight. I'm both excited and terrified of when she finally starts running around everywhere (which I'm sure is not far off).

I had a lot more to talk about, but it's late, it was a long weekend, and I'm exhausted. At least I covered the birthday.