One year

Dear Kate,

Today you turn one, and I can't believe how the past year has flown by. You utterly amaze me with every passing moment and I'm so honored and proud to have brought you into this world. I just love everything about you. You are such a tiny little person who literally fills up a room with your big personality. I can watch you for hours and laugh with you constantly. I love the way you command a room with your funny booty shaking dances, how you kiss or hug every other child you see, the way you point at what you want and shake your head at me when I get it wrong. I love when you do something new, something that you came up with all on your own, like blowing raspberries to mimic me blowing my nose, using my hand to push the buttons on toys that are too hard for you to push, pulling a cap off a pen and finding it maybe the coolest thing on the planet so you have to do it 50 times in a row. And I love it when you finally learn to do something I've been working on with you, like when you learned to play peek-a-boo, to crow like a rooster and of course, walking like a champ. I could go on and on because the things you do that make me proud, that make me happy, that make me in awe of you -- the list is endless.

Thank you for making me a better person. Thank you for teaching me a new kind of love. Thank you for making me rich in spirit and whole in person.

I love you.

Mom