And this is what 1 looks like...

We had the best 1st birthday. It was so fun to think about our year, her year, and now her life as a 1-year-old. It's a pretty special to be 1! 

I won't keep writing monthly updates, but maybe every 3-6 months I'll write about what she's doing. However, we'll close out the year with a 12-month, aka 1 year update. At 12 months, Kennedy:

• Weights 19 lb. 1 oz, and is 29 inches tall. This puts her around 30th percentile for weight and 40th for height. She's definitely petite but growing at a proportionate rate. 
• Wears mostly 12M clothes, 12M onesies, and some 9M pants. Her waist is small for some 12M pants!
• Eats mostly regular, prepared meals that we eat (or would eat). She loves pasta dishes, egg bake, cheese, ground beef or turkey, meatballs, deli meat, cooked apples, yogurt, bananas, lasagna, and rice. We're trying to expand but so far, we're pretty happy with her appetite. 
• Cruises around furniture very quickly, and can stand alone for 5 seconds. She is also very good at bending down to pick things up and easily transitions between standing, sitting, and crawling.
• Sleeps THROUGH the night! Haven't been able to say that until this month's update! She might wake up and make little noises, but can almost always get herself back to sleep. No more night feedings!
• Loves playing with magnets on the fridge, stacking her rings, putting things in and taking out of boxes, stacking books, knocking down block towers, her elephant ball toy, and her other musical toys. She likes to turn on all musical toys at the same time (for a very calm environment, indeed.)
• She also loves playing music. She'll turn on the CD player by herself, look at us, and do a little dance.
• Claps her hands when we ask her to! She loves clapping on command, and then immediately pulls out her entire bag of tricks: her responses to "So big!", "Peekaboo!" and "Hello?" (holding her hand to her ear like she's on the phone)
• Is turning more and more into a toddler every day. She likes testing us - looking at us before doing something she knows she shouldn't do, and waiting for our response. Then, after we set limits, she looks at us again before attempting to break those limits. I can tell this stage is going to be oh-so-fun.
• LOVES her puppy. Pets her more gently, shares her food, holds her hand out to her for kisses, and is generally interested in where she is and what she's doing.
• On that note, she also has started pretending to be like her puppy! She takes Callie's leash and drapes it around the back of her neck/shoulders and crawls around like a puppy! So fun to see this make-believe play.
• Nods her head yes in addition to shaking her head no! She seems to deliberately shake and nod depending on the situation.
• Uses one sign consistently, for "all done" at the high chair
• Still loves the bath and will crawl quickly to bath when she hears the water running
• Hates having her diaper changed and puts up a big fuss/fight often. Time at the diaper table is a constant battle!
• Is still on the army crawl. At this point, I think that'll never change. I forget how unique her crawl is until someone new sees it, and they crack up immediately when she crawls. Someone recently said it's a "slither", which I think is super accurate.
• Is starting to show interest in playing with other kids. The bottom picture shows her playing with her cousin Liam, which is super cute to see how engaged they are in play together.
• Is of course, the little light of our lives. We can't wait to see what the second year brings! (of course, we are proceeding with caution, considering the stories I've heard about the toddler years)

Happy Birthday to Kennedy- we love you so much!

My Dear Girl...

My Dear, Sweet, Kennedy,

Tomorrow you turn 1. You have now been in the world for an entire year. A year ago, I was laying in bed after a long walk with Grandma Gail, trying to make you move! A year ago was my due date, and it was summery, hot and humid outside. (Today it was about 20 degrees and we are still snow-covered.) A year ago, I had spaghetti dinner with girlfriends, and it was hard to believe I was still pregnant.

It's so surreal to think about, because a year ago you couldn't even pick your head up and now you're cruising around furniture, clapping your baby doll's hands, brushing Grandma's hair, my hair, your hair, putting Callie's leash around your neck like she does, and making your wants and needs known.

I know you.

Really, I have known you since before the first day, when you were often very active in my tummy. And I knew you the day you were born, when you came out screaming for a good 20 minutes before you calmed down. I remember the first time you curled your lip to pout (you were probably 2 weeks old) and I said to your Daddy, "I can already picture her tantrums."

You see, I know you.

I know how excited you are about entertaining guests, welcoming people into our home, and interacting with our sweet puppy. I know how generous you are with sharing your things, bringing people into your world by handing them toys, holding out your food and water for them. I know how important it is for you to explore with your hands, understand the world around you. You want to work all of the small parts, twisting and turning and cranking and screwing them in. You want to understand how the world fits together.

I am that way, too. I still get excited about having guests over, and not wanting to miss a thing. I want people to experience what I am experiencing, so I bring them into my world, too. I want to understand the world, and while I often think it should fit like a puzzle, I'm learning to accept that some pieces will be torn and others will be missing.

I will always teach you to trust people, even when it's hard or even after that trust is broken. I believe in living with your whole heart, and I'll teach you about that. (I'll even teach you about Brené Brown one day.)

And sometimes your feelings get hurt.

You feel sad when something doesn't go your way, and you feel emotions intensely, but you also get over it pretty quickly because you are in tune to everything going on around you. You will get hurt sometimes, but that's okay. It will make you stronger, and you will learn from it. You will gain perspective from every experience, and learn how to be the best you possible. I will not always be able to protect you from frustration and pain, but I will always be there to work through it together.

You see, my little girl, I really believe that throughout your life, as you grow into this amazing person you were destined to be, I will look back and be able to say, "Yes, she's always been that way."

Love, Mommy

Technologically Speaking

I work as a Consultant in Organizational Effectiveness, a team focused on training and development of our various client groups. My client group is our technology department - what many traditionally know as Information Technology, or IT. I was recently talking with my boss about how the idea and reputation of IT is shifting so dramatically. I never found myself as interested in it as I do now.

People used to think of IT as payroll systems, code writers, green screens, cursors, blue screens, boxy fonts. But now - think of the biggest IT giants - they are the true innovators! Facebook. Google. Digital. Mobile. Things that are true drivers in our world today.

There is a generation being born today who will not think of IT in a traditional sense - because to them, technology will always be part of their DNA. It will support them in play, in learning and connecting. Here's a funny clip about Gen Z - which I'm not sure is definitively named that yet, but the newest generation born in 2000 or later. A Magazine is an iPad that Doesn't Work

Think about it. Our kids will naturally go to their devices, apps, web browsers, and sites to get the latest info and interact with the world. I've also joked with Jake that my first news source is Facebook. I'm not sure the old mantra "A place for friends" that Mark Zuckerberg created showed any intention for Facebook as a news source. But, nowadays, word travels fast and people post which leads me to find news stories.

It also reminds me of one of my first posts, when I talked about words that used to have narrow usage that are now in the forefront of our vocabularies. Things like "tweet" and "text" and "status" and even "like" are given new meaning, and are also suddenly very popular.

So, IT isn't really in the background. It's driving what we do, both in business and in life. It's not like "organizing the world's information" sounds like an extremely sexy task, but somehow the Google guys have made it that way.