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Here it is everybody, the big day...

Margaret Elizabeth is 1 whole year old today! And I'm doing my best not to completely bawl my eyes out like the emotional mama I am. 

Easter Morning

It seems like such a long amout of time has passed since April 23, 2013 yet at the same time, things have passed by much too quickly. One year ago today I was freaking out over my lack of control, because my headstrong daughter wanted to come into the world. Today I am freaking out because my beautiful, vibrant, stubborn and headstrong daughter wants to make her mark on the world.

 "I'm not ready for this" has been my mantra ever since I saw those pink lines on a pregnancy test 21 months ago. And yet, I've spent my whole life preparing for these days, and I could not imagine a more wonderful outcome. 

I think the biggest news about Meggy right now, is that she is officially walking. It started a week and a half ago, and she has been taking more and more steps every day! The best she can do is 4 steps in a row, but I LOVE watching her grow bolder and more confident. Yesterday for the first time she stood up in the middle of the room without any help, and walked toward me. Those last steps were more tumbles than anything else, but it is so wonderful to see her determination in mastering this walking thing. Even when she is holding on to something, she practices her steps. I can see her tapping her foot, figuring out what is the best way to put it down, or how to turn without tripping herself. Everyone tells me that once she's a walker, I'll be wishing for the crawling days. I can understand where they're coming from, but I relish these moments of her exploring her body, and seeing how she can manipulate it. 

Margaret is loving playing with our new kitty, Knightly. He was wary of her at first, but now he knows that 1) she drops food, and 2) she loves to play. She'll wave around his wand-type toy, playing tug-of-war with him, and he pulls the feathers out one by one. We now have feathers littering the living room. He will also get up on her high-chair tray to see if she's having anything good to eat. He is partial to mandarin oranges and hamburger. We know when Meggy is done eating, because she tries to feed the rest of her food to Knightly. I think it's adorable; Thomas gets very annoyed, and locks the cat in the spare room until Meggy is done. 

We gave Meggy her presents last night (Thomas might be working tonight, and I wanted him there to see her open them) and it was so fun to watch her! Unlike Christmas, when she just wanted to eat the paper, she actually tried ripping apart the paper to see what was underneath! She wasn't too sure about the pop-up tent we got for her, but she liked the princess trunk (with a swimsuit, tiara and fairy wand inside) and she absolutely LOVED the blocks from Nana. I didn't let her play too much because it was bedtime, but she'll have lots of fun with them today. 

(Sorry they're so blurry - I didn't think about the lighting until after everything was over)

Meggy loves, loves, loves being outside. Since the weather has been nice lately, we have been going to the park a lot! Margaret's favourite thing to do is swing, but she also likes crawling in the grass, and watching the river. When we go with friends, she loves having their dog walk by her stroller - she thinks it's the most awesome thing. The last time we went to the park Meggy had such a good time that she started crying when she realized I was putting her in the car, and she cried almost all the way home. (It's only a 6 minute drive, but still.) 

When Megs and I walked out to get the mail yesterday, it was slightly cool and windy. A gust of wind started up when we were heading back to the house, and started walking faster,because I thought Meggy wouldn't like the cold. She had a different idea however. Once she felt the wind, she lifted her hand up, as if she could catch it, and made a little laughing noise. She stayed like that, hand up, grin on her face, until the wind died down again. It was such a sweet moment, and almost lead me to believe that angels must have been passing by, to make Meggy so happy. 

Lucky miss Margaret has quite a few birthday celebrations in the next few weeks. Today, of course we are doing all her favourite things (playing in the park, eating mandarin oranges, a splashy bath and lots of singing and dancing), then this weekend Beema and Aunty Rachel are visiting, and we will be doing a combine celebration for Beema's birthday and Meggy's. She has a birthday party the weekend after that, and then she'll get to celebrate with everyone else's spring birthday when we go up to C'ville on Mother's Day. Quite the full schedule for my little princess! 

This year has been one of the more difficult years I've had in my short life, but it has definitely been the most rewarding. Every time I get a sweet kiss, hug, or just a grin from across the room, my heart fills up with joy. When I see how happy it makes Meggy to play with Thomas, or sing with her Beema, or swing with her Grandma, my love grows a little deepe for my little chub. When I hear the word "Mama" come out of her mouth, my heart melts and I'd do almost anything for her. Except give her cookies,which is what she usually wants. :) 

Yep, this year has been pretty awesome. I'm looking forward to see what the next 365 days have in store for us!