Happy Birthday, V!

I am over a month behind on this one, so I'd better get moving on this post before we run into another G family birthday (coming in T minus 6 days... MG turns 3!!)

Our sweet 'Vieve turned 1 way back on May 4th (KY Derby Day!), but thanks to the lovely virus we endured, we celebrated the next day upon GG's return from a weekend trip.  We just couldn't have Daddy missing his littlest girl's first birthday, now could we?!  V (her new blog nickname!) was none-the-wiser, so we invited Mimi and Papa on over and celebrated in true post-viral fashion.

Poor V still wasn't totally back up to snuff following the illness, so our birthday eating festivities were rather subdued.  No fun smash cake, no real dinner eating to speak of.  It was all pretty uneventful and looking back at pictures, I can see how crummy my little sweetie felt.  But, such is life, and V's immune system has been learning big lessons lately.  Here's a look back at V turning 1--no need for guests when our family is party enough!

The birthday girl and her Papa.

The sweet birthday girl, eyes looking a wee bit droopy, poor thing.

Thankfully everyone else was feeling good enough to celebrate!

I can't express how much I love this picture.

M ran to the piano to play the "Happy Birthday" song for all of us!

V received some books from us, a soft lovie and PB blanket from Mimi and Papa, and a water table from G and P!  What a lucky girl!

The cards were probably her favorite!

But the siblings all preferred her water table! ;)  I had to keep reminding them it was her gift!

A few days later, V received some fun pool toys and a sweet bathing suit from Aunt J and Uncle A, her godparents.  Thank you, J and A!

If you were to have asked me back in April, I would have said V was our most verbal child to date.  Since then, though, with all of the illnesses and her focusing more on motoring around the house (still no walking yet), verbal skills have taken a back seat and are just starting to emerge again.  Today on the phone with my sister, she seemed to verbalize J's name.  We've also started hearing her sing the tune to "Twinkle Twinkle" very early like her big sister.

She is crawling and traveling up a storm, taking stairs by force and always finding some adventure with her big siblings around.  They are getting very good at telling her "NO!", which immediately sends her to tears.  Apparently she's a people-pleaser already and doesn't seem to like to be in trouble.  Excellent! :)  GG and I breathe a sigh of relief.  Without a doubt, though, she is the most loved little baby on the planet.  Just today the big boys were dancing for her in the back seat of the minivan, taking great delight when she would dance "back" in rhythm to the music.  Since around 6 months, V has been doing her little baby "shimmy", where she'll wiggle her middle when she's picked up or carried around.  I will do a little rap about "wiggle in the middle" and she starts jiving every time.  Love it!

By far her eyes are the bluest of our four blue-eyed ones.  Most people she meets think she favors our T, which has been my prediction since we met her at birth.  Along the way we've seen glimpses of her other brothers too.  The jury is still out!

What we do know is how much we love this little lady.  She is our precious blessing and my heart is full of love for her.  Every day with her is a gift and I am grateful how God is using her to shape and mold our family into more of a tightly knit family unit.  Thank you, sweet V, for teaching us about how love multiplies and God's great mercy in it.  You are our angel.