Hallie's first birthday pictures (so, so late)

Again, this is almost a YEAR late in posting. Hallie will celebrate her SECOND birthday in about 6 weeks. Thankfully, she's very forgiving of my tardiness.

Hallie's first birthday was the day after we were released from our COVID quarantine/first day of Community Day. Much to the older girls' dismay, I did not have things in place to celebrate her birthday ON her birthday. To be fair to me, I had not been to the grocery store or gathered any supplies, and I still felt awful. But they did such a thorough job shaming me that I got everything together for a party the next day after church (and when I say "party," I definitely just mean our family at home).

Evidence:

I made the cake, but we bought the cupcake. By the way, we always use a cupcake as a smash cake. Otherwise the element of waste is too much for me to handle.

Picture by Claire!

Look at the baby licking her lips.

It was a little confusing at first.

But then she tasted it and we got this knowing look.

She might also be a little unsure about whether or not this was sanctioned by the parents.

No shortage of gifts.

Apparently, she needed a lot of help to open her presents.

And Lily thought that this gift needed some extra love.

But the girls gave her the BEST gifts.

It says: Things we love about Hallie

From Claire, Lily, and Brynna

"I think she's sweet and cute. From the first time I saw her, I loved her. When I held her, it felt like sunshine (and Trumpkin loved her, too). She is my friend. -Lily"

"From the first moment I saw her, she was the perfect sister. She is a beautiful sister. She will always be my best friend. -Claire"

"We wrote this book in honor of Hallie's very first birthday! We love her and we will always love her. Happy 1st birthday!"

"A love book mark made by your sisters."

I very much cannot handle how darling their gifts to her were. They worked so hard on it, too. So thankful for all of them.

We had a great time celebrating Hallie, and I'm pretty sure she really loved the concept of the party. Especially cake. And opening presents. And being the center of attention. Just...all of it.

Letter to My Hallie: 1 Year

My dearest Hallie,

I'm absolutely floored that I'm already writing your First Birthday Letter. Time is a thief and has run at full speed through your first year! I can tell such a difference in how I think about the first year now in relation to how it felt when Claire was a baby. The result? It's gone in an actual instant.

You have come out with some of the funniest tricks this month! You make some hilarious faces and noises (on purpose- you know what makes us all laugh), and you are interacting with us so well. One of my favorite things you do: whenever I sing "BINGO," I usually make a clicking sound for the omitted letters (my hands are usually too full to clap). If you hear me start singing "BINGO," you immediately begin clicking your tongue.

One little development recently that is both funny and frustrating is that you can sit up in your bed now. First of all, you sit up in what seems like the most energy-zapping way possible: you do the splits and roll yourself up, much like a gymnast in a floor routine. It's kind of impressive but also seems super difficult. Secondly, you can sit yourself up WHILE MOSTLY ASLEEP and are then unable to lay back down to continue sleeping. This is very upsetting to you. The funny thing is that you aren't even our first baby to do this. Must be genetic?

Also genetic: not crawling, walking, pulling up, or producing teeth yet. We're not worried. We'd probably be concerned if this WASN'T the case.

We love to listen to you join in with any singing you hear or watch you dance to any music that's playing. You give us kisses, wave hi, clap for yourself and others, can *almost* sign "please," and will laugh on command (if you're feeling like it). You love to laugh and giggle at your sisters, and, for better or for worse, you are learning to make yourself heard above the ever-present din. We are definitely not worried about you carving out your place.

Last week, I was talking with a friend from church who also had a baby during the pandemic. We were talking about your upcoming birthday, and she told me about an Instagram post she had recently seen by another mom of a Pandemic Baby. I later watched that post and cried through the whole thing. She talked about how growing a baby and then bringing that baby into the world during this time in history was so much harder in a number of ways: isolation, loneliness, being consigned to our homes, worry over all that's happening, lack of our usual villages. But her main point was to remind us of how our Pandemic Babies brought such light to our world during such a dark time. How you remind us of God's grace. How you brought hope and healing to our hearts. I can't see the screen as I'm typing this because tears of gratitude keep coming to the surface. You have been exactly that to me: such a light. My Pandemic Pregnancy was hard and lonely, and it would have been like that, pandemic or not. But my Pandemic Baby was perfectly timed and orchestrated. You have thrilled and delighted me every day of your life, casting a glow on each box of the calendar. And for that...despite all the hardships 2020 brought, it can never be one of my worst years. It will always be one of my best.

We never imagined you. We were taken so off-guard by the news of you. We spent most of 2020 in stunned realization of you. And we absolutely cannot believe that we were entrusted with the gift of you.

We named you Hallie because "we will praise the Lord." And we praise Him for you every day.

Happy birthday, Hallie!
You are one of the greatest joys of our entire lives.
We could not possibly love you more.

Mommy and Daddy

One of my favorite of your faces

You might be the school mascot (although...it might be a toss-up between you and Trumpkin)

You've developed a bit of a cowlick.

Monkey

Visiting with a passel of stuffies

Ukrainian girl

I snapped this on the night before your birthday. It's a favorite.

Birthday morning

Week 49

Week 50

Week 51

One year!