Don’t worry – I did not forget about Maggie Monthly! I’ve just been so busy with her festivities and going back to classes this week that I haven’t had a chance to sit down a write this one up. As you can probably gather from the title, this was a big month. Maggie is now one as of last Friday! How one-derful!

I’m going to be sharing the details of her donut-themed birthday party in a separate post, but for now know that she thoroughly enjoyed the celebration. Her actual birthday was sort of just a regular day for all of us because my husband and I were working and M went to daycare as usual. We had her favourite food (eggs) for dinner – breakfaster for dinner, specifically and she went to bed on time.

Her actual celebratory day was Saturday. Now, her birthday is not at all what I expected my first baby’s birthday to be like, but I am thankful that it is only her first birthday which is usually way more for the parents than the kid. Was I a bit disappointed? Yes of course, but to be honest I was dreading trying to plan any type of larger birthday celebration for her. Our house is small and she is a winter baby so our options were sort of limited. So although COVID robbed us of our family gathering together in person to celebrate her, it also simultaneously saved me from having to do any major party planning.

Just because we couldn’t gather in-person did not stop us from having a small Zoom celebration for her. We just had her on camera and invited all our family and a few close friends to sing to her, and then everyone pretty much just watched her eat her donut. Some people have crazy Zoom parties, ours was just simple but I think the family enjoyed seeing her and she enjoyed… eating her donut. She also likes to see videos, but mostly of herself haha!

In terms of the details of her birthday and the photos, I’ll be sharing a short post on the donut theme in the coming days.

Her birthday was different, short & sweet; but perfect because it was her day. We are truly blessed because she is pretty much always a happy baby, and she continued to be on her birthday. This past year has been truly amazing – our family grew and she was the perfect addition. She has made us laugh (she’s got quite the personality), cry (mostly me because postpartum hormones), panic (but not often, just when she falls or tries to climb up the stairs), and smile (all of the damn time). I can’t wait to enjoy another amazing year with her and our family. She truly was the light in what might have otherwise been a not-so-great year.

She has also grown so much, in so many ways, over the past 12 months… I’ve shared most of her development at least from 6 months forward (you can see all the Maggie Monthly posts here). Lets look at this last month:

She blows kisses!

I have been waiting and waiting for her to hit this milestone. I just think it’s so cute! She started blowing kisses at daycare one day, then finally did it at home and OMG it is everything I had hoped for. Just adorable.

Sure she doesn’t purse her lips in the perfect kissy face yet, but she smacks her mouth with her hand! Still cute.

Oh um yeah, she is a walker. And she’s already a pro.

For some reason I thought this happened last month, but that’s because right after she started standing she pretty much started walking! So she’s been walking for about a month now and after the first week it’s like she had honed the skill and was suddenly fearless!

She still falls but she falls on her butt.

When your baby starts walking people it is a whole new ballgame. New world for them to explore, and new level of attention you need to be paying to them since they can now get into everything. Crawling felt bad enough but now they can open cupboards, climb on top of things, and more. I had mentally prepared myself for walking for sometime and I was truly in no rush for her to start but as soon as she started standing last month, I knew it was only a matter of time.

It’s fun though – they can do more with you. Taking them outside is more of an adventure. They run up to you and grab your legs or reach up to be picked up and it just melts your heart! From 10 months forward has definitely been the most fun for me with Maggie! I love seeing her little personality shine through and walking has just added to that because with walking and standing comes…

Dancing!

Yep, my little dancing queen has emerged! She loves music and now when the Wiggles are on she dances along with them. She even lifts her hands up when they “do the propeller”. She also makes her own dance moves to other music. So cute.

I low key hope that she is interested in dance as she gets bigger, but of course I will support her no matter what she wants to do!

She can sign for milk and sleep!

Daycare sent us a video within the past month of Maggie signing for milk (as she gets bottles at daycare). I was so impressed! It was of course something they had worked on with her over time but still! So once I saw that I bought her a Baby’s First Signs book for Christmas, which we’ve been looking at together and working on different words, mostly just really simple ones we say a lot to her anyways.

Now if I sign for sleep, she does it too at bedtime!

She wants to cuddle (and I’ll hold onto that for as long as I can)

Sometimes, she just gets into my lap or wants up into my arms and then she just rests her head against my shoulder. Seriously kid?! You are so freaking cute.

I know that these moments don’t last forever, so whenever they happen I try to soak them in.

Onwards and upwards now…

Yep, her first year of life is done. Just like that.

Like I said, it’s been great – but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been without its struggles for me, as I learned my new role as a mama. I’ll save that for a separate post though. For now, just know that babies grow so fast!

As they say, “the days are long but the years are short“.

I’ve certainly felt that this year. Enjoy every moment – I know people repeat that to you as a mom-to-be and new parent, but it’s true. You really need to enjoy it. There will be hard parts, and you don’t have to “enjoy” those, but when you get those soft and tender cuddly moments, or a funny moment, or any moment that makes you happy – hold onto that. Be in that moment. Hold your babies, love them, cuddle them, watch them learn and grow. They will never be that small again so you really have to take your mental pictures and make some memories. And they don’t have to be done doing something crazy – because that’s not within our grasp right now. My favourite moments with Maggie have honestly been the ones where I’m just laying on the floor with her, or watching her play with her toys on her own.

Watching your little one explore is so rewarding. You’re like wow – that is my person. And she is learning and doing things. I can’t wait to see what she does next!

P.S. Maggie monthly will still be monthly for now – if there is a particular time period where I don’t feel there is much to report though, you may notice that it becomes Maggie bi-monthly or something along those lines. I will certainly continue to share her growth, milestones, and more!