Happy Birthday, Melanie

Happy birthday, Melanie. Today you are one year old. It's hard to believe that it has been a year. It's been an incredible year and we've seen you go through so many changes in such a relatively short period of time. I remember coming home from the hospital one year ago today with a Whopper and a digital camera full of photos. I was finally able to create this blog for you and for everyone who loves you.

Over the course of this year we have:

• Spent 18 hours over the course of two rainy October days in labor.
  
• Visited you in the hospital when you couldn't come home with us.
• Learned how to feed you, bathe you, change you, hold you...
  
• Brought you home on Monday, November 8, 2004. You rode in your car seat and spent the night in your basinet.
• Gave you Prilosec and dealt with your (sometimes tempermental) monitor.
• Watched you give us a little half smile and turn away... so coy!
• Took a lot of photos.
• You surprised us one morning when we looked over at you and you had rolled over onto your stomach.
• You moved from milk to rice cereal to "people" food.
• Learned to crawl.
• You pull yourself to your feet and will use anything that moves as a walker and push it around the house.
• Things that calm you down -- the "A, B, C's", a camera in your face, and of course any of a number of pacifiers.
  
• You wave and say "HI!" to strangers, your reflection in the mirror (which you have loved since very early), or just the outdoors.
• "Touchdown!" "How big is Melanie?" "High five!" "Give me a kiss."

These and a million other small moments have made this year something wonderful. I love you, Melanie. I love being your father. I love your mother and how you smile and laugh only for her. I love how you respond to an "audience" and how they respond to you.

Happy birthday, and many, many more.