Happy first birthday, Bea!

As of Tuesday, April 21, I have a 1-year-old.
That just sounds and feels and is completely crazy.
Please excuse my shock. It’s just that, at the risk of sounding cliché, the time went by so, so fast. An entire year has come and gone in what seems like a literal blink of an eye. All I’ve been able to think about this week is that I only have 15 more of these before Bea can drive. Seventeen more until she’s headed off to college. Twenty more until the man at the liquor store asks to see her I.D.—and almost certainly won’t ask to see mine. If these successive years blur by as fast as this one has, then I think I’m going to need a drink. Or two.
I can’t believe that 12 months ago Andy and I were sitting in a hospital, dazed and completely enamored by a sleepy, nameless bundle. Today, we’re just as dazed and enamored but for entirely different reasons.
Bea (who eventually did get a name) has taken her first year—as well as our hearts, home and dog—by storm. It’s hard not to feel nostalgic this week as we celebrate how far she has come. She sits, crawls, cruises and babbles. She feeds herself and picks out her favorite books and toys. She giggles, high-fives, waves and blows kisses. She does so much for someone who just a few short months ago could barely open her eyes. We’re irrationally proud of her for just being here … and for being completely perfect and brilliant and adorable (which, of course, could be our biased perspective).
People always say they don’t know what they did before their kiddos came along. Well, I know what we did, and we had a lot of fun doing it. But I’m very happy that Andy and I have someone so wonderful to share our experiences with from here on out.
Bea is more marvelous than we ever could have imagined, and although I can’t believe her first birthday has already come and gone, I’m excited to skip through the years ahead with her by our sides. We’re going to have lots of adventures, and if her first cake smashing experience is any indication, we’re also going to have lots of sugar. (Seriously … if the world is Bea’s proverbial cake, then everyone should watch out because anyone who gets in her way could end up smeared on the floor or crammed up her nostril. This girl means business.)
I know Bea won’t remember her first birthday, but Andy and I will, and it’s the happiest birthday we’ve experienced to-date! Here’s to many, many more …