FIRST birthday on our FIFTH FRIDAY!

It was a FANTASTIC first birthday for Leeza Grace and I can't believe it also coincides with our FIFTH FRIDAY in Kostanai! I can't believe we've been here over a month, and feel so blessed and honored to have been here to celebrate Leeza's first birthday with her! She felt very special, I could tell!!! We had soooooooooooo much fun today!! I just love this lil girl so much I feel like my heart is gonna burst! I really did not want to leave. She was so happy today , and it was like she knew that it was HER SPECIAL DAY! She was up in the playpen when we arrived, and she was just a smiling, happy ONE YEAR OLD and was excited to see us! I got to dress her in one of her new outfits...I chose the cute pink one with the dog that I got at the market. She looked SMASHING in it! She ate ALL her lunch, first and second courses, because ONE YEAR OLD GIRLS need their energy! Today's soup was beets!! My Aunt Jane will be impressed that Leeza gobbled up all her beets-much more than her mom would be able to eat! I hope she doesn't freak out later when her "pecet" is bright pink/red! Off we went to the vistitation where Leeza was presented with her birthday presents. I decided I should get her more than the $50 for the 135 diapers that I got her. :) She really liked the stacking rings, the peek a boo book, and the Gros plastic bag it was 'wrapped' in. She was not that interested in the "star" book that I got her, but maybe later. She also started making a new sound-it's really funny. It's her..Hey, I'm a one year old princess and I cannot wait to get to Florida and NOT WEAR SOCKS SOUND!
She was SERIOUSLY so ADORABLE TODAY! I just wanted to hug her and kiss her, but she was REALLY too busy for me to do that. I kept thinking of when I would do that to our dog growing up, Duchess. My mom would always tell me "not to maul the dog". I just loved Duchess soooooo much I wanted to hug and kiss her all the time! I love Leeza soooooooo much too, EVEN MORE THAN I LOVED DUCHESS (and believe me, I really loved Duchess A LOT!!) At least she likes to snuggle and read books with me. I am SO grateful for that, because I LOVE reading books and she has a huge children's library waiting for her. I would be sad if she didnt' like books. I also think she is going to love gymnatics. She loves to be upside down! She TRIES to fall off the couch backwards so she can be upside down. I am going to have to keep a keen eye on her! Today, she had fun doing somersaults off the couch. IT'S SO FUN TO BE ONE!!! We had so much fun playing today. She was lovin her new stacking rings and having fun doing somersaults off the couch, and just having fun BEING ONE! She can now pull her ownself up to the couch (she couldn't before without some assistance)AND she can even squat and pick up her toy that she drops without falling. GO LEEZA! I think she is pretty coordinated. However, she still needs to master crawling up on her knees. She has started getting up on her knees, but she gets back down and crawls using her arms. I understand that learning to crawl on your knees is very important for coordination and learning to read, etc. She is doing tons better on walking though (holding our hands).
I REALLY did not want to let her go today! She was so precious and happy and she just knew it was HER DAY! She was so sweet though, after her cake (which she did like) and her cookies and milk, I changed her clothes and put her down for a nap. She was really sleepy, it was a busy day! One of her lil friends hadn't been fed yet, so I was holding her, and the caregivers let me feed her too! I fed her, and then brought her into the kids "bedroom" and Leeza saw me. She started bouncing up and down like YAY! MY MOMMY IS BACK!! I felt mean...I just rubbed her back and kissed her again and we left. I miss my Leeza already!!! Here is what she looked like after she ate her cake....she has a "rootbeer" belly like her brother (and her mother!!) It was really the best birthday party ever. Leeza liked her cake, and so did her buddies. They were all clamoring in the playpen, and the caregivers and Sean were breaking off bites of cake for them too. It was really cute! I feel SO incredibly blessed to be able to love this child and be with her to celebrate her first birthday. God has truly answered our prayers when he united us with Leeza Grace. Even when I got sad today when I had to leave her, I know that in a couple months, God willing, she will be home with me in Florida and I can hug and kiss her as much as I want...until Joe tells me "not to maul the one year old" HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET LEEZA GRACE! You are sooooooooooooo incredibly LOVED! You are TRULY an answer to a trillion prayers!!