It's hard to believe she is one, this year really did go by fast! It's been so much fun watching her grow and learn. She is starting to seem more and more like a little toddler now rather than a baby (although she'll always be my baby). Right before her birthday she started taking a few steps on her own and then on her birthday she would take about 5-10 steps at a time. Then in the following few days she decided the walking thing was a piece of cake and started walking all over the place. She's pushed her walker around for so long and she had the balance to walk but she just needed the confidence. Let me tell you, now she has the confidence. Sometimes she gets going so fast that its likes she's running. We really have to keep a good eye on her now! Here's a few videos from the first few days of walking.
This video is from one of her first times walking outside on her own.
As far as communication goes, she's not saying any real words yet besides dada. She talks a lot, but just in her own language. She does have her sign language down for "more" and does that all the time while she eats. I can tell she's understanding us a lot more now though. If you ask her where her belly button is she points to it. That's the only body part so far, we're still working on nose, mouth, etc. She just likes her belly button more cause she can see it. It's cute watching her lift her shirt up and try to find it.
"Where's Rylee's bellybutton?"
Rylee loves playing with cars. It used to be balls but now the new thing is cars. She also got 2 dolls for her birthday and she likes playing with her "babies" now too. She can push them in the stroller and one came with a bottle so she can feed them too. Mostly she just hugs them and gives kisses. She also still likes to read books. She likes to point at everything or grab your finger and point at things and flip the pages, even if we've only read 3 words on the page. Oh, and she also has an obsession with shoes (that's my girl!). She loves to put on her shoes, or any other shoes she can find. At daycare, they say they've never had a kid that wants to hang out by the shoes as much as she does. She especially likes Gunner's (one of the little boys at daycare) bright green crocs, its kind of funny.
Feeding her baby
I brought Rylee in on the 11th for her 1 year wellness visit and for her shots. Her Dr. says she looks great and was very pleased with all her milestones. Rylee showed off her walking for her and also showed her her belly button. But then the Dr. tried to get her to say fish (there are fish painted on the walls) and wasn't successful there. I had to laugh cause the Dr. must have said "fish" about 15 times and Rylee just stared at her like she was weird. She's not at the repeating words stage yet. She has 5 teeth that are fully in, and one on top and one on bottom that just started poking through. Dr. Slaven also said that her molars are very close to coming through too. She continues to be a great eater and eats just about everything we eat. Fruit is her favorite! She is starting to want to use a fork more now, which takes a little longer for her to do, but she is surprisingly patient with it. We were also happy to hear the Dr. say that her tubes in her ears are still in place and look good. As far as her size, she's still on the skinny side, tall, and has a good size head.
Here's her 1 year statistics:
Weight: 19 lbs. and 6 ozs. (25th percentile)
Height: 29.5 inches (75th percentile)
Head: 47 cm. (80th percentile)
Riding her new horse she got from Gramma and Grampa
She's really not a big fan of riding it much right now, she'd rather just stand by it and play, or feed him like she is here.
It sure has been a great year! Each stage has been fun yet trying at times too. We love this stage right now (I think I've said that all along so far) but we look forward to each new stage that Rylee brings to our lives!
Happy 1st Birthday Rylee, Macey and Grace!
Grace (Aug. 24), Rylee (Aug. 10), Macey (Aug. 17)
We tried to get a few pictures of the girls together before the party started but it was a lot harder than what we thought it would be. As you can see, Macey wasn't excited about picture time.
Rylee and Grace hanging out by the coolers. Notice the keg in the upper right hand corner. That's right, the girls even had a keg for their birthday party!
Taking the water out one by one, this entertained her for awhile. 
Cake time, dig in girls!
They must have all ate too much dinner cause none of them really cared for their cake. They just had a few bites and then weren't really interested.
She poked at the frosting, had a few bites, and then she was done. She did pig out on ice cream later though. 
They took her over and played on the swingset, they know she loves the swings. The girls are so good with Rylee.
Hanging out with the "toddlers" 
They took her over and played on the swingset, they know she loves the swings. The girls are so good with Rylee.
Hanging out with the "toddlers"
