I can not believe that my little Màiri Rose is closer to 1 then to being brand new. Unfathomable really. Truthfully, I’m feeling a bit panic-y about the acceleration that life has taken on lately. I’m having this unreasonable desire to sit and play with her and kiss her cheeks all day long, then spend all of her sleeping hours gravitating between watching her sleep and knitting all of the tiny baby sweaters that she will soon be too big for.

I worried over this girl when she was very tiny. Often times she seemed to have a look and air of pain about her. It made me sad and concerned. It’s not really surprising, given what she was born into. It was a very long, cold winter for us all and I’m sure it had to be especially so for someone experiencing the world for the first time. The best that I could do is keep her as warm as possible, protect her senses as best I could and comfort her with mama-milk, all while murmuring dreams of spring to her.

It’s been such a joy and a relief to see her blossom into the chubby, jolly, bouncy, and inquisitive babe that she is now.

She claps and waves and makes kissing sounds. She tries to blow raspberries on any bare skin she can find and she’s generally just all around sweet as can be.

I’ve actually already picked out her birthday present. I want to get this print and frame it for her because it is just somehow so very her, right now in her babyhood. And I want to have it hanging for her as a small tribute to this time.

This Wee Girl adores her Daddy and kicks and squeals when he walks in the door. She’s already become quite fond of Galen’s old hat game. And we are both entirely convinced that on several occasions we’ve even heard her trying to say the word “hat” (obviously a sure sign of her brilliance).

She thinks her brothers are hysterical and all they have to do is walk up to her to inspire great big belly laughs. And her laughter is contagious, so then we are all sitting around laughing just for laughing’s sake.

Despite all of the brother/Papa love, she’s still a Mama’s Girl. She sleeps in my arms or on my back. When I duck out into another room for a few minutes, she’ll continue to play happily; chattering and cooing to whoever I’ve left her with. But the second that I reappear she’ll let out a tremendous wail, holding out her arms and rolling her wrists and then clenching them back to her body repeatedly as if willing me to come a pick her up. Once safely in my arms this production stops as quickly as it started. As if to show just how very pleased she is with herself, she turns herself about and positively beams down at the very person that she was just screaming to get away from. It’s quite the show! I don’t mind it a bit though, because I know that all too soon she’ll find adventures with her boys far more exciting then cuddling with her mama.

Apart from being the most beautiful baby in the world, she is also strong, funny, brilliant (see evidence to this claim above), delightfully charming and LOUD. She rarely cries, but she babbles and giggles and yells and growls a lot. Yes, I said growls. A couple of months ago she took to growling (or possibly roaring, there has been some debate about which term is more accurate). The sound falls somewhere between a baby lion and an old woman with emphysema. It’s incredibly bizarre and kind of hilarious too. Honestly, I have never heard a baby make a sound like this before. Crazy, crazy stuff…

and so there you have it, that, in a nutshell, is life with our darling Wee Girl!