{the first year, remembered}

This time, a year ago, Justin and I were pacing around the mall. Not looking for anything, just walking, walking, walking. Five days overdue and scared to show up at the doctor's office again to make difficult choices. We had a strawberry-banana fruit smoothie and pizza. We had no idea what was coming.

Today is the last day of the first year, and so we sit looking back. I can never seem to get over the fact that Matilda, this little tiny person, has favourites. She likes cups with straws more than cups with spouts. She likes chicken more than beef. She likes reading about Hairy Maclary chasing cats more than Hairy Maclary visiting the vet. Oh yes, and she likes dogs more than anything. She can say 'doggie' but not 'mama'. I'm not joking.

We made a little photobook to collect our favourite images of the year, and love it so much. Shutterfly has really outdone itself with the new levels of customisation. I'm all about getting the most amount of big photos onto a page, and really enjoyed the challenge of laying it all out!

364 days of obsessively taking photos, and I really do feel like it's paid off to see them collected like this. Very satisfying.

Below is my favourite page -- memories from nine to twelve months. There are definitely days where I feel we don't do enough, but then I realise that just in these two pages, we've got photos from Houston, San Antonio and Oklahoma.

Phew. Just taking a baby around the top floor of IKEA is enough activity for three months.

And really, we just can't believe that this birthday is already here. We just keep flipping through the months, to check they really happened. Are you sure we didn't dream it? I'm not going to wake up in a second and be back in a dark nursery, Fisher Price ocean noises playing, and find that Tilly is still two weeks old, sleeping (or not sleeping, more likely) on my shoulder in the rocking chair?

No, it seems like we're really here, a year later, faced with a whole series of different joys and challenges. And ready for another year!