My baby girl is ONE!

Our midwife measuring Vienna a few minutes after she was born




Proud Daddy holding his baby girl




So precious




Colson meeting his baby sister for the first time



Just perfect!




One of our first family pictures


One year ago today our little Vienna Rose was born. I can hardly believe it has been a whole year already! My baby girl is no longer a baby, but a crawling-like-crazy, mommy-preferring, banana-loving, very-determined, brother-following, step-taking, giggling-contagiously, thumb-sucking, daddy-adoring, pig-tail-wearing, blanky-obsessing, very-vocal-about-what-she-wants, has-daddy-wrapped-around-her-little-finger ONE-YEAR-OLD!

I still can't get over it. When we first moved to Turkey she was only 2 1/2 months old. She has spent more of her life here than in the states. She's experienced so many of her firsts here in Turkey. . . first tooth, first solid food (which was cake, by the way - and not under my supervision . . . you leave your baby alone with a bunch of Turkish women for just a second and they're trying to give her sweets :-) ), first steps and so many more!

Words cannot express how much I love this little girl! She has the cutest little smile you will ever see. I love to see her eyes light up and her crawling as fast as she can towards the door when she hears her Daddy come home. I love the way she splashes like crazy in the bathtub. I love the way she wrinkles her nose and makes cute little faces at us while she's eating dinner. I love the way she sucks her thumb and snuggles her blanky. I love the way she comes crawling after me when I leave the room. I love the way she insists on pulling all of my measuring cups out of the drawer whenever she's in the kitchen. I love the way she lays her head on my shoulder and pats my back. I love the way she says "Ma-ma" (that reminds me of a funny story - yesterday at the park Vienna was saying "Ma-ma" and a lady thought she wanted to nurse because it sounded to her like Vienna was saying "meme" which in Turkish means "breast." Ha!)

Here's some nicknames Vienna has accumulated over the past year:

• Nenna (this one stuck because that's how Colson used to say her name before he could pronounce it)
  
• Pretty Girl
  
• Nenna Noodle
  
• Princess (Colson actually calls her this more than we do; sometimes I think he forgets her real name because he really does call her princess pretty much all the time. Even when he's mad at her when she's going after his toys, he will yell "Noooooooooooooooo Princess!" It's so stinkin' cute!)
  
• Canım (Turkish for "my love")
  
• Vienna Warrior Princess (we like to call her that when she's crawling as fast as she can after her brother and letting out her battle cry)

Happy Birthday Vienna! We are so blessed that God gave you to us and that we have the privilege of being your parents and raising you to know Him. We love you!



It's my birthday!











Not so sure about all those candles



Partying hard with my brother and cousins