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A few new things the babe learned and did this past week:
* standing all by herself
* getting down from standing by slowly squatting and lowering herself to a sitting position (sometimes while holding a toy)
* squeezing the dirty dogs (tub toys) under water to fill them up
* finger painting!
* first time staying in a hotel room
* first happy time in a pool
* consistently sleeping through the night in her own room (this one is hard for the Mama to accept, but we are happy that her little brain is finally getting a nice long solid sleep)                

                A portrait of Millie, once a week, every week, as a one year old.

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My girl, helping with the pizza dough. Every time she criss-crosses her little legs like that, my heart skips a beat. The sweetest thing.

                       A portrait of Millie, once a week, every week, as a one year old.

Mother's Day

We had a lovely Mother's Day yesterday! Mama slept in until 10am while Daddy and Millie took Sneaky into the park. When I went downstairs there was a present waiting for me! Some peanut butter M&Ms and two framed pictures of me with my lamb. Today Millie got up from her snack table to get one of the pictures and brought it back to look at while she ate :)
We had brunch at the diner downtown (huevos rancheros!), and in the afternoon we took our first born to the dog park. Everyone had a wonderful day.
ps: as you may have started to notice, Millie's new favorite thing to do is point. She points when she wants something, when she wants to show you something, when she wants you to narrate what is happening, and if you're really lucky you get the double point which as far as we can tell is just a sign of affection.

picking flowers

so many dogs!

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Our second Mother's Day together. We had a wonderful day with Daddy. More pictures to come :)

                              
                           A portrait of Millie, once a week, every week, as a one year old.

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Taking a bite of her very first birthday cake. It was delicious. 

A portrait of Millie, once a week, every week, as a one year old.

(I saw this idea on another blog and I love it! This series will most likely include a lot of "firsts" and much big-girl activity. Technically this is week 2 of being a 1-year-old, so just playing catch-up with this first one :)

Apple Spice Cake with Maple

"A naturally sweetened, lighter-than-air cake that is simple to make and bursting with apples." Found on simplebites.net, adapted from the Green Market Baking Book

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup brown rice syrup
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups organic cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups chopped apples

Instructions

1. Preheat to oven to 325F and butter two 8-inch round cake pans.
2. Warm the coconut oil in a glass measuring cup until it is runny, then pour into a large bowl. Use the same cup to measure the syrups to the bowl. Add the vanilla and mix well.
3. Add the eggs and mix wet ingredients well.
4. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and combine but do not over mix.
6. Fold in the apples and combine to coat.
7. Divide batter between the two pans and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Cool for ten minutes on a wire rack, then loosen around the edges of the pan with a knife and invert cakes onto the cooling rack. Serve warm or cool and frost.

Happy Birthday Millie!

April 27, 2013