Yesterday Isabella and I spent the day at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens.

All of a sudden, she saw something that sparked her interest.

The urge was overwhelming. She simply had to go investigate.

Ohhhhhh, this was even better than she thought it would be! Water!

HEY! What happened to the water?

Gasp! NOT COOL, WATER!

Wait a minute....it stopped.

Did I make it go away?

ACK! It tricked me!

*whimper*  Stop it, water! Stop it!

Ha! You can't get me over here!

*sigh* All better.

The end. 

Bella just turned one year old yesterday.

Yes, time goes by far more quickly than I would like it to. Every new stage of our lives seem to go faster and faster, and in keeping with that, watching a child grow is the fastest yet.

I've already had moments of sudden realization, like a bomb in my brain going, "WAIT!! When did she stop making her happy noise?" Then I try to remember the last time she did it, and I'm woeful because not only did I not notice that she doesn't do it anymore, but I can't for the life of me think of when it stopped.

I knew I would love the way she looks lovingly at me, the way she reaches for me, the way she looks around as soon as she hears my voice. What I didn't know was that I would feel equally joyous when she reaches for Josh; that I would get teary eyed when she looks adoringly at him and that I would smile so big when she scoots to the window as soon as she hears him coming home.

I didn't know I would always feel happy to see her every single time I come home or wake her up. Not just a comfortable knowledge that she's there, but genuinely happy to see her. And she's genuinely happy to see me. Josh and I are her world, and even though her world is ever-expanding, right now, I adore being in the center of it, because it won't be the way for very long.

I don't feel like a different person. I don't feel like a better person, even, and I kind of wish that I did. But I do feel like I'm doing the best that I can, with all my fault and failures mixed in with the triumphs and strengths, and I feel like that's enough.

I'm looking forward to year two.