So, for her actual birthday, we just lounged…drank her in…went for a dip in the pool with her, played outside, read books…well, I’ll let Lainey tell you what she did…

I modeled my new birthday bikini (thank you, Katie!)…

I sat inside and watched my brothers play in the pool with their friends (a favorite pastime)…

I practiced my baby yoga. I get my foot higher and higher every time!

I made my Mommy cry at least 10 times today…just bein’ me and remindin’ her of this special day last year…

I opened my presents from my family…and loved this new toy Brandyn picked out for me!

I demonstrated the new thing I learned this week that melts Mommy & Daddy’s hearts…I HUG! When I’m overcome with love, I reach out and give a great big hug! (like I did here with my brother!)

I had a very special day with my family! At 7:45 exactly, they all made lots of noise and cheered! Mommy banged pots and pans, Austyn popped balloons and rang the doorbell over and over, Daddy banged on a drum, and Brandyn shook a tamborine! All to celebrate me!!! (Thank you Aunt Carin for the new tradition! Aunt Carin says someday when I’m away at college, Mommy & Daddy will call me at the exact moment I was born and bang pots and pans over the phone!)

there’s a lump in my throat as it gets closer and closer to 7:45…the moment she was born. like it’s not real until then…like she’s not one. i’ve closed my eyes a hundred times today and visualized these exact moments…on this very day…one year ago. there is no way to describe what it feels like to sit in that hospital room looking at a tiny bed, the warmer light already on, ready for the baby you haven’t even met yet…hearing the bu-bu-dum, bu-bu-dum of that little heartbeat, knowing at any time…she will be in your arms.

…and then that very moment…through the cheers of nurses, the encouragement of birth coaches, the doctor smiling and telling you “just one more push”… it happens… watching as our baby…OUR baby…enters the world…seeing the face I could only dream of for so long…hearing her cries…and then the real moment of truth …that first touch. feeling her tiny body in mine, pulling her up to my face, kissing her new skin, feeling like i can’t breathe her in enough…knowing…she is mine. i have replayed the moment they handed her to me a million times over this year…there’s nothing like it…nothing i’ve ever experienced. suddenly, my heart just ached…literally ached with love for this new, perfect, heavenly baby.

…one year ago.

This photo is the most precious photo ever to me…more than any photo I’ve ever seen in my enitre life…this one…is my favorite.

This picture couldn’t be more true…the heart charm Brett gave me…she just reached up and grabbed it. Yup…she has my heart.

Here’s a little window into our home last night. Lainey’s party was absolutely magical… everything a little girl’s party should be. I feel silly comparing it to this…but today I feel like I did the day after our wedding…just filled with SO much love and feeling so blessed! Living away from our families is not easy, and our friends have become our family down here. It truly is magical to have them all together in one room and knowing that every single one of them loves my daughter…really loves her. I can’t help but to think back to when Lainey was in the hospital and I got a glimpse of how important these people are to us, spending night and day with us, taking shifts, spending the night in uncomfortable chairs so that we weren’t alone, taking the day off work to be with us, crying with us, praying with us, loving with us. Thank you to all of you…we are so thankful to have you in Lainey’s life.

And speaking of the Birthday Girl, she was amazing last night, not once getting overwhelmed or cranky. She just took it all in, and I think her favorite part was having so many kids to play with. There were kids everywhere! …and she was in heaven. At one point, I heard some noises in our bedroom and walked in to find a circle of kids sitting on the floor…7 or 8 or them just giggling and talking…and then was shocked to see Lainey was one of them!! Just smiling so big ‘cuz she thought she was one of the big ‘uns.

My favorite moment last night? After the last guests had left and we surveyed the damage of half-eaten cake plates and heaps of wrapping paper, Brett and I laid a sleeping baby in her crib. …and we stood next to her bed in the dark room, held hands and prayed together…thanking God for her life and this wonderful year.

Truly, we are blessed. …enjoying the small things…~k

Nothing like a Barbie Magnadoodle to say it best…

The house is ready!

Lainey’s personal teeny tiny cake…

…and the big one for the rest of us…

The “guest” of honor…

Is it wrong that I had planned what she was going to wear for this party for like 6 months?

Lainey’s boyfriend, A.J. brought her a flower…so cute when he gave it to her!

The big moment (video to come of the birthday song)

Lainey had so much fun playing in her room with her friends!

Baby Lily was an angel all night…just takin’ it all in!

The morning after…a p.j.’ed birthday girl gets ahold of the deflated balloons!