http://instagram.com/p/r0SkdSpsjY/?modal=true

One year. One entire year has come and gone since we welcomed Maddie into the world. On that day, she was just a little bundle of cries and cutes. Now? She’s a powerhouse of all the cuteness, all the laughs, and all things awesome. After all, she is the daughter of me and Sarah, so… But in all seriousness, it has been one hell of a year with Maddie at our side.

From a serious bout with reflux that made sleeping through the night a nightmare for all of us, to a a scare with a heart murmur, and some not-so-fun late-night ER visits, we’ve gone through quite a bit with our little Mad Dog. But in between those moments, it’s been mostly huge smiles, gigantic laughs, and a feeling of completion for our family (until we think we want another baby?).

It’s been amazing to see her grow, to see her learn, and to see her develop an awesomely outgoing personality. If there’s one thing I can definitively say about both my girls, it’s that they aren’t shy in the least. How that’ll serve them later in life? Everyone loves outgoing people.

I’ve talked about this before, how we’ve used Sophia’s milestones to kind of see how quickly Maddie progresses. Even though every kid is different, we base things off our own experience. Recently, Maddie has been standing on her own, for good stretches of time. I even said that I thought she would walking before she hit her first birthday.

Well guess what? Those of you who follow me on Facebook will know this, because you’ve seen the video, but she took her first steps last week! Sure enough, both are girls hit the walking milestone before they turned one. Now, if someone could please find me a lasso, so I can keep these kids from falling down steps, and wells, and canyons, it’d be appreciated.

Obviously, this coming year will have a brand-new set of challenges, experiences, and OH MY GOD DON’T SAY TERRIBLE TWOS TO ME RIGHT NOW. SHE’S ONE! I SAID DON’T SAY TERRIBLE TWOS!!

Ok, got that out of my system. We’ll see how the year goes, but you know you’ll be hearing from me many, many, many more times as we go along!

Happy Birthday Maddie!!!!