Our crazy lives: O-N-E!!!

Hard to believe that our tiny princess is one already!!! It has been a whirlwind of a year and she has brought so much joy in the midst of the chaos and times of struggle. Lucy Mae is such a sweet little girl who blesses others like no other. My friend Flora and I have laughed and been amazed at how she really does reach for others right away and she seems to be drawn to those in need. For example, she really does love the guy who comes to work for us, Ange, and smiles readily at him as soon as he arrives, but she does not go to him that often. At the end of November, Ange's brother passed away and it was a really hard time for him. Right after Ange had heard about his brother his disposition changed and he was obviously broken with the news and continued like that for days after. One of the days where it was very hard for Ange, I was holding Lucy as I greeted Ange and Lucy LUNGED over to get into Ange's arms. His whole face lit up and he just snuggled her for a minute, told her he had to get back to work and attempted to hand her back to me. Lucy clung to Ange with all her might and refused to be let go. This made Ange laugh for the first time in days and was such a source of joy for him in that moment. Another day as we were waiting in line at the Nigerian embassy and struck up a conversation with the man behind us. For some reason, Lucy again lunged to get over to the man. I dont know this man's story at all, but as he held her and she laid her head on his shoulder, his eyes filled up with tears and he said over and over, "Oh, thank you Lord!" She is beautiful and energetic and fun and we adore her!! She makes her brothers squeal with laughter with ease and has non stop facial expressions. Here are some pictures of us celebrating twice with her and her one year photos.

We got to celebrate with my dad when he was here a week before her actual birthday which was great! We had some carrot cake and presents and she was excited!

Singing happy birthday

first tastes of icing

Mmmmm!!

Getting ready to open presents

Checking out her pile of treasures

She got some cute new clothes from my Mama

Pops helping with the tearing

Birthday number two on her actual birthday, yesterday. Craig said he was convinced Lucy needed German chocolate cake this time. Convenient since that's his favorite, huh?!

Singing again!

Now she's digging in!!!

But still trying to act a little like a lady :)

Here are her pictures from her one year photo shoot. The first round of shots we tried to take we ended up not so great. She was too tired and therefor not smiley or wanting to sit in one place without being held. But this afternoon we had our giggle monster back with her endless expressions!!

This dress was her little birthday dress. :) I made it for her with some left over material from some skirts that my mom made for me. Dont look too close at everything, the stitching is a bit crooked again :)