Happy Birthday, Jemma!

Our Jemma! You were born at 3:41 a.m. one year ago today after some dramatics forced your early arrival, and we haven't been the same since. Here's what I remember about those early, blurry days with you last winter:

-nursing you in the rocking chair every two hours, around the clock, and doing a lot of daydreaming about being somewhere warm and sunny

-your habit of projectile pooping as soon as someone opened your diaper to change it

-your crazy, sticking-up hair that strangers commented on everywhere we went

-letting you sleep in your carseat, but putting your carseat in the crib so I would feel less guilty about it

-cuddling you on the couch and watching the Food Network during Annie's naps

Now, you are a whole different person entirely. Your hair is still a little crazy, but otherwise, you have grown up so much. You are fast and daring and loud and demanding in a way that Annie never was; you make us laugh all the time. You love to dance, throw food and be a picky eater, climb things that you shouldn't, bang on things, be outside, clap your hands, throw and catch balls, and try to do anything that Annie is doing. You're our cuddler, too, and I hope you keep nuzzling your head into my shoulder for years to come.

Yesterday, we had a little party here for you. You danced a little on a box, looked adorable in your party dress, threw some food on the floor, clapped your hands after we blew out your candle, and, in true picky-Jemma form, rejected your cupcake and smeared the frosting in your hair instead. This morning, we all sang "Happy Birthday" to you and then watched the video Daddy just finished of your first year. I am simply shocked that you are one and I can't believe an entire year has gone by since they lifted you out of me, squalling, in the middle of the night. The fastest year of my life, for sure, and now it's a life that I can't imagine without you in it. We can't wait for all the fun that's to come between now and your 2nd birthday. We love you soooo much, little Roo.