I’m so, so behind on updates. March was a busy month for Clara. Not only did she celebrate her birthday, but we also had two visitors from Alabama stay with us. First, Clara’s Aunt Crystal came to stay for Clara’s birthday party. We seriously could not have pulled off Clara’s party without her. She was a huge help and stayed up late with us the night before, even after a long day of travel. While we were cooking away, she was washing dishes and making room for us to prep and cook more food. I felt like I was scrambling the day of the party, but Crystal seemed to talk to everyone and refill food and do pretty much everything I should have done but was too frazzled to do. Once the party was over, we had a fantastic time hanging out with her and relaxing. It was a lovely visit.

A few days after Crystal left, our friend Kati arrived. We were so happy to have her visit for a few days! We showed her around Richmond, cooked some fun meals and just had an all around good time. We love having visitors, and it was so nice to have two so close together.

Clara was pretty small at her 12 month checkup, weighing in at just under 17.5 pounds and 28 inches tall. Our girl is pretty petite, but she doesn’t seem to notice. She’s still walking all around the furniture but only wants to take 3-4 steps on her own before sitting down. She’s eating more and more foods, and we finally found a food she doesn’t like – asparagus. While Crystal was visiting, Eric grilled steaks and Clara went crazy for them. We’ve started working on teaching her to point to her facial features when we name them. She’s learned where her nose is and also enjoys pointing to mine and Eric’s. I also picked up a few new books to add to our collection, mostly picture books to help her learn different items and simple words.