i carry your heart with me

i was 99% positive i was having a boy, though i didn't tell many people that. i liked the idea of having an older brother as the leader and protector.
and then it wasn't a boy, but a happy, squishy, almost ten pound baby girl.
and i love that i have a daughter first.
i love that she will always be my travel buddy and my friend.
being entrusted with this sweet little girl has changed me, as i'm sure becoming a parent changes most people. i read my favorite e.e. cummings poem one night after i put a jet-lagged, whining baby to bed, and i couldn't help but go peek in on her as she slept so peacefully. 

because really, anywhere i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling.  

she has brought so much joy in a year. 

we get a kick out of even the littlest things she does...when she tilts her head to the side on command, when she looks at us with serious eyes and babbles like we know exactly what she's saying, when her eyes become squinty from grinning so wide. 

and hey, we kept a baby alive for a whole year!
i know there's an abundance of pictures, but you only turn one once.












photos taken by my brother in my parents' backyard