Meet Liana Grace.

My world has been turned upside down. Shaken. Gone from black to white. What was once a life of independence and a (more-than-it-is-now) carefree attitude, is now completely dependent and careful.

But only for the best reason. 

Meet Liana Grace.

~mmmm.... oreos!!~

The love of my life. The dots on my i's and the crosses on my t's. The hershey to my kisses, the Mike to my Ikes.

The child who lights up my life and has given me immeasurable joy.

And because she's too sweet not to share, I want you to know more about her. I want you to love her too because let me tell you, this child is worthy of all the love a world has to offer.

So, here's a snapshot of my Liana Grace at almost 14 months.

My pumkin is:

Mischievious. No matter how many times I tell her "No Liana!" she gives me that "Come on Mom, you know you're not going to do anything" look and does it anyways. For example, despite me telling her no three times today, she continued to sneak off to her bedroom and pull every single diaper out of her diaper stacker. She feeds the dogs her food when I "ask" her not to and it's become part of my daily routine in the morning to pick up the dogs water bowl... otherwise, my floor is soaked and so is my daughter.

Sensitive. If you look at her crossly, she becomes a puddle of tears within minutes. When her teeth are hurting her or she's sick, she needs snuggles. And when her mama needs a hug, she's right there.

Shy. This is reason #1 I'm hoping to join a playgroup.... and soon. She's intimidated by other kids, but yet, fascinated by the fact that she's not the only 1 year old running around in this great big world (who would've though, huh?!). At the kids playplace in the mall, she stands without movement for the first 10 minutes after we've arrived... only after she's gathered her wits about her does she find the courage to move and try to interact. And by "interact", I mean she runs around and stares at the other kids playing. And usually gets run over in the process.

Finally, a wonderful sleeper... thank God! We are finally, finally to the point that she'll sleep 12 hours without waking at least 6 days a week. After 14+ months of intermittent sleep, this mommy is loving the fact that when she goes to bed, she stays there for at least 8 hours. However, my body is now trying to catch up on that lost sleep, which isn't working too well as I find myself desperate for a nap at the same time my daughter is running circles around the house. Literally. And look, she even falls asleep in places she's not supposed to...

Speaking of which.... my child is energetic. The kid is going to be just like her daddy... she can't sit still for more than 20 minutes at a time. The only way I can get her to slow down and sit with me on any given day is to pop a Baby Einstein video in and let it do it's magic. She'll sit on my lap for a while but halfway through, she's MIA again. She climbs the stairs. Runs "the circle" consisting of going from the playroom to the kitchen to the hall to the living room and finally ending in the playroom again. She loves to be chased. And on nice days, she'll even walk around the entire block... no stroller, just shoes.

Strong willed. We've hit the point where she knows what she wants and knows what she doesn't... and if you take something away from her, or stop her from doing something, she'll throw a tantrum. If I pick her up, she arches her back and thrashes her limbs... it's quite the scene, and I've come to anticipate these movements. Thankfully, she has yet to slam a body part (like her head) into anything during one of these incidents. I'm sure that day will come though.

Joyful. Aside from the above incidents, Liana doesn't stop smiling. She smiles at her mama and daddy most because, well, we rock. She smiles at her dogs. She smiles at her nana and her papa because she knows she has them wrapped around her little tiny fingers. And she brings joy to others as well... for example, the hostess at Arne's Restaurant yesterday who, as we approached the hostess stand, Liana said "Hi!!" to. Or the teenage boy working at Aeropostale who she batted her long eyelashes at and said "HI!!!" to over and over again until he was blushing. Yep, at the ripe age of 1, my kid can flirt with cute older boys. Hopefully that means she'll give me lots of grandbabies some day :)

Inquisitive and oh-so-smart. She LOVES books, especially the touch and feel kind. She loves building things and she LOVES knocking things over. She investigates everything... hence the reason Poison Control has already been called and we have gates at both the top and bottom of the stairs. The other night, Mike went upstairs after putting her to bed and found that she had turned her bedroom light on. She knows to call out "Mama!" in the morning and that I'll only come to get her out of bed once she starts fussing because for the first 30 minutes, she just likes to play in her crib. Her rule (not mine) while eating is "one for me, one for Bauer" and even though I try to persuade against this behavior, she continues.

Playful. Her best friend is Moose, and she loves to bring him his squeaky ball and take it away again, knowing that he'll chase after it. She gets this twinkle in her eye when we play peek a boo, when I sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" or "Pat a Cake".

A talker. Her favorite word? Bauer. Yes, Bauer. She whispers it. Repeats it a hundred times a day. Yells it as if she's calling to him. "Bauer" isn't just for Bauer though... Bauer is for any dog. Or sometimes, any furry creature. She also loves "Mama", "Daddy", "Ball", "Hi!", "Ba Ba" (for bottle). Her vocabulary is expanding with each passing week and I love the thought of soon hearing small sentences come from the mouth of my baby. Small, sweet sounding sentences. My house is never quiet... just ask the neighbors. :) 

Delicious. That wispy blonde hair, those beautiful blue eyes, and that fair, soft skin make me melt. I don't understand how someone so beautiful has my blood flowing through her tiny, barely 20 lb body. I can't help but drown her in kisses all day, every day. And it makes my heart melt when she gives me kisses, too. I wake up each morning ready to soak her in, hoping, just hoping, that I can be half as wonderful of a mother to her as she is a daughter to me.

There's more.... so much more. More for me to discover about my child that grows more and more each day, right before my eyes. More for me to tell you that I don't have the time for right now. This little girl becomes more interesting each day, more fun, easier to love and be loved by. She makes me feel like a piece of my heart was missing for the 25 years of my life before she came along. A piece of my heart that is now found, a piece of my heart that completes me (as corny as that sounds).

Meet Liana Grace. The best thing that ever happened to this crazy-in-love mama.