In honor of Audrey's first birthday:

Joy

The face of my baby Audrey, sleeping restlessly on my chest at 2 a.m. on the couch. She's a perfect angel, so divine, and so powerful.

The blissful peace of resting on Mama's lap, nursing for a long stretch while being rocked in the glider.

The discovery that she can walk just as easily as crawl. The awareness that she can climb stairs. The fearlessness on the playground. The sheer lack of restraint in the bathtub. The yearning to go everywhere and do everything NOW, and damn the consequences.

The gentle evening walks around the neighborhood, me holding her in my left arm, while she points her little fingers at everything new and asks "Da?" "Tree. Car. Bush. Mailbox. Kitty cat. Doggie."

Holding her favorite book in the car - in truth, it's plastic, so it's the only one she can't chew up - and endlessly exchanging with Mommy or Daddy or Aria: "Da?" "Hello Bee, Hello Me." "Da?" "Hello Bee, Hello Me." "Da?" "Hello Bee, Hello Me."

Her mysterious attraction to the walkway outside Trader Joe's.

Her four unique food groups: Leaves, Bristles, Rubber, and Chalk.

The sly smile as she takes every toy out of the toy box and throws them all over the room in less than ten seconds.

The giggles and squeals of sisters running through the living room, around the corner, up the hall, and careening into the kitchen; next caroming off each other into the living room, then over to the piano, where they bang out a duet of pure explosive creativity before starting the whole cycle again.

The huge smile on her face first thing in the morning when she wakes up in between her parents... no matter how groggy or grumpy they are about it.

"Helping" Daddy clean the kitchen by banging on the sink, climbing into the dishwasher, slamming cupboard doors shut over and over and over, and exploring the items in the door of the fridge.

Gleefully playing naked in the sprinkler in the back yard, not even caring as big sister keeps turning the water up higher and higher until it's spraying well up over her head.

This year has been so hard, so full of multiple challenges that we have never faced individually, as a couple, or as a family. But we've pulled together and, for the most part, met what was thrown our way. As the year winds down, and summer is on the verge of flaming out, we are full of optimism and excited about the future. And we love our baby girl like we never before imagined we could love anything.

Technical note - the hard drive containing our iPhoto library crashed, so no pictures for a while until we get that straightened out. (Yes, it was recently backed up, although we may have lost a couple months worth of stuff.)