Happy Birthday Nanni!

Today Anni is one whole year old. Technically, she's one at 11:40 pm, but there is a very good chance that none of the Schmidt family will actually be awake at that time, so we did a little celebrating earlier today. Nana, Papa, Auntie Erin and Pedro all came down to the house this evening for a little ice cream birthday cake. Today is Nana's birthday too! So we had cake for Nana and Anni got to open a few presents. Auntie gave the birthday girl a stuffed panda and Nana and Papa dropped off a new sandbox. It's quite fancy with all sorts of gears and whozywhatzits...I think it will be a hit at the birthday party on Saturday.

Anni is a very special little girl. I try very hard not to compare her with her sister, just as I've tried very hard not to compare either of the girls to those "milestones" every parenting book talks about so much. I figure as long as the girls can walk, talk and are potty trained by the time they hit kindergarten, we're doing ok. ;)

But 2nd babies can be a little tricky. They have to work a little harder for the attention that's given so easily to the 1st. And at the same time, the 1st continues to keep doing new things. It's hard not to compare the 2nd to the 1st, because everything with the 1st is new to us. And let's be honest...between my family and Dana's family, Abigail was practically the Second Coming. And Anni came very quickly after Abby, so Abby was our baby for only a little while. And even when she was our baby, she was technically only the "baby" for 4 months. By that time, we already knew she wasn't going to be the only child in our family.

Anni is still our baby and she's a force of nature, that's for certain. She's incredibly happy and very few people believe me when I talk about her crabby days or fussy times. (Apparently she saves the good stuff for me.) She has a HUGE smile and she literally lights up from the inside when she grins. When she wants something, she wants it RIGHT NOW. She can say "mama" and "dada" and I'm pretty sure she's channeling her German roots because when we ask her if she wants something (milk, bottle, cheerios), she says "da!" Anni's mood can change in an instant and sometimes she's more of a handful than I bargained for. She loves to play, adores her sister, likes to give us presents, kisses us when we ask her to and just gets cuter by the day. She's highly opinionated, shrieks with joy when her daddy comes home from work and lets her big sister dump water on her head when they're in the bathtub. Although there are times, and they've been more frequent lately, that Anni is less than perfect, she is still absolutely our angel baby. And here are some pictures to prove it...




Happy 1st Birthday, Nanni. We love you more every day. And we're so excited to see all the things you're going to learn and accomplish throughout the upcoming years. Always know that you are loved by so many people, especially by your mom, dad and big sister.