One Year... 365 Days... 8,760 Hours...

525,600 minutes.

"Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Six Hundred minutes, Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand moments so dear. Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Six Hundred minutes. How do you measure, measure a year?" It is the opening verse in the song "Seasons of Love" from the musical Rent and I have to admit, it is the perfect question for today.

As I sit and ponder the question posed in that song, I think of ways to measure a year. Is it the number of smiles? Is it the milestones we have passed already? Is it even the days that we have counted off? Or is it maybe just love?

One year ago a little bundle of joy arrived. It was a bumpy ride, but in the end we had a happy, healthy baby of our own. Only another parent can truly understand the feelings that Kelly and I had at that moment. That point in time where nothing else matters. This child is the number one focus in our lives from this day forward. There were many questions in our heads. Doubts too. How would we raise this baby girl? How will we provide for her? Now what do we do?

We figured it out, and it didn't even take us long to learn it. The answer was simple. Love her. It was all we needed to do. How can we show this innocent little girl that we love her?

We held her. We hugged her. We kissed her. We cuddled her. We talked to her. We sang to her. We smiled at her. We fed her. We rocked with her. (Oh how we miss the rocking with her.) We soothed her during illness and teething. We gave her toys. We read her books. We gave her clothes. We played with her. We helped her learn to roll over, sit up, crawl, stand and walk. We showed her how to climb the stairs. We showed her how to get down the stairs. We gave her baths. We played during bath time. We taught her to clap and give high fives. We showed her how to wave and to blow kisses. We taught her how to hold up one finger when we ask "how old is Teagan."

She smiles. She claps. She squeals with delight when we see her. She hugs us. She kisses us.

Love... unconditional, unending.

We promise to keep doing what we have been doing. To show you that we love you every moment through the year.

Happy birthday baby girl.

Mommy and Daddy love you.

Amazing....

It's amazing to me how much and how fast she learns.

Since this weekend Teagan has now been repeating - Uh-Oh! and Ouch!
Uh-oh was repeated when Pat dropped something and Ouch was repeated after she hit us in the face while laying in bed. Now she'll repeat it at any given moment.
She still really doesn't use Mommy - Daddy she says every once in a while. The other day she woke up in the morning and Pat went to get her bottle ready. I started to open the door to her room and she said Da-Da... just then she saw my face and switched it to Mmmm.... That's the closest she's gotten.
Other ways of communicating are getting stronger as well. Last week she told me she was ready for bed by pointing to her crib when we were upstairs in her room. Recently she's been telling us she's hungry by pulling her high chair out from under the table. And tonight she told me she was tired by going over to her crib and pulling on the bed railings.
This past weekend I was upstairs and we were in her room putting clothes away. She of course was taking pajamas out of the drawer as I was attempting to put them away - frustrated I said "Teagan, can you sit down?" - all the sudden - she sat. Whoa... when did she learn that? Apparently they sit at daycare for their snacks - sure enough today when we got home after work I gave her some fruit leather to tide her over before dinner and I told her to sit - she did. What a smart cookie!
On Sunday we also allowed her to feed herself. With a fork that is. I think she's been working on this at daycare too. She's doing great with it. As long as you put the food on the fork she'll put it in her mouth. The hardest part about this is getting the fork back to put more food on it.
She's starting to really like to carry items around and she's following directions very nicely. I've been contemplating teaching her to throw her dirty diapers away..... but this might not be the best thing to start teaching at the moment. If you don't know, Teagan already has a fascination with the garbage can lid. So far she hasn't put anything but her hands near it however I feel that if we teach her to throw things away it wont end at diapers. ---- Mommy's phone - garbage, her shoe - garbage, a bottle - garbage. Let's not start that just quite yet.

Swim Class

Teagan had her first swim lessons on Saturday. She did great. The lessons are a birthday present from Papa and Nana and she had a ball! We arrived in the pool area about 10 minutes before class started. At one end of the pool they have a gradual decline into the water so Teagan and I stepped in - to get her used to it of course. The smile was so big on her face, she bent down, was walking, having a great time when all the sudden I was ever so nicely instructed that we couldn't be in the pool until class started. I apologized, picked Teagan up and brought her back to a chair alongside the pool. It was at this point in time that Teagan started to become a bit vocal.... I had teased her with the fun of the water. She made it clear to me and some others around that she wanted down, did not want to be held, she wanted in the water, how dare I take her out when she was having so much fun!!! ... I handed her to Pat and he took her for a walk while I got the camera ready.
When class finally started all the parents sat in a circle in about one foot of water with their children on their lap. Most of the children were sitting nicely and splashing with their hands... Teagan on the other hand wanted to head dive into the water. She was sitting, standing, clapping, splashing, kicking - I swear I was the only parent there with soaked hair and water face before we even got to the deep end.
Overall swim class was great, she had a fantastic time. We sang, we splashed, we practiced kicking and reaching... more water was swallowed than probably should have been ... I was not always the best at keeping her mouth above water - I'm surprised she didn't puke after it was all done but we both had a great time.

Things I Learned From My Daughter

1. "Hi" is one of the most wonderful words in the English language.


2. The sound of a child laughing will lighten any one's mood.


3. There must be more than 100 different positions in which a diaper can be successfully put onto a child.


4. There is nothing wrong with a grown man singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" even when not in the presence of a child.


5. Even though I consider myself a fast learner, a child has capacities that we cannot imagine.

• There are so many different things I could talk about with these topic lines, but I don't want to turn this post into a novel. Therefore, here are a few recaps.


• One of the things I look forward to the most is Teagan greeting people. I do not really care who it is, I smile every single time she says "Hi" to someone. It is so sweet, genuine and happy. There is no faking it. Her face contorts in a manner that allows her to finish saying the word with a smile on her face. It pretty much makes Kelly and I melt and makes strangers adore her.


• I love making Teagan laugh. It could be a tickle, a flip upside down, or a kiss from Cabo. One single laugh from her can cause a whole room to smile and laugh.


• All parents have been there. We share stories, experiences, and tricks. Changing a diaper should be an Olympic sport. I would pay to see a bodybuilder try and change a diaper on a distracted child that only wants to play. I affectionately refer to Teagan's maneuvers as an alligator death roll. She has ways of squirming, or flopping that pushes my patience simply because I am in doubt that the furniture or carpet is safe while she is without diaper. Kelly was changing her one night and decided it was ok for her to walk off without a diaper. Thankfully she made it to the laminate floor before she had to go. Yes, later on, while preparing her bath, she also peed on me. The move that makes laugh the most is when she extends her legs and pushes off the floor... instantly... right as I am about to fasten the diaper... Fail.


• Yes, I have found myself singing while at work. "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," "The Hot Dog Dance," Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," and "Mary Had A Little Lamb" are on constant repeat in my head... especially during that first hour or so at work after I drop her off.


• I have always considered myself a fast learner, but Teagan has me beat by a mile. She learns soooo freaking fast. It only took a day for hear to learn how to stick up one finger when asked how old she is. We had been frustrated that she isn't saying more words, so we decided we need to spend more time on saying the words associated with the things we see regularly. She definitely knows what they are, by name. "Go get your horsey" says Kelly, Teagan scans the floor, sees the horsey and goes to get it. "Bring it to mommy" says Kel. Teagan hands her the horsey. She does it with her monkey, lion, a ball, a phone, etc. She gets it... she just doesn't want to talk just yet.


• I still love that she can give me a high five, blow kisses, and pet Cabo. I just wish she would have never seen me move the toilet lid, or open a cabinet.... Speaking of which, I need to go install some child proof latches. Talk to you all later! Patrick