Happy 1st Birthday, Cora!

This has been such a wonderful year that we have spent with Cora! Brad and I frequently marvel at what a blessing she is to us and what a huge responsibility we have as her parents.

She has grown leaps and bounds! Sometimes it seems like she even changes overnight. It was fun for Brad to be able to spend a full two weeks with her while we were in MI. He said that spending that much time with her he was really able to see and enjoy the little things that she learns. He noticed that she's gaining more precise use of her fingers, neatly picking up small pieces of food (or anything on the ground!) and putting them easily in her mouth. I know my parents enjoyed spending so much time with her, too, and commented at how she gained better balance at standing on her own over the time we were with them. Then when we got home I noticed that Cora has started "sorting". She likes to take things out and put them back in - whether it's food from her bowl to highchair tray or toys from box to floor. Tonight she spent a good ten minutes standing at the clothes drier and taking out the washcloths I had left inside and putting them on the ground. Then picking them up and putting them back in...and doing it all over again.

We were privileged to celebrate her birthday twice - once in MI with Cora's grandparents, great-grandparents and uncle and aunt. Then again yesterday with Grandma and Grandpa Bierma and some of our friends here in GJ. Click HERE to see a photo album of Cora's birthday parties!