Dear Valentina,

Today is your birthday! You are officially ONE YEAR OLD!  This past year has been an amazing journey for all of us. It seems like just yesterday, that I was at the hospital getting ready for your arrival. Every night, we look at you while you sleep and we can’t believe how incredibly lucky we are to have you. You are seriously the MOST BEAUTIFUL baby we’ve every seen. Every night, I lay down with you, give you kisses and whisper in your ear. Then I look at daddy and say, “Isn’t she just the cutest thing ever?!?!” Of course daddy says, “She’s wonderful.”… and you are… WONDERFUL!

You make us smile, laugh and cry tears of joy all at the same time. You’ve gone from a small baby that wouldn’t wake up to eat to non-stop, snack monster. You’ve reached certain milestones long before other babies but you also won’t let anyone rush you.  The fact that you learned to wave at 5 months is wonderful, but you refused to sit up on your own until 6 1/2 months. 6 months, you were drinking from a sippy cup and opening your mouth when you saw a toothbrush. At 9 months, you started pulling your self up and decided that standing was better than sitting yet, you thought crawling was a bit tough and it took you a while to get the hang of it. Now at 12 months, you have 8 teeth, can drink from a regular cup, straw, and glass bottle and 2 days ago, you took 4 steps all by yourself.

You love to look at the doggies in the morning. Every day before going to work, Daddy takes you to the balcony to see the doggies. You start panting like a puppy, wave your arms in excitement and then cry when daddy puts you in your crib while I make your bottle. We have breakfast together every morning while we watch cartoons. You’re such a happy baby when you wake up…. you get that from your Daddy. I love the way your face lights up when you see your favorite cartoon, even better is the way it lights up when I come home from work.In your first year, you’ve become a little traveler.  You rode the metro when you were 8 days old, and by the time you were 3 months, you had already ridden the train TWICE to visit the fashion capital of the world… MILAN!  In the next 6 months, you will add Naples, Texas, Minnesota and Scotland to your list as well as your first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth plane rides. You’ve had visitors come from the Texas, Minnesota, Ohio and Mexico all by the time you were 5 months old. You will be exposed to different cultures. You’ll grow up in Italy celebrating American and Mexican holidays.  You’ll speak American English while learning British English at school. Your Abuelos will teach you Spanish and Auntie Jill & Uncle Florent will teach you French.

My Sweet Monkey, there are so many things I want to tell you but it’s late and we have a BIG day ahead of us….. Mamma needs to get to bed and snuggle up with you now.

Daddy and I love you SOOO MUCH.

Tanti Auguri Valentina Jade!

VJ- 45 mins after birth/ VJ 45 mins before officially turning ONE don’t mind the brown mark on her face… we gave her chocolate before she fell asleep!