Eliana Turns One!

I cannot believe my baby girl is already a toddler. She turned one on August 15, which is a national holiday here celebrating Mary. I also feel "blessed among women" to be Eliana's mom. This past year has been the most challenging and humbling of my life, but also the best and most rewarding. She brings joy to our lives like never before. We do anything to make her smile and laugh--including making silly faces and doing crazy dances in public. J. has even been seen with a bright red bow in his hair on the metro to get a smile on her face!

She is in the 50th percentile for weight and 60th for height. She has 6 teeth and 2 more just broke through and are peaking out. She loves to run around. She doesn't just walk slowly, always keeping us on our toes. She especially loves the beach, snuggling and reading with mommy, trips to the park and zoo, and her morning time with her daddy. She just went camping for the first time and had a blast.

Her first birthday part had a rubber ducky theme. We celebrated with several colleagues and friends at the park by our house. We had dinner with some of our Portuguese friends afterwards. The rest of that weekend we celebrated Eliana with a trip to the zoo and the aquarium. We had a lot of fun celebrating our baby girl.

Here's a short video to see some of the highlights from her birthday party. If it doesn't work, you can also see the video by clicking on this dropbox link here.