Gwen at 1 year

It's official: Our little baby girl isn't a baby any more. In fact, in the last month, Gwen has done quite a bit to shake-off the final bits of baby-dom and jump into full-fledged toddlerhood.

Gwen took her first few steps in late June (6/25, to be exact). On the morning of her first birthday party, she gave us a special gift by walking for real.

Gwen's little squawks and squeaks are starting to sound more and more like words. "Ma-ma-ma" and "Da-da-da" are pretty common, and sometimes they actually seem like she's trying to say "Mom" and "Dad" (or "Morgan" or "Dora", depending on the situation).

She is eating a lot of table food now. Like her big sister, she loves macaroni and cheese. She's also a big fan of blueberries and yogurt melts. She got her first taste of Sour Cream & Onion potato chips at her birthday party and decided those were pretty tasty, too. She has also started experimenting with using spoons and forks when she eats.

Gwen is also really getting the hang of playtime. Whether it's playing peak-a-boo behind her bib, making her doll dance, banging on her new drums, tapping her games on Mom's iPhone, or coloring (her favorite), Gwen's play seems to gets more and more intricate every day.

Here are some more photos from Gwen's 12th month.

Gwen's class had "Baby Olympics" a few weeks ago. Gwen didn't take home any medals, but according to at least one anonymous teacher, the games may have been rigged. We expected a full investigation from the International Infant Olympic Committee.

We mentioned earlier that Gwen is getting better and better at playtime. The unfortunate downside is that she gets herself into everything now, and can leave a one-baby path of destruction behind her now. Oh well.

Gwen loves to color. Now that she has gotten over trying to eat the crayons, she is starting to work on her technique. First, lefty...

Then righty...

And then both...

Gwen has even tried painting with sidewalk paint!

A few weeks ago, Gwen helped Mom pick out hats and decorations for her birthday party.

When it came time to get the food ready, Gwen really wanted to help. So, after months of watching Morgan help Mom, Gwen finally got her chance. (Like we said, our little baby girl isn't a baby any more.)

Gwen's Birthday Adventure

Maybe we should have called it a "Birthday Safari" instead of a "Birthday Adventure". After all, we endured jungle-like heat during our trip to the Philadelphia Zoo for Gwen's birthday. The 100-degree temps didn't keep us from celebrating Gwen's big day, though.

After meeting up with the Cooper, Cate, Nicole and Jeff, we headed into the Lizard exhibit where Gwen came face-to-face with an iguana and Morgan stared-down a crocodile.

After getting our fill of slimy green creatures, we headed over to see the apes and gorillas.

"Where are we going next, Mom? Where? Where? Where?"

After a pit-stop for lunch, we were off to the children's petting zoo section. Morgan, Gwen and Cooper took turns climbing on the frog statue. And then Morgan and Cooper took turns riding on a pony named "Bubba".

Gwen wasn't too happy when Mom poured water on her head to cool her off. But she quickly realized it was a good way to temporarily break the crazy heat.

By the time we reached the zebras and giraffes, everyone had had enough of our jungle-like weather and was ready to return to civilization (and air conditioning). We headed home and let Gwen open the last of her birthday presents.

Gwen practically ran across the living room to see her special gift: a Radio Flyer Scooter!

After dinner, we sang an encore version of "Happy Birthday" and let Gwen blow out another candle (this time with some help from Morgan). And, just like at her birthday party, we let Gwen give an encore of her cake-smashing performance!

"Awesome! I'm covered with cake and frosting AGAIN!! Being 1 is GREAT!"

Gwen's 1st Birthday Party

Gwen's first birthday party was a cake-smashing success!

It's almost as if Gwen knew today was a symbolic turning point between being a baby and being a toddler. When she woke up on the morning of the party, she started "officially" walking (15-20+ steps at a time, stop and go, changing directions, etc.). We guess that's her way of saying, "Hey, look! I'm a big girl now!" Great timing, Gwen!

For the big birthday event, Ariella came up with an old-time, ice cream "Sweet Shoppe" theme -- complete with retro pink and white decorations and a classic Soda Jerk menu (burgers, hot dogs, waffle fries, onion rings and root beer floats) and, of course, ice cream (sort of).

For the "sweet" part of the ice cream Sweet Shoppe theme, Ariella (with the help of Lindsay and Jenny) disguised all the birthday cupcakes as soft-serve ice cream cones and ice cream sundaes.

Those weren't all the sweets, though. Ariella also made chocolate-covered Oreos, Oreo truffles, and Red Velvet Cake Pops. (Unfortunately, we forgot to take photos of those goodies before everyone scarfed them down. They were tasty, though. Trust us.)

When she woke up from her nap, Gwen was mesmerized by the balloons. All that was left to do was put on her party dress, pose for some quick photos with Morgan -- and then it was party time.

While Gwen welcomed her party guests inside, Morgan took the party into the back yard and splashed around in the kiddie pool with Andrew and Katie.

Eventually, Gwen made her way outside, too. She put on her bathing suit, but she was more interested in checking on her grill and playing in the house with Cooper than swimming.

Order up! Burgers, dogs, and a whole bunch of fried stuff! Dig in!

We even had old-time baskets for the food and soda jerk hats, to cap off the classic theme.

Next, we opened presents. Gwen got a caterpillar crawling tunnel, magna-doodle, Fisher-Price zoo, a talking picnic basket, talking telephone, drums to bang on, and more! Fun, fun, fun!

Gwen gave a big hug to her new "Dora" doll (or, as Gwen calls it, "D-d-d-d".)

Finally, it was time for the main event: singing "Happy Birthday" and smashing the cake.

Gwen was a little unsure at first. ("Really? It's okay if I smash this? Really?!?") But as you'll see, she got into it... big time.

After that massive sugar rush, Gwen burned off some excess energy zipping through her caterpillar tunnel. Zoom!

Thanks to everyone for making the trip down to South Jersey for the party. Gwen obviously had a fantastic first day as a toddler.