Well, it’s begun. The time in a mother’s life when time fies and the newest milestones turn into yesterday’s news. My amazing girl, my daughter, is now one. As I sit here typing this, it’s definitely not the first time I’ve asked myself, “Seriously, how did this happen? How?”

Since Priska’s birth twelve months ago my life has changed in ways I couldn’t have fathomed. Definitely not when I was a babysitting teenager dreaming of the day I’d have my own kids. Not when I was a hard-working twenty-something wondering when my life would slow down enough to make room for kids. And not even when I was beyond nine months pregnant, tired and achy from carrying around my beyond nine pound kid. Sure, I don’t have but two minutes in the day to myself but, I tell you, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It’s such a blessing to me that I’m able to be a stay at home Mom and even on the toughest days when I think my patience has run completely dry, Priska’s sweet smile or contagious laugh fills me back up.

Our tiny, chubby infant, whom we didn’t know or understand—and quite honestly, felt a little alien-like at first—has now blossomed into a strong, kind, smart, walking, talking, real-life toddler.

She is a Papa’s girl, through and through. Sure, she needs her Mama, but the look in her eyes when Erik enters a room? Priceless.

She’s so good at sharing. It really is something innate in her, which I find amazing; she has something (anything), sees someone else (adults and babies, alike) and almost immediately wants to show it off or pass it over, let someone else take a gander. I really love this sweet, gentle demeanor of Priska’s.

No matter how many times she falls down, she has absolutely no problem picking herself back up and taking another step. I can see the amazement in her eyes, the freedom that walking brings her.

Priska loves to wave hello. And goodbye. Her favorite is waving to cars passing by on the street. “See you later,” she says in her baby talk. “Byyyeee.” And because we do live in Switzerland, “Tchussss.”

Priska has practically grown a full head of hair in the last two months. And curls? It’s funny to think we ever doubted she’d have them. If I’m lucky she allows me to sweep up her bangs with a tiny bow, which I never thought I’d be into, but do love.

Kisses! Priska gives kisses and it’s the sweetest thing ever. She received a baby doll from her Grandma and Pop Pop for her birthday and what did she do? After unwrapping the baby, she held it square in front of herself and proceeded to plant a giant kiss on baby’s face. *Melt*

My girl loves, and I mean LOVES, to swing. She’s not picky and will take a seat in any baby swing presented to her. The park we go to most often has a busy swing so it’s typical that we need to wait our turn. Priska isn’t pushy or vocal to move the other babies away but when it’s her turn, she simply lights up and squeals with excitement.

Priska is the happiest little bundle of joy. She loves life, as is apparent in the pictures below. We have been so blessed by her presence the last 365 days!

This little angel brings such joy into our home. Each day we wake up and swear that she has changed overnight; better hand-eye coordination, new sounds and jibber-jabber, and the most adorable faces we’ve ever seen. I dub the last few months as our ‘falling madly in love’ period. Of course we’ve loved Priska since before we even met her but it seems that lately we find ourselves saying, thinking, discussing something to the tune of “I just love her sooooo much,” and staring in her direction with puppy dog eyes. And our relationship as a family has taken this huge leap forward, too, which is special and unique and full of love in it’s own right.

So here’s a little rundown of Priska’s last few months:

First steps: In early March, month nine, Priska decided to take her first steps. She’s grown so strong over the past few months and has quickly graduated from sitting to standing and on to stepping. I wouldn’t say we have a walker yet but she’s definitely testing the waters. And I’m thinking we must find a little walker of sorts for her, or a push cart. She scoots chairs around the living room like nobody’s business and even uses her friend’s little trike as a walker. Kind of like a little safety net helping to build her confidence.

More teeth: Her sweet little mouth is now home to not two but FOUR teeth. If my instincts are correct I think the arrival of teeth three and four took a bigger toll on Priska than did teeth one and two. Poor girl was a snotty, fussy mess for a few weeks but when that final pearly white popped out the symptoms disappeared—thankfully! I think all three of us were beyond ready for that bout to pass.

Little gourmet: Priska loves food. We’ve yet to come across something that she doesn’t like or will not eat. She’s not an over-eater, just a really good eater. When the adventures-in-food first began, our little gal wasn’t a huge fan of Avocado—but thankfully that’s passed. Thanks to frozen Kale (it can be difficult to find fresh Kale here in CH), a love of Avocado, a discovery of delicious frozen berries and a Farmers’ Market with a beautiful selection of winter root veg, we’ve been able to come up with some pretty yummy meals for Priska’s developing taste buds.

And now for the fun part—the photos! Just look at this sweet, beautiful, capable girl, so full of smiles and bursting at the seams with precious squeals and giggles.

It was magical…

Priska and her Papa sharing an apple.

This girl loves apples—the bigger the apple (or, a whole apple vs. a slice) the better. What a sweetheart!

It’s the time of year when confetti litters our entryway floor and we fall asleep to rhythmic concoctions of piccolos and drums. Business in Basel shuts down for three days but Baselers are out and about for 72 hours of marching, socializing, cheering and partying. Adults and children alike dress bright colors and big masks.

It’s Fasnacht time!

This was my second year attending Basel’s Fasnacht activities though our path was nothing like last year’s. In 2011 Erik and I rose early for the Morgestraich. On a pitch-black morning we followed the beating drums all the way into the old streets of downtown Basel where at 4am the street power promptly turned off and the marching began. At the time I was pregnant with Priska and remember worrying that the drums were so loud and intense that they might be bad for her developing little ears. Goosebumps and chills ran through me when the city went black—all we could see were each Cliques’ lanterns and all we could hear were the deep, strong drum beats that resonated through the tiny streets. It was so special to witness this long-lived celebration; Baslers doing what they’ve done, what their parents, grandparents and beyond have done, for years. Also, a great addition to our Fasnacht experience last year was family— my brother-in-law and sister-in-law were in town visiting for a few days and it was so much fun to explore the city and all it’s craziness with them. Fast forward a year: we skipped Morgestraich; we avoided the crowded procession downtown; we didn’t stay up late; instead of sticking my belly out to part the spectators, this time I used a stroller and made way with the cutest little spectator of my own.

This year was different mainly because of the babe. And while we didn’t run around town like maniacs, we thoroughly enjoyed sharing Fasnacht with Priska, showing her the lanterns, floats and costumes. Little lady was ready for anything with sound deadening ear muffs and her Fasnacht plakette. (Everyone wears an official pin or you’re a) picked out as a non-Basler and b) liable to be ambushed with loads of confetti. Then again, I wear my pin each year and still manage to return home with confetti coming out of my ears, so…) And I think Priska made out with more goodies than E and I have in all of our Fasnacht years combined. I guess she’s just so darn cute that the Waggis’ have a difficult time not giving her treats. She was such a great festival buddy and a real trooper letting us spend time each day amongst the madness. Her ear muffs even ensured that napping-in-the-stroller-time wasn’t missed and they allowed us the chance to stand extra close to the Cortège.

If you’d like an in-depth description about Fasnacht and it’s history, here’s one I found from Wikipedia. It actually reads pretty correctly (from what I can tell) and breaks the event down in a way that’s easy to understand and interesting, to boot!

The costumes are always fantastic and never cease to amaze me. I joke that it’s impossible to take a bad photo at this event because the colors are over the top and the masks are so full of emotion. And I love, I just love how all ages participate in this three-day, city-wide event. Children’s day is generally the second day of Fasnacht, complete with a children’s parade and lots of tiny people dressed in mini versions of the their elders’ costumes. And since one doesn’t remove their mask while marching during Fasnacht it’s pretty tough to guess ages of the participants. My only clue thus far has been hands. I’ve found that peeking at drumming hands or piccolo-playing hands or orange-throwing hands has leant a slight idea as to the age of person under the costume. And let me tell you—all ages play, march, dance and party!

These sweet little girls are doing what most children can be seen doing during Fasnacht – mimicking the marchers by throwing confetti, or Räppli here in Basel, at spectators. However, interesting little side note: reusing Räppli is seen as super bad form and to prevent this from happening one can only purchase single colored Räppli. So, if you’ve attended Fasnacht here in Basel and been showered with multi-colored Räppli you can be sure it was reused. Nice.

On the go
Most of Priska’s sixth and seventh months were spent in the US and spanned over the Christmas and New Year holidays. We arrived on North American soil with a baby who could sit up on her own (as in, we’d just graduated past the mama-steadfastly-keeping-one-arm-in-her-direction-at-all-times-just-in-case stage) and left with one who was standing. In mid December the girl took her first real crawl—towards her toys and not her Mama or Papa (I have that one on video!) and she hasn’t looked back. Shortly thereafter P began holding on to furniture and sitting up on her knees and then, magically, one day in early January she was standing. By now she’s a pretty efficient crawler, buzzing all over the apartment. I most notice the difference between having a mobile baby and a stationary baby when she follows me. Everywhere. Priska still isn’t a fan of being alone (whether napping or playing) and so even if she’s pretty engrossed in an activity, if I leave the room it’s not more than a few seconds before I hear her sweet little shuffle coming up behind me. Little lady is well on her way to walking, I tell you what. Not sure I’m ready for that one!

Yummy food
At her five month check-up Priska’s pediatrician told me that she could begin eating veggies at six months, fruit at seven months and grains at nine months. Well, it wasn’t until almost seven and a half months that she began eating solids on a regular basis. Lots of traveling paired with hotel stays and little access to kitchens made the whole process more difficult than we’d anticipated. We ended up finding a really great brand of organic, no-extras-added baby food named Ella’s Kitchen to try here and there as an introduction. And by golly, the girl likes her food. I’ll sadly admit that she seems to enjoy eating the store-bought variety more than the homemade  kind—I think it has something to with how ultra puréed the packaged food is. In the end, we’re working on it and I think I’ve now figured out that if the food isn’t puréed as thin as soup she’d rather eat little chunks of fruit and veg with her own two hands, which she’s a champ at and seems to really enjoy. Her favorites right now? Carrots and mango. And I don’t worry too much yet about how much she actually ingests since she’s still nursing plenty—which still seems to be her favorite pastime.

Random bits
Our little gal is also becoming more vocal with each passing day. Her latest is “Da, da, da,” which Erik loves. In the last few months we’ve heard “Ba, ba, ba, ba,” and “Ma, ma, ma,” but all sounds seem to come and go and then randomly reappear again at some point.

Miss Priska grew two teeth in the last two months.

The pinchers are out in full effect and are used for picking up food, dissecting little odds and ends, picking up toys, pulling out Mama’s earrings and tugging at Papa’s beard.

She really knows her name. We actually think she’s known it for quite a while now but sometime in the last few months she really began turning all her attention to whomever calls her by name.

Priska had her first bout with sickeness when we were on the Wisconsin / Illinois portion of our trip. Poor gal had an ear infection (gosh, fingers crossed it’s her last, too!) along with temps over 103—yikes! I was so scared, practically shakin’ in my boots with first-time Mama worry over a little one but I’m happy to report that she’s back to her happy, healthy self.

And now for Priska’s last two months in pictorial format. I actually took a LOT of photos with my iPhone the last two months but, unfortunately, something went terribly wrong when I was syncing my phone and I fear they’ve all disappeared. As in video-of-P’s-first-crawl-gone. Ugh! Back your pictures up, people. Correctly. So the below photos are just Instagrams (I’m addicted!!) that I’ve taken. I hope you enjoy.