Zaya is ONE! When? How? Why did the year go by so fast?! I feel like my pregnancy was an eternity, but Zaya’s first year just flew by us!

Travis and I like to joke that she doesn’t really want to be a baby. She tries so hard to catch up with her older siblings. She finds everything they do fascinating. Simple things like sitting at the kitchen table to eat (she hates her highchair now) or playing with toys with her brothers and sisters (she always sits with them and grabs a toy to join the fun).

READ: LIFE LATELY WITH A NEWBORN

Happy First Birthday, Zaya! Sharing 12 of her one year milestones.
Sweet photo of my newborn baby girl Zaya. Sharing a few of her one year milestones.

ZAYA’S ONE YEAR MILESTONES

  • Zaya started walking at 10 months! Now she’s practically running.
  • She waves hi and bye. Sometimes when she wakes up, she’ll greet us with, “Hiiiii!” It’s so cute.
  • She copies just about everything we do, including pointing at me and shaking her head no.
  • Calls the cat whenever she sees her
  • Says “Dada.” We’re still working on “Mama,” but I know that will happen really soon. Then it will be, “Mama mama mama” nonstop! 😉
  • Loves playing with Mega Bloks and LEGO DUPLO blocks (I recommend Mega Bloks first because it’s easier for Baby to connect the blocks together.)
  • LOVES dancing!
  • Climbs on EVERYTHING!
  • Zaya absolutely hates being her car seat. It can be a challenge when we have to go places. I remember Zhen went through this phase, too.
  • She likes to brush her teeth and tries to brush her hair by herself. But she HATES wearing hair bows and clips in her hair. She always pulls them out whenever I try to style her hair.
  • We made it a full year of exclusively breastfeeding! She’s slowly self-weaning now and it’s bittersweet.
  • Zaya’s a great eater! At 5 months, we transitioned her from baby food to straight solids. I read a few articles on Solid Starts to learn more about feeding baby “real food.”

It was very helpful! I highly recommend their site, and definitely make sure you talk to your doctor about it, too. Now Zaya loves eating pretty much all foods! She even loves eating vegetables! You can check out the site here.

The only thing I don’t like about the site is how costly it can be to access the information. (I didn’t purchase anything. I just used the free articles and videos.) Not sure if they offer any discounted rates for low-income families, but it would be very helpful if they did!

READ: 25 BREASTFEEDING TIPS FOR THE NEW PARENT

Happy birthday, Zaya! Sharing tweleve of Zaya's one year milestones.
Sweet one year milestones for baby Zaya
Happy first birthday, Zaya! Sharing one year milestones on the blog today.

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, SWEET ZAYA! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

All photographs are courtesy of Jennifer Hamra for Good Life Detroit. Floral art installation by Detroit artist Ollie D. Check out Villekulla Flora— a queer trans+ owned business and queer trans+ centered space!

Flower photos were taken at Sidewalk Detroit Festival in the Dexter-Linwood neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan.

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Written by

Jennifer Hamra

Jennifer Hamra is a freelance creative and the founder of Good Life Detroit. She lives in Metro Detroit with her husband Travis and their six children. Contact Jennifer at [email protected].