When we brought Lily the Lab home last fall, I thought it would be fun to create a photo album on Facebook and do weekly photos of her like the new moms on my friends list did monthly with their infants.

When my girls were small, we didn’t have all the Pinterest-inspired ideas to try. Most of their first year is documented in a scrapbook album. While I did a pretty decent job, I didn’t keep up with the task as much as I would have liked.

Much like the humans I have watched grow, the changes in a year are phenomenal. Our puppy is a crazy bundle of energy who LOVES to play, run and jump. She has some funny habits [and some not so funny] and we’re looking forward to channeling her energy into fun activities–maybe even dock diving!

The other thing I noticed is that no matter how much she has grown, I can still find the baby in her face and eyes–just like I can with my daughters.

She was so solemn and quiet when she first came–so snuggly and cuddly. Now?! She is always looking for the next activity, trying to start games and would rather do anything than be still.

I know that if she is planning to settle down that we likely have a good two years to see those changes in maturity. I have a feeling, though, that she might just be one of the labs who is loopy, goofy and game for hot laps around the backyard until much later in life.

I was able to catch some milestones–when she first became capable of jumping onto the couch; her love of somersaulting while chasing her tail; her affinity for rocks, leaves & sticks; and her appropriate leash behavior.

We also captured the week she was definitely crate trained [although this was not an issue I remember being a problem] and when she was tall enough to look out the window while riding in the car.

The photos of her running with wild abandon cracks me up. She still does it, but now it just looks scary fast rather than awkwardly adorable.

We were also able to chronicle her weight gain from her first six weeks with us. This girl is ALL muscle. She is freakishly strong.

If I ever needed to enter a tractor pulling contest in which the tractor had to be pulled by the contestant’s teeth, I would enter Lily in a heartbeat.

Lily sees every “indestructible chew toy” as a challenge accepted kind of moment. She has not met too many that last more than a few hours. I feel particularly sorry for the cute indestructible toys–the ones made from firehose especially that are meant to look like cute little foxes and ducks. Lily found those particularly tasty.

Today marks the two year anniversary of when our rescue chocolate lab, Henry, had to be helped to heaven. I still miss him so much and my heart always skips a beat when Lily does something that reminds me of him. I think they would have been great friends.