Dear Jude :: 12 months

My dear sweet ONE YEAR OLD Jude,

First of all, you are ONE.  I can hardly believe it.  This past year has been just amazing to spend with you.  The very best of my life without a doubt.  I can't wait to see what the next year brings.

You have grown tremendously the past month!  First of all, at your doctors appointment, you were much more aware and leery of what was happening.  You clung to Mama instead of just observing what was going on around you.  Your understanding of the world has just exploded.  You understand what we say so much more and are able to follow simple directions very well.

At your doctors appointment you weighed 22lbs 15.5oz and were 30.5 inches tall (54th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height).  You are wearing a mix of 12 and 18 month clothes and wear a size 4-5 shoe.  

You are still in-between 1-2 naps.  Most days two naps are needed, but you only take one from time to time.  Today, for example, you took one 45 minute nap!  Yikes!  Amazingly you are still a pretty pleasant baby even when this happens!

The changes are happening daily at this point.  On Wednesday, the 28th, you turned one.  On Thursday, the 29th, you decided to start walking!!!  And today, on April 3, you started standing up on your own (without holding onto anything) AND you have started saying words other than "Mama" and "Dada" and  "doggy" uhh-duh.  You said "diaper" and "all done" ahh-duh.  

You are off bottles completely during the day, but you LOVE your night-time bottle.  I'm okay keeping it for awhile.  I get guaranteed snuggles that way.  :-)  But the bottle is usually only 4-5oz before bed.  You drink organic cows milk or coconut milk out of a sippy during the day.

You have 8 teeth and love brushing them!  You also learned how to snap recently!  It is so funny.

You had a FANTASTIC birthday party this weekend!!  We are so blessed to have great friends who have kids who are and will be great friends to you!  They also have great taste in gifts. :-)  You LOVE everything you got.

It was also a lot of fun to be able to FaceTime with Aunt Krista in Jamaica, so she could be part of your birthday celebration!

We love you so so SO much!  You are changing every day, and it is so exciting to watch.  You have been such a blessing this past year!

Love you punkin pie!

Mama

March 28.

Somebody had a birthday today.

I woke up and looked at the clock, close to 7am. I had tears in my eyes as I remembered that a year prior, I was only minutes away from meeting this sweet sweet boy.

Being a Mama has made me more sentimental than I expected.  I think being pregnant has something to do with that, too. :-)

I got up, showered, and it was about 7:20am when I heard little mister stirring in his crib.  I usually let him roll around a bit and fully wake up before I go and get him.  Today, I went right in at 7:21am.  I picked him up, snuggled him with his head pressed close into my chest, and rocked him as the clock hit 7:23am.  The moment he was born a year prior.  

Oh, how I love this boy.  

He heard Dada in the kitchen, so the snuggles were short-lived.  We got up, and had birthday pancakes.  And I am thinking how this is the moment, a year ago, where I probably was able to hold him for the first time after my c-section.  Where we started nursing, and we just stared at our precious son and took in every perfect little inch.

He has no idea the significance of this day... yet.  I know we will go through many more birthdays and the excitement of turning a year older will build.  Though somehow I feel that I am going to dread each birthday in a small way.  Motherhood is bitter-sweet.  Bitter to watch the babies get bigger, older, more independent.  Sweet to experience all of these fascinating milestones every day.

We finished breakfast and started playing as Dada went off to work.

Soon enough it was nap time.  We are still aiming for two naps a day, as that is when he is happiest.  He took a great first nap, and I was able to start working on some stuff for his party this weekend.  When nap time was over we put on his special birthday shirt and went to Mamaw and Papaw's for lunch.  

And opened the first gift (which I don't have a picture of)!  Before long, it was nap time again, so we headed home.  Of course he fought this nap for a good hour and finally fell asleep around 4pm.  Mommy may have also. :-)  We got up around 5pm and Daddy came home around 5:30.  We were off to your first birthday dinner!

There was another little boy having a birthday party at the table next to us, and Jude was quite fascinated with all the kids running around.

We stopped and got a birthday donut on the way home.  It's not a birthday without cake of some sort. :-)  This boy is his mother's son, and gobbled up nearly the entire thing.  The real cake will come on Saturday, when we have his party.

Daddy and I sang Happy Birthday and we opened presents.  It was already close to bedtime, so Jude took a quick bath, got into jammies, and was rubbing his eyes while begging for his bottle.  I'm not ready to give up the nighttime bottle yet.  Soon.  But he loves it.  And so do I.  It is guaranteed snuggles.

And just like that, the day is over.  The first birthday has come and gone.  Just like any other day.

My baby is ONE.

Happy Birthday, my sweet Jude Michael!!