Knocked Up & Unemployed: February 2012

Happy birthday, my sweet love! A year ago today, your Daddy and my life changed forever. A year ago yesterday, I was in pain, misery and agonizing when and HOW you were going to come out!! But the moment I saw you, all the pain, anxiety and fear disappeared. And still to this day, you have a wonderful gift of making me smile, laugh and be happy every single day. Sure, there are days when you stress me out and you exhaust me to the core...but I'm still grateful for those days as well.

You've changed so much over the past year and I love seeing your personality really start to form. You're sweet and cuddly but you're also feisty and know exactly what you want...and I wouldn't change one single thing about you. I look back and I often wonder if I've documented this past year well enough...I wonder if I'll remember every single milestone and every single bump and bruise and the answer is probably not...but one thing I do know, you have brought more happiness and love into our home than I ever thought possible.

Here are some of the things you've been up to this past month:

--You are officially walking! You started walking the middle of last month...and you haven't slowed down a bit! In fact, you're running half the time!

--You know how to sign "More." You do it often when you want more crackers.

--You love to give kisses and snuggles...especially first thing in the morning. It's the sweetest thing EVER.

--You can say "mama," "dada," "bye bye," uh oh," "Pop," and "woo woo" when you see a dog.

--You also say, "DAAAAAAAAAAD!!!" when you yell for your daddy...I'm pretty sure you picked that up from me when I yell, "BRAAAAAAAD!!"

--Right now you're sick with bronchitis...saddest thing ever. You sound like a chain smoker coughing up a lung! :(

--We celebrated your first birthday party this past Saturday. More on that on a different post, but we had an amazing day! We had so many people (around 50) come out to celebrate your big day! You had a blast and were an angel all day!

--You have 4 teeth on top and 4 teeth on bottom.

--You have been a champion sleeper. You go to sleep at 7-7:30 pm and wake up anytime between 6:30 - 7:30 am. If you wake up in the middle of the night, you snuggle your lamb, stick in your binky and fall back asleep on your own! Yay!

--You've slowed down on your eating...which is pretty standard for your age. Right now, your favorite thing to eat is green beans. You still love to eat cheese and you like pizza as well.

--You love playing with other kids. Whenever you see Connor, you practically pounce on him and then you follow him around everywhere he goes.

--You LOVE babies...whenever you see a baby, whether it's in person or in a book, you always give it a kiss!

--You're tough as nails. Now that you're walking, that means you fall more and bump into things a lot more often...but you hardly ever cry. If you do cry, I know that you've really hurt yourself.

--You still love to read books. Your Great Aunt Cindy got you a really cool book for your birthday and you'll just sit on the floor and stare at each and every picture on each and every page. You're so observant and I can tell you're soaking it all in.

--You like to watch "Super Why" on PBS, but other than that, we don't watch too much tv.

--You pat your baby dolls on the back...such a good lil baby mama!

--You love bath time SOOOO much.

--You hate getting your fingernails clipped...but I hate when you have long fingernails...so this poses a problem...

--I won't know your 1 year stats until next week, but I can tell you've been growing a lot. Your Eemo and Uncle B saw you at Christmas and then just this past week, and they said you've grown a lot since Christmas! But I can tell you're going to be sweet and petite! :)

--Whenever I wink at you, you'll try to wink back.

--You can kind of blow kisses now. You'll put your hand to your mouth, but you decide to keep the kiss instead of blowing them to someone.

--You love to dance to fast music. You definitely can cut a rug like your daddy!

I can't seem to put into words just how much my life has changed in this past year. I always knew that you would change my life, but I didn't realize how much. This love and happiness that I have for you is unexplainable. When I rock you before bedtime, we just look at each other and make silly faces at each other. Then you always give me a sweet giggle and touch my face. When I'm old and have lost most of my memory, I hope more than anything, that memory will stay with me. Your sweet little body just fits me perfectly like a puzzle piece...your head under my chin and your arms wrapped around my chest...I know that this isn't going to last forever because you're growing so fast and someday you'll be too big to want to cuddle with me...and as much as it makes me sad, I've truly enjoyed every single minute of these past five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes with you. The first time I saw your face, I just knew I was the luckiest person alive. When I saw your face on the ultrasound before you were born, the song "You're All I Need to Get By" came to mind...and it still does every time I look at you:

Like sweet morning dew, I took one look at you

And it was plain to see, you were my destiny

With arms open wide, I threw away my pride

I'll sacrifice for you, dedicate my life to you...

You're all I need to get by...and I thank you for the most wonderful year of my life. I can't wait to see what your future holds and I hope no matter what, you'll always know that I love you more than anything in the whole world. I'll always support you and be on your side...it can be an ugly world out there sometimes, but you'll always have your Daddy and me to love you and be there for you through the good times and through the bad.

Happy birthday, my sweet V!

Love,

Mommy