One Year Older and Wiser

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JW!!! I have been thinking about the events of this day one year ago. Being my first and only child so far, you hold an extra special place in my heart. You have shown me so many firsts. First pregnancy, first labor and delivery, first real experience with NO-SLEEP wackiness, the heartaches of breastfeeding, your first smile, laugh, crawl, babble, food, patty cakes, which you've demonstrated that you can actually "roll it," but now that I have noticed you won't do it, and now your first birthday. I can hardly believe it has been one year! I finally get it when someone says, "Enjoy them now because they grow up too fast." No kidding.

I was recently thinking back to the day you were born. My memory of that day is very vivid. I woke up around 2 am to go to the bathroom, as I had done for many months like clockwork, when GUSH. What a weird sensation. My water had broken and it was not a trickle. I woke up The Dad and told him it was time to go. We were very nervous and excited to meet you. Labor was better than I expected, not that my expectations were high, since I didn't know what was about to happen. I must admit though, as awesome as The Dad was during the whole labor thing, I really just wanted Gramma Nay. Babies needs there mamas sometimes, even when they are all grown up. My only regret was not having her with me. With a few practice pushes you were ready to go. Along came the doctor and just after noon, you were born. I had dreamed you would look like an alien. Well, more like a lemon head. Fortunately you didn't look like a lemon head, you looked JUST LIKE your dad.

You are a real punkin, Dubs. Everywhere we go, people on the street stop to flirt with you. You are generally ambivalent to such gestures and the look on your face easily says, "Get lost." You have become quite the social butterfly at the preschool though. Most days I drop you off and you get a little sad when I leave, but the other day you could not get off my lap fast enough. Your little buddy Henley was there ready to play. I put you down and away the two of you went, crawling as fast as your little hands and legs could move. Your teacher, Miss Maurine, says you follow each other around, pulling all the toys off the shelves and basically just roll and tumble together all day. And when the door to the "big room" opens up, the two of you high tail it out like bandits to be with the big kids. You have not learned yet that you are not quite a "big kid" and can be quite offended when you have to go back with the "infants." You do not understand that this is to protect you from being trampled by the big kids, but you are an adventurous boy and safety is not high on your priority list.

We had your first birthday party a few days ago with almost all of mama's family and a brief visit from Auntie Jen and Ella. I would have to say you were a little underwhelmed with the whole thing. You are still a little young to understand that all the commotion was about YOU. The balloons, gifts, cake, people...all for you. You had your first piece of cake (that I know of, since what happens at Gramma's or Papa's stays at Gramma's or Papa's). You didn't dig in to your cake like I thought you would. You were too concerned about the frosting being stuck to your fingers, leaving us all in stitches as you tried to shake it off.

You have me in stitches everyday, lil' buddy. Watching you learn and grow and begin to understand the world around you this last year has been nothing less than awesome.

The song is Nothing by Steve Foxbury off the album Do Fun Stuff. This album is a compilation of fun children's music from various artists with all the proceeds going to SMS research. You can download the album from iTunes. Dubs and I LOVE it.