One Year Old

We've had a really busy week, leading up to your birthday, but there have been a few moments of calm when I try to remember what it was like before you arrived. It's actually pretty hard to remember. Mostly I remember the anticipation and excitement in the weeks and months leading up to when you were born. We were both so excited and nervous to meet you.

Since then, I can't believe how the time has gone by.

I can't believe we survived (all 3 of us) the first few weeks, and finally got into some kind of rhythm in the first few months.

It was so much fun watching you struggle and learn how to do new things in the beginning, like hold your head up and rolling over. You started going to sleep on your own when we laid you down in your crib without much of a fight and hardly ever cried or screamed after the first week or so.

When you turned 6 months old it was like your personality came through overnight. I think mom's can see it all along the way, but at 6 months it was there for everyone to see. You would smile and scoot and roll all over the place and LOVED to eat. You started sleeping through the night (thank you) and going to sleep with your little elephant.

Right before 9 months you figured out how to crawl. I think it was something that you knew you could do for a couple of weeks, and by the end were so frustrated when you couldn't figure it out. You weren't satisfied with crawling, so you learned how to stand up the same day and started cruising.

You learned to clap and babbled non-stop. The 2 elephants turned into about 5 or 6 when we realized how bad they would smell and how often we had to wash them. You learned how to say 'ball' and find your head and ears when we asked. You moved all of the time and got closer to walking. You finally took your first steps at 11 months and within 2 weeks after that you were walking everywhere.

We're so lucky to be your parents. I love seeing your huge smile and when you laugh -both for real, and when you laugh when other people are laughing. We never leave home without your elephants and you are so eager to play with other kids and light up when you see family. I'm excited to see what you'll learn tomorrow -it seems like you're eager to get out of bed everyday just to explore and figure new things out. It's an amazing blessing just be to be your mom.

Happy Birthday Hyrum.