Just saying those words for the first time to Nolan this morning brought tears to my eyes. Reaching the one year mark seemed like such a huge milestone... one year ago.
I'll never forget that day. I'll never forget being excited to be at my last week of work before maternity leave, or hoping I'd just peed on myself instead of my water breaking while I was there. I'll never forget the call to Cory that started with, "I don't mean to alarm you, but my water might be breaking." Or my boss and co-worker sitting with me as that first big contraction hit, waiting for Cory to arrive.
Most of all, I'll never forget those first sounds of the crying baby I'd just birthed, or how when they placed him on my chest every other single thing on this Earth disappeared from existence for a moment, or the way he squeezed his eyes closed and his little hands quivered.
Now reaching this milestone feels impossibly too soon.
My 5 pound, 11 ounce little boy who was just 18 inches long has grown into a 17.1 pound little boy who stands 27 inches tall. He has two shiny teeth on the bottom, and one more barely peeking through on top. He has a mess of hair that's thin on top, and wild in the back and so many shades lighter than it was a year ago.
His features seem like such a perfect mesh of mine and Cory's now that we've looked at our own baby pictures. He has a nice round little head, just like me. But he has thin, light hair like his daddy did. His eyes are bright and big like mine, but have the slight squinty, eye fold in the corner like his dad's. He has those full, chubby cheeks, an unfortunate inheritance from me. He has his father's short build. He has my temper, but a stubbornness that could only come from Cory. He has an orneriness about him that seems to have some kind of sarcastic layer to it that reminds me so much of Cory it's ridiculous.
I see so much of Cory in him, and Cory says he sees so much of me in him. Our little person is such a unique lace of our own characteristics and his own.
He's a fast little crawler these days with several different techniques. He crawls 'normal' now on all fours, he has a bear crawl, he has the army crawl, and he frequently gets into a downward dog position.
He stands by himself and will reach with shaky, excited hands like he knows he's just this close to figuring out how to coordinate those feet.
He climbs on everything, and is too close to achieving his daily goal of trying to get on the couch by himself.
He has an innocent, hilarious, and adorable blank look whenever he gets in trouble, with an ornery stare back at me that has me turning around to hide a chuckle every time.
He is ever trying to get the dog food and water bowls, like they are a mysterious treasure that he must have.
He's become some what of a daddy's boy lately, and will squeal delightfully whenever he sees Cory - even if he's only been gone a few minutes. When Cory leaves in the mornings for work, Nolan crawls toward the door with tears (even though I'm sitting right by him with toys!).
He's accepted cow's milk so easily all the sudden. We dropped one nursing session at a time for a week long spurt before dropping another. He's done more perfectly than I could've hoped and it's very bittersweet. He takes his little straw cup and drinks away like he's not even noticing the change anymore. Yay! (for me and Nolan!)
The dreaded swaddlepod weaning was a piece of cake. Pretty much went cold turkey with it and he didn't mind at all! So long as he has his blanky (or two).
His perception of peek-a-boo got skewed when he started raising anything above his head and then lowering it, getting the "boo!" response from daddy. We've whittled that all the way down to nothing. So, he'll raise his hands all the way above his head, wait for a few seconds and then lower them dramatically waiting for you to say 'boo.' It's pretty hilarious.
He points at things now, which is too cute. He's been pointing aimlessly for some months now, but he seems to have some purpose in it these days. Pointing is an important skill people! It's on almost every development assessment I've ever performed.
He can say: mama, dada, duh-duhs (ducks).
He can: wave, clap, point, stand up, take tiny wobbly steps, drink from a straw, play peek-a-boo.
He loves: chasing Aiko, when I get his belly, giggling at anything daddy does, bath time, meal time, clicking his tongue, playing with the remotes.
Favorite foods: sweet potato/mango, bananas, scrambled eggs, cinnamon toast.
Favorite drink: Pedialyte.
Favorite book: Mr Brown Can Moo, Can You?
Favorite movie: Preschool Prep (the numbers and letters videos seem to be his fav)
Favorite toys: balls, teddy bear, tag puppy.
He can be whiny and temperamental and he'd not that fond of large crowds, but he's a blast at home with lots of giggles and cuddles. He changed my definition of love and joy. He's a blessing beyond measure. He's my lovebug and I gleefully wish him a happy birthday!
Aunt Ashley and papa James' favorite snorty face! What an ornery...
He'll play pee-a-boo with me under the chair
First scary fall :( As soon as the swelling went down, it did look much better though
I love those two boys more than I could ever express
What a fun kid he is
AH! We have a one year old. Party pics will be posted after his MO party on March 1st :)
I'm not posting all of the links on my facebook, but if you'd like to read some other posts about our first year with Nolan click on the links below:
A Year with You
A Year of Nursing
A Year of Sleeping Differently
A Year of Memories
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