a whole year old!!!

august 2, 2011

26 pounds 7 ounces

30.5 inches

Precious Son of Mine,

I can hardly believe you are a whole year old!! I remember clearly the absolute joy and immediate love I felt for you when I held you for the very first time one year ago. What an amazing miracle and precious gift from God you were! Over the past year, as you have grown more and more each day, my love for you has also grown more and more. I am so very thankful that God has blessed me with you. Along with being Daddy’s wife, being your mama is my very favorite job! I love love love spending my days with you, watching you learn and grow and play. I am so very thankful that you are such a happy, healthy boy. You have no idea how much joy you bring to everyone who meets you!

This month you’ve continued to grow bigger and learn new things. You wear size four diapers during the day and size 5 at night. You wear 12-18 month clothes. People always comment on what a big boy you are and how healthy you look, and many people point out your adorable chunky legs! I love to squeeze them and kiss them!

Sometimes when we’re sitting in the floor playing, you crawl over and plant a big open-mouth slobbery kiss right on my mouth! It absolutely melts my heart, and I love that you are learning how to show love in new ways. You have lots of fun and like to clap, wave, point, and dance! Your knees start bending and your arms begin to wave as soon as a new song comes on. We love to watch you dance. You love photos, especially ones of you! When you see one, you excitedly point and grunt. You like to look at them up close and touch them.

You are an excellent sleeper! You take two naps each day usually for about 1.5-2 hours each time, and you sleep for 11-12 hours at night. We are proud of the good sleeper you’ve become. After a couple of books, a song, a prayer, and a few snuggles, we lay you down in your crib. The calm time together just before laying you down is so special to me. You quietly play with the stuffed animals in your bed before drifting off to sleep. You usually wake up cooing happily, ready to have some milk, and if we’re lucky, a few more snuggles, too!

Toward the end of July, Mama and Daddy were invited to attend a retreat for ministry couples. We were excited about the chance to be with mentors that we love and respect and to get to know other couples in full time ministry, but we were a little leery of being away from you, our precious baby boy, for four days and three nights. After thinking it through, we decided to go for it. The retreat was in Texas, so Pops and Granny were eager for the chance to have you stay with them while we were at the retreat!

Before we left for our trip, we switched you to your big boy car seat, and you seem to enjoy it. We left on a Sunday, and before heading to Texas, we went to St. Louis to visit Bobel and Reenie. The grownups went to a U2 concert to celebrate Bobel’s birthday and you stayed with a babysitter. I was a little bit nervous about how you would do staying with someone you didn’t know for the first time, but you did great and had fun playing with Bonnie while we were at the concert. The next day, we had fun playing with Bobel and Reenie. On Tuesday, we headed from St. Louis, MO to Royston, TX. We drove through Oklahoma so that you could mark a couple more states off your list. You’ve now been to nine states: TN, TX, AR, MO, CA, NM, KY, IL, and OK! You did great on the long road trip. We thought it was neat that you got to see both sets of grandparents in one day, your city grandparents and your country grandparents! Aunt Misty took off work so she could stay there and spend time with you, too. Before we left for the retreat, our friends, Bob and Kay, came over and we decided to give you a haircut, but this time we didn’t just trim around the edges with scissors, instead, we used clippers and gave you a short/big boy haircut. I wasn’t sure we should do it, because your head full of hair had always been such a big part of your look, but I decided to go for it, and it looks adorable. It made you look quite different. You look older, but just as cute. I think it makes you look even more like Daddy! The next day, we headed east to the Texas Hill Country, and you stayed in West Texas. We had a wonderful time at the retreat, and you had lots of fun with Pops, Granny, and Aunt Misty. You even got to go to the Mahaffey family reunion and meet lots of cousins while you were with them. They sent us lots of pictures while we were apart, and that made it easier to be apart.

After the retreat, we met you in Weatherford and spent time with some good friends before heading home. We stayed the night with the Graves and with the Riches. You had fun playing with Lynlee and Kyndall and with Jaxon. We are thankful for those two families. They have been good friends of Mama and Daddy’s for several years, and we’re thankful you can be friends with their children, too!

Being away from you for the retreat meant it was time to wean you. So, in mid-July, we started gradually replacing your nursing times with milk in a cup, and after a couple of weeks, just in time for the retreat, you were drinking all of your milk from a cup like a big boy. We worked hard to make nursing work when you were a newborn and it was a special part of our first year together that I will always treasure in my memory, but I am so thankful that you transitioned to whole milk so well and are growing up just like God made you to do! You drink a cup of milk when you wake up in the morning and after both naps. You still enjoy meal time. You’re a great eater. You love bread, crackers, and fruit. Your favorite vegetables are carrots and sweet potatoes. Your favorite meat dish is cheeseburger pie. We’re working on teaching you not to throw your food and cup in the floor, and you’re getting better.

You are still a fast crawler, but you’re walking along side a wall or table every chance you get. You hold on using only one hand now and are getting to be quite quick and steady! You still love to push your diaper box or anything else you can find: a chair, a stool, a basket, anything you can scoot and push as fast as you can. You aren’t walking all of the time, but you did take your first steps this month. While you were staying with Pops, Granny, and Aunt Misty on Friday, July 22, you took four steps, and a little while later, you took seven! We called you a little stinker for taking your first steps without us, but we were so proud of you, and it wasn’t long until we were able to see you take a few wobbly steps here and there. We are so proud of you; walking all by yourself makes you look like such a big one-year-old boy!

We celebrated your first birthday with a party on Monday evening, the day before your actual birthday. We had a cake shaped like a one and a little cake for you to smash. We also had some of your favorite snacks: watermelon, blueberries, and goldfish. Bobel and Reenie got to come to the party, and several friends from church came too: Ronnie, Angela, CW, Laquita, Lloyd, Nita, Kaye, Lindsey, Margaret, Vickie, Rick, Ann, Jon, Michelle, Tabitha, Hannah, Emma and Bo. When we first gave you your cake, you carefully picked the m&ms and icing off the edge and ate it, but with a little prompting from Kaye, you started patting the cake and quickly tore right in, making a big mess! Everyone enjoyed watching you smash your cake! Then, you opened presents and got lots of fun new toys and books! It was a special time.

The next morning, on your birthday, we greeted you with balloons and sang “Happy Birthday”. We had blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Bobel and Reenie stayed for a few hours and gave you a couple more presents to open. You opened cards you’d gotten in the mail from family and friends. Daddy got to stay home, so the three of us enjoyed the rest of the day playing together.

What a year! My heart is overflowing with lots and lots of love for you, Precious Boy!! We are so very thankful that you are part of our family. We pray for wisdom and discernment as we guide, love, and nurture you from a baby to a boy and eventually to a man. It is a big job and we are honored to take on the challenge!

My prayer for you is the same as it was a year ago: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God!

I love you. I love you. I love you.

Mama